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By Chris Covert
A top Chihuahua state cabinet official charged individuals who spread the story of mass suicide of Tarahumara Indians as "tinged with evil" and "irresponsible", according to Mexican news reprots.
Rafael Servando Portillo, Secretaria de Fomento Social del Gobierno de Chihuahua, or Secretary of Social Development of Chihuahua told writers at Mexico's Organisacion Editorial Mexicano (OEM) news offices, that the story of a mass suicide last December was totally false.
Last Sunday an indigent peasant leader, Gardea Ramon, recounted a story in an interview at an independent television station in far western Chihuahua state, saying that 50 Tarahumara Indians had collectively committed suicide presumably because the victims were unable to provide for their families.
The television interview had been given prominent play in some social media circles, so much so the story reached some national media,such as Milenio news daily and Proceso, the leftist weekly magazine.
To date, however, no bodies have been found which would verify the story. Indeed in a nation which recently experienced two of the largest mass graves discoveries in its modern history in Durango city in Durango state and in San Fernando municipality in Tamaulipas state, the finding of such a large number of bodies would be de rigeur in establishing the story.
In stories recently published in Mexican press, unidentified non-governmental organizations have been trying to establish a pattern by reporting a number of orphans have appeared in some areas, suggesting the suicide rumors could be true. But if NGOs have an opportunity to create a statistic from anecdotal information, they will create a statistic which will then be transcribed by a pliant press as established fact. To date NGOs have failed to do so, suggesting suicide stories are probably apocryphal.
Indigent Indian groups and others in the Mexican Sierra in the north have suffered a massive crop failure due to a drought and record cold. The problems are so severe, the word famine is being used even in larger news outlets in Mexico. While the famine -- to call it what it is -- may not be as widespread as one in Somalia, for example, the near total lack of food has galvanized some sectors of Mexican society into rapidly bringing relief to the area.
Many Tarahumara Indians living in higher altitudes in the Mexican Sierras will -- and have already, due to the early and extreme cold -- temporarily migrate to lower altitudes and hole up for the winter in the many caves in the region. It is unclear what those families do for food during that time. A Mexican official told the press Monday that many areas in the Chihuahua Sierras are not suffering from a water shortage at all, especially in the higher altitudes.
Much of the drought has affected the desert areas to the immediate east of the Mexican Sierras, where ranching is done.
Servando Portillo told OEM that his organization has already begun their relief efforts in the region delivering 6,000 food aid packages consisting of 50 kilograms each of rice and beans, two kilograms each of sausage and dried milk to be delivered every two weeks, and blankets.
The first of the aid is to be delivered to the village of Pitoreal in Bocoyna municipality, which is about seven kilometers south of San Juanito.
Servando Portillo also said some of the aid is coming from private groups as well as government departments, such as the Fundaci"n del Empresariado or Business Foundation.
According to Servando Portillo, the crisis has affected 22 municipalities of Chihuahua state and 260,000 individuals in 64,000 families.
El Diario de Coahuila news daily posted a Notimex wire service story on its website Tuesday that the Mexican Red Cross is planning delivery by January 21st of 55 metric tons of food and 4,000 clothing items, also to Bocoyna. The Mexican Red Cross said it has already delivered 220 metric tons of aid to 42 municipalities in the region, including Bocoyna, Urique, Guazapares and Morelos municipalities in Chihuahua state.
The Mexican Red Cross has already made aid deliveries to San Luis Potosi and Hidalgo states, according to the Notimex.
In related news, a Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) federal deputy has proposed that every legislator donate one day's salary to the relief effort.
Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, a Nayarit deputy proposed the Chamber of Deputies Standing Committee meet Wednesday to condider his proposal. Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo said legislators cannot "remain oblivious" to suffering of the 250,000 affected by the crisis.