NM Indymedia report from Baja Mexico : NM IMC

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The campout in solidarity with the Cucapah has been progressing since its start on the 28th of February. In the weeks leading up to the fishing, projects such as a comunity center, a cooler for the storage of fish, and a continuing understanding of Cucapah El Mayor have been worked on. Currently, here is a large number of campers that have come from Tijuana, San Diego, Humboldt, Mexicali, Ensenada, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque. The Cucapah community is plagued with internal strifes that have been augmented by government work (i.e. permitting some families to have restricted fishing
permits, while excluding most). In reality, the poverty and lack of importance that the government gives to the this small town is alarming. All of the primary school students that I have met do not know how to read or write. Amongst the younger generations, the Cucapah language is nothing more than a few greetings and goodbyes. Apart from fishing, the people here find work in the farms or gathering rocks in the mountains for 80 pesos a day (8 dollars). In previous fishing seasons, the Cucapah have been
confronted by the *Profepa* (Procuraduría Federal del Medio Ambiente), who are there to supposely protect a whale from extinction, yet permiting bigger fishing companies to fish unrestricted around the same waters. The campout was declared by La Otra Campana in solidarity with the Cucapah in their
struggle for their ancestral right to fish. The police have come around the campout; once at 3 in the morning to get information about how many campers were there, and another on Saturday, March 17, at around four in the afternoon, just to ask questions about what was happening and when a "subcommandante" was going to get there? Although the Sixth Commission and
Sub. Marcos have not arrived yet, the Cucapah have been fishing and the
campers have joined them as international and national human rights
observers. Last week, we fished from Thursday to Saturday, and the curvina
was bountiful. On the 28th, we will go out again and continue to struggle
for the right to fish.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

For the past three weeks, many consistent campers in solidarity with the
Cucupah have been working hard in this new phase of La Otra Campaña. Upon arriving, the local politics and conflicts surprised and frustrated many of us campers. As it turns out, the connection made between the Kiliwa and Cucapah was made accidently during the tour of La Otra in Baja, when a Kiliwa man, who is married to a Cucapah woman, mentioned the struggle of the Cucapah people, who he now resides with. The Kiliwa do have a ¨death pact,´´ so combined with the fishing situation (which in reality is a Cucapah problem, not a Kiliwa issue), it was decided to resume La Otra here in Baja California. Apart from the confusion, the reality here in Baja is extremely frustrating for *all* Indigenous peoples, Kiliwa and Cucapah alike.

During this time, members of the Tran'fronteriza, Collective Organic San
Diego, Anarchists collectives in Mexicali and Tijuana, Zapatista solidarity
groups from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Humboldt, and Tijuana, and New Mexico Indymedia, have been making preparations for the campers,
understanding the local situation, and fishing. Today, 15th of March, the
fishing in solidarity with the Cucapah began. With each boat armed with a humanitarian rights observer and a camera, the members of El Mayor, Baja California, reclaimed their ancestral right to fish. There were no
incidents with local officials and no fisherwoman-man was harrassed. The fishing will continue for the next two months. Members of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) have begun to arrive to El Mayor. On Sunday, rumor is that the Sixth Commission with Subcommandante Marcos will arrive to El Mayor to lend a hand to the work that has already been started by the Cucapah.