Solidarity groups with Wixárikas help to condition seedling

Fernando Camacho Servin

Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday May 29, 2022, p. 6

After they concluded the walk that brought them from the north of the state of Jalisco to Mexico City, the members of the Caravan for Wixárika Dignity and Awareness began to set up the camp where they will stay in front of the National Palace, until get a meeting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Since Friday afternoon, the participants of the march have had two tents that protect them from the sun -donated by groups that support their struggle-, in addition to installing some 50 tents that they bought out of pocket. On one side of the camp they already have four portable toilet stalls, provided by the federal government, waiting to receive four more.

In the first instance we were going to stay there (on the esplanade next to the Museo del Templo Mayor), but the joke was to come in front of the National Palace, so the installation was changed to this sideexplained in an interview with the day the traditional secretary of the indigenous community of San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán, Gustavo Bautista Torres.

After reiterating that the protesters are going to reinforce the sit-in with more people in case they are not received tomorrow by the chief executive, he pointed out that at this time one of the priorities of the Wixárikas is to regain strength, after the walk of more than 900 kilometers from their place of origin, and leave behind the frustration of not seeing López Obrador on Friday.

Right now we are resting and we are calmer. We did the march to move the President of the Republic; it’s almost a thousand kilometers from where we are to this point, and it’s kind of sad (not having been received), he admitted.

Bautista added that the nearly 170 participants in the march -16 of them women- are in good health and highlighted the role of the National Indigenous Congress, the Otomi community residing in Mexico City and other groups in solidarity with their cause, since they are they who are helping them in the supply of food, water and other supplies.

For its part, the Anti-Capitalist Solidarity Network launched a call on social networks to stock up for the members of the caravan, with items such as blankets, mats, toilet paper, and hand and dish soap, as well as food, water, and serum.

Donations will be received at the Casa de los Pueblos Samir Flores Soberanes –the former headquarters of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples–, located at Avenida México-Coyoacán 343, Colonia Xoco.

Close sources pointed out that yesterday there was a meeting between the leaders of the caravan and federal officials, without reaching any compromise yet regarding the appointment requested by the Wixárikas for Monday.