From the U.S., our network Sexta Grietas del Norte, which is composed of groups and individuals who adhere to the EZLN’S “Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle,” manifests in solidarity with the Otomi communities that have occupied the offices of the so-called “National Institute of Indigenous Peoples” (INPI) in Mexico City since October 12, 2020.
This is not a new struggle. The Otomi people are one of the indigenous peoples who have resisted dispossession, exploitation, contempt, and repression in Mexico for 528 years. The INPI, on the other hand, is a Mexican government office supposedly in charge of supporting the indigenous peoples, a paternalistic institution that offers nothing but nice words and some crumbs in exchange for the peoples’ acceptance of their subordination to capitalist policies. The INPI, according to Filiberto Margarito, an Otomi representative to the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), “is a white elephant that is at the service of the multinational corporations that dispossess the peoples of their territories.”
The occupation of the INPI, explain the Otomi, has various objectives. It began as a continuation of the popular struggle for housing in Mexico City. The Otomi community was hit by the 2017 earthquake, and since then they have lived in precarious encampments. Their struggle began when countless people were evicted from their homes for not being able to pay their rents in the past months. The Covid-19 pandemic and the economic recession have devastated the health and well-being of most families in the country. The government of Mexico City has refused to provide any solution. “We do not like this space [the INPI], but we want light, water, and decent living conditions”, said Marisela Mejía, an Otomi member of the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG) of the National Indigenous Congress. She announced that for now they would stay to live at the INPI.
The occupation, started by Otomi residents of Mexico City, has been backed by their sisters and brothers from Querétaro and other regions of the country. “In this occupation, we will accompany you, because your fight in Mexico City is similar to our struggle in Santiago Mexquititlán” said Dr. Estela Hernández Jiménez, PhD, a graduate of the University of Querétaro and an Otomi activist as well. “This occupation is nothing compared to what they have done to us in these long years. This occupation shows that we still exist, that we are still alive, and that we refuse to die.”
The National Indigenous Congress (CNI) has also declared its support for the occupation. “We want to preserve this life, and we’re going to fight against whatever gets in the way of continuing to preserve it,” said CNI spokesperson María de Jesús Patricio, also known as “Marichuy.” When visiting the occupied offices, Marichuy spoke to the Otomi community: “We may not have weapons, but our weapon is our voice… We Indigenous peoples are patient; we can wait. We have been doing it for so many years, but there comes a time when that patience runs out. And you have demonstrated it today… You did everything you could to be seen and heard, and were ignored. That is why I say that if you are here, your cause is just.”
This action goes beyond the walls of a government office. The Otomi insist that the occupation also seeks to make visible the paramilitary and counterinsurgent attacks against the Zapatista communities of Chiapas, towns belonging to the National Indigenous Congress, and other communities that are struggling to defend their land and territory. In fact, dozens of indigenous Mixes also shut down the INPI offices in San Juan Guichicovi, Oaxaca, in solidarity with the Otomi people in Mexico City. The Mixe people also demand the liberation of Kenia Hernández Montalbán, a human rights defender of peoples and their community police in the State of Guerrero. In addition, they want to make visible their struggle against the megaproject known as the “Inter-oceanic Corridor,” an industrial corridor on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
We, the members of the Sexta Grietas del Norte network, express our solidarity with the Otomí community and their occupation of the INPI. We understand your struggle; even in the United States we also have to fight every day for housing, for water, for respect for life. The capitalist hydra tries to smash us everywhere. We send you a rebellious greeting from our geographies, and we will make every effort to support and spread your struggle, which is also our own.
The peoples’ struggle has no borders!
For life and against capitalism of death!
October 21, 2020
Sexta Grietas del Norte