Santa Rosa activist rallies aid for starving Mexican Indians

"Severe malnutrition and hunger among the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental has prompted a Santa Rosa activist to take up a collection for one of Mexico's most marginalized indigenous groups.


Carlos Romero, a dancer with the Aztec dance group Nanahuatzin, has spent the better part of last week visiting Roseland businesses and neighborhoods, collecting money that he hopes to take to the Sierra Tarahumara, as it often is called in Mexico.


Romero, who is of Mixteco ancestry, had collected $600 dollars as of Friday. On Sunday, he stood outside Resurrection Church in west Santa Rosa, hoping to collect more money.


'I do it because I consider myself indigenous and my people, indigenous people, always suffer on their own land,' Romero said.


Years of drought and record cold have led to food shortages that, according Mexico's La Jornada newspaper, have led to six deaths. Earlier this month, a false report that more than 50 Tarahumara Indians had committed suicide out of desperation and depression spread quickly over the Internet in Mexico.


The report, even though it was false, sparked a humanitarian relief effort by the Mexican Red Cross, nonprofit groups and neighboring states. The relief has reportedly staved off further starvation-related deaths.


But generations of isolation and neglect are not so easily alleviated, said Romero, whose plans to send the donations he collects to the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations, a coalition of groups that support indigenous communities on both sides of the border.


The Tarahumara, most renowned for their legendary long-distance runners, have been living in the remote regions of the Sierra since Europeans first arrived in Mexico. The drought has devastated the region's corn harvest, said Bertha Rodriguez, a coalition spokeswoman.


Rodriguez said her organization, which has U.S. offices in San Diego, Fresno and Los Angeles, has been collecting funds since Jan. 18, making requests for donations on Spanish-language radio stations and on the Internet.


She said she hopes the group can collect at least $2,000, an amount she admits is modest because the campaign has been yet to gain momentum. In fact, Rodriguez said that as of Friday the group had only collected about $500 statewide.


'The donations have been slow,' she said. 'It's sad.'


Romero said that after he sends his donations to the indigenous coalition, he plans to travel to the Tarahumara region at his own expense.


'I want to go over there and check it out and see what's happening with my own eyes,' he said.


You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.


(My note:  At least he is trying to do something.  How much do we do to help people we care about?)


http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120129/ARTICLES/120129426/1036/business?Title=Santa-Rosa-activist-rallies-aid-for-starving-Mexican-Indians


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