Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article an agricultural centre (sugarcane and fruit) lies on the mainland at the lagoon’s southwestern end Afro-descendant women in Mexico have celebrated the International Day of Afro-descendant Women on July 25 These gatherings occur in regions inhabited by people of Black heritage honoring both the International Decade for Afro-descendant Women and various civil organizations Yolanda Camacho and Rosa María Castro Salinas convened for the first meeting in Huatulco with the objective of breaking out of silence invisibilization and confronting systemic and structural racism Women from the Diablos group dance before beginning their performance during the seventh national and international meeting of Afro-Mexican and Afro-descendant women at the fisherman's plaza on July 22 the national and international meeting of Afro-Mexican and Afro-descendant women was held in the town of Tamiahua entitled: "From cultural resistance to the political participation of Afro-Mexican women." The meeting brought together around 200 women who participated in talks The meetup also featured dancers who performed the Danza de los Diablos a traditional dance from the Costa Chica region of the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca Grandmothers and Grandfathers of the Black coastal communities recount that the origins of the dance come from a ritual of stomping and shouting as gestures of rebellion against the enslavers of the region The event was coordinated by the Afrotamiahua collective the National Program for Afrodescendant Research and Cultural Diversity of the National Coordination of Anthropology of INAH I sought out nine activists and artists of the Afro-Mexican community who attended this meeting asking them what it means to be an Afro-Mexican woman today and the challenges they face when they have won struggles such as the constitutional recognition that was given in 2019 but still demanding visibility and rights to the Mexican government to fulfill its commitments before the international decade for African descendants: "Afrodescendants: recognition The following statements are highlights from Koral's interviews with members of the Afro-Mexican community: It has a history and it has to do with the struggle and the vindication of our rights as Black women The very presence that the Afro-Mexican population has historically had along with the struggle and the work of women to sustain the social fabric and the construction of what Mexico is today because much of the memory and what has resisted for 500 years has been preserved by Black women through orality." Recognizing myself as Afro-Mexican gave me the opportunity to learn about my history to know who were the people who came before me and the struggle they gave so that we could be here It is important to name ourselves in order to continue resisting it tells us about the work and the contributions that have been made by the Afro-Mexican population at a historical and contemporary level." Inauguration of the seventh national and international meeting of Afro-Mexican and Afro-descendant women at the Fisherman's Plaza on July 22 "Being Afro-Mexican in the diaspora is a constant coming and going And even though I was born in Tamiahua and now live in the USA because we have been fighting all the time we continue to fight against so much racism in the family and in society It is to be a struggle in this country to which we have contributed so much that we be heard and that the federal government fulfill its commitments in order to move forward and provide a better future for the Afro-Mexican children of the present and the future." "Being an Afro-Mexican woman has been a personal and family process of recognition To recognize and self-identify myself as Afro-Mexican we have appropriated this term in order to feel belonging and pride." "Being Afro-Mexican is a constant struggle every day but also from the dance we are breaking with our destiny and vindicating our ancestors who did not have the opportunity to dance with us in 'Las Diablas' to God Ruja Because patriarchy and racism did not allow them "Being an Afro-Mexican woman is part of my family's history It is a way in which I move around the world from its positive side as well as its negative side: such as racism and misogyny It is a space of joyfulness and joy that I inhabit and I can fully inhabit it in community with other compañeras." Women at the gathering celebrate with a dance of the devils during at the fisherman's square on July 22 "This day is important for the recognition of Black women and for us to be visible and heard This is thanks to a process of struggle that we have been going through for many years It is a day where I feel happy together with my sisters." visiting the communities of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca my personal experience gave me the strength to continue fighting with my compañeras there was a meeting of Black people in the community of Charco Redondo where we discussed what we wanted the government to call us because we were born in Mexico and of African descent we would call ourselves 'Afromexicanos' [Afro-Mexicans]." Alitzel Diaz and Jessica Tomas after the Afro-Mexican women's meeting rest on Tamiahua beach at sunset on July 23 Koral Carballo is a documentary photographer born and raised in Veracruz and based in Mexico. You can see more of her work on her website, KoralCarballo.com, or on Instagram at @koralcarballo Visitors packed the Anthropology Museum on Sept 21 at Cal State San Bernardino to mark the formal opening of the new exhibition “Afróntalo,” which directs the focus on the often-underrepresented and overlooked history and culture of Mexico’s Afro-descendent communities “‘Afróntalo’ represents a unique and invaluable effort to shed light on the often-underrepresented narratives of the Costa Chica region in Oaxaca and Guerrero Coyolillo in Veracruz and Mascogos in Coahuila,” said Hazel Blackmore the executive director of Mexico-United States Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (COMEXUS) “These communities have long held vibrant cultures and histories that deserve to be showcased and celebrated on the world stage.” Those vibrant cultures are on display at the Anthropology Museum located on the third floor of CSUSB’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Visitors to the exhibition are greeted with art and objects and descriptive displays divided into two sections: one curated by representatives of four Afro-descendant communities in Mexico and another presenting biographies and original portraits of 21 Afrolatine Californians depicting scenes related to the Afro-descendant communities Vistors make their way through the Afróntalo exhibition at CSUSB’s Anthropology Museum Rising up on the wall is the two-story mural painted by Julio “Honter” Antuna Lopez and to the left is a prop for the Danza de la Tortuga (Dance of the Turtle) from Mexico’s Costa Chica region there is a general deficit of knowledge regarding the presence and prevalence of blackness throughout the Americas This is more than a simple matter of obscurity Afróntalo introduces you to four communities in Mexico and twenty-one Californians to explore the depth and breadth of Afrolatine histories The four communities that partnered with the Anthropology Museum to bring this exhibition to life are: Tamiahua (Veracruz state and the Costa Chica region (Oaxaca and Guerrero states All four curators attended the opening reception which was highlighted by performances by Danza Afrobalele Both are affiliated with Centro Cultural Comunitario Casa Coyolillo (the Community Cultural Center of Coyolillo) Lead curators and their teams were trained in curation and exhibition development by María Fernanda Yáñez Uribe from Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City Each curatorial team chose their own focus for the exhibition: we are always eager to take advantage of opportunities to celebrate the histories present on our campus and in the larger world around us Hispanic Heritage Month is definitely one such occasion,” said CSUSB President Tomás D The Afrolatine culture is a vibrant part of the Hispanic world pointing to his own Afro-descendant roots from Puerto Rico and provides access to those who view the exhibit announcing that by the end of the academic year “Afróntalo” will have a permanent space online with a virtual exhibit developed by CSUSB’s office of Academic Technologies & Innovation to take advantage of the exhibition’s fall and spring run “I am committed to having as many school children come from San Bernardino particularly those from Mexico and Latin America.” credited Anthropology Museum director Arianna Huhn for bringing together the people and resources that became “Afróntalo.” While Sept it also was a celebration of the more than two-year effort to develop it who manages the Fullbright Hays Seminars Abroad Program said the genesis of “Afróntalo,” can be traced to a four-week 2021 seminar “Exploring African Heritage in Mexico,” organized by COMEXUS He called the work and the resulting exhibition “exemplary … because although Dr Huhn’s time abroad in Mexico for the seminar was just four weeks the activities that stemmed from that experience continue two years later with meaningful impacts that will continue to inspire and inform this and many other communities.” While the main focus is the museum exhibit the Anthropology Museum organized a slate of programs in the days leading to the opening of “Afróntalo,” with presentations for the campus community by representatives of the exhibition’s four partner communities The Anthropology Museum’s hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m During the run of “Afróntalo,” the museum will also be open the second Saturday of each month You must be logged in to post a comment Your local news resource for 50 years in the Inland Empire scientists have found five new coral reefs forming a so-called coral reef corridor The team of scientists from the University of Veracruz and Mexico’s National Institute of Technology announced their findings earlier this month reminding us there’s still so much we don’t know about the underwater world and Camaronera—join a number of other reefs to make up the Reef Corridor of the Southwest Gulf of Mexico which stretches from near the Tamiahua Lagoonin the state of Veracruz into the Gulf The scientists have speculated about the existence of the corridor for years This corridor stretches at least 310 miles a researcher with the University of Veracruz who made the discovery alongside Ana Gutierrez of the National Institute of Technology This corridor offers incredible biological productivity for this region The reefs offer habitat for a number of species fueling an incredibly biodiverse ecosystem bu the scientists who discovered the corridor want to change that before the oil and gas industry moves into this part of the Gulf “We want the coral corridor to be officially recognized to protect it from the fossil fuel industry,” Ortiz said This group of researchers is now working to protect the corridor in coordination with the Mexican Center for Environmental Law The fishing industry and sedimentation from runoff are threatening the reefs but the ecologists are mindful about creating protections that won’t sacrifice the well-being of the fishing industry that’s built a dependence on the thriving ecosystem “What’s most important is that these sites are where hundreds of fishermen receive their nourishment and work,” Ortiz told Earther but it’s necessary to maintain the fishing industry.” And of course the threat of climate change is looming over coral reefs, many of which are already feeling its impacts around the world. Warmer waters have caused waves of coral bleaching in the Gulf of Mexico they expel algae (a main source of food) as a response to the added stress these new reefs are scattered within and outside of protected areas Setting up protections for all the reefs is a solid first step to ensuring they survive ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " but fisherman and scientists knew it wasn’t true Mexican communities haven’t received a cent in compensation After high school, Ríos Martínez moved to a nearby town for college which she financed by selling blue crabs, shrimp and tilapia fished by her father in the Tamiahua lagoon – an elongated coastal inlet famed for its abundant shellfish. Read moreBut fish stocks began to decline in 2011 across the Gulf – the year after BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded 200 miles north of Mexican territory. The offshore rig sank and released almost 5m barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days Oil plumes coated hundreds of miles of shoreline causing catastrophic damage to marine life Amid public and political outrage in the US, BP took full responsibility for the worst oil spill of the 20th century, which killed 11 crew members and injured 17 others. The company has paid out $69bn, including more than $10bn to affected fishermen and businesses But BP denied the oil reached Mexico claiming the ocean current propelled the huge spill in the opposite direction fishermen and Mexican scientists knew this wasn’t true Francisco Blanco Arango untangles a fishing net with the help of his granddaughter Ada Guadalupe Blanco while Kevin Blanco Flores plays with a dog at their backyard Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The Guardian“Before the spill we had freezers full of fish my father couldn’t catch enough to support me and it has just got worse and worse,” said Ríos Martínez who was forced to drop out of university and move away Mexican communities have not received a single cent in compensation “To claim the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem has borders is absurd discriminatory and defies scientific knowledge,” said Eduardo Rubio an expert in soil and water pollution at the College of Biologists Saladero is a picturesque sleepy village situated on the bank of the Tancochin River which snakes into the south-westerly edge of the lagoon To claim the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem has borders is absurd discriminatory and defies scientific knowledgeEduardo RubioBefore the BP disaster 95% of the village made a living – directly or indirectly – from fishing in the lagoon which stretches 65 miles from Tampico The lagoon was famous for prawns and oysters fishermen recall giving away because stocks were so abundant youngsters are forced to migrate to find factory work in maquilas in faraway cities there’s nothing for the young here any more,” said Juan Mar Aran we worked hard and had money in our pockets A monument to the fishermen stands in the front of a gasoline station from Pemex Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The GuardianIn 2010 the Saladero fishing cooperative registered 11,663kg of shrimp The decline has not been linear and publicly available official data is inconclusive the co-op registered only 1,000kg of shrimp “The American fishermen supported by President Obama were properly compensated whereas we’ve been mocked humiliated and discriminated against by British [Petroleum] … and let down by our own government Ten years of struggle and nothing,” said Enrique Aran Eduviges Mendoza lit a cigarette on his small fishing boat parked beside a row of wooden poles waiting for shrimp to fill his small net settled in for a second consecutive night on the lagoon with only a ratty blanket and a waterproof onesie for warmth I’m lucky if I make enough to cover the petrol.” Enrique Aran Blanco president for more than 20 years of the fishing cooperative of Saladero sits in his office in front of a sword that was given symbolically by a lawyer working along them against BP and beside skulls of a dolphin and a tortoise found dead at the beach about five years after the oil spill Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The GuardianDespite such sentiments BP has claimed that aerial images prove the oil spill’s impact was contained in US waters a leading government oceanographer in Tamaulipas state discovered the BP oil fingerprint more than 200 metres below sea level The oil from Deepwater Horizon was propelled south by the deep underwater current – distinct from the surface current who in 2013 testified in a Louisiana court tasked with managing hundreds of claims against BP But the case was dismissed after the court ruled that Mexico’s lawsuit The case trundled along until in 2018, the Mexican government withdrew the lawsuit and settled the case for $25.5m – absolving BP from responsibility for polluting Mexican waters. The secret deal, exposed in a joint investigation by BuzzFeed and the transparency group Poder means the company no longer faces claims by any Mexican government entity Around the same time, the outgoing President Peña Nieto made several multimillion-dollar deals with BP Hundreds of the company’s petrol stations have opened across the country Norberto Hernández Cruz representative of fishermen who do not belong to cooperatives after a meeting with other representatives of fishing communities from the Gulf of Mexico in Tuxpan Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The GuardianJiménez stands by his findings and a recent study by the University of Miami backed his research concluding that the spread of oil was far greater and more catastrophic than previously thought as satellites and aerial images failed to detect oil at lower concentrations below the surface This “invisible oil” was substantial enough and toxic enough to destroy 50% of the marine life it encountered, according to Science It could take at least 20 to 25 years for the ecosystem to recover because of the deepwater contamination.Luis SotoIn part, this is probably due to the unprecedented quantities of toxic chemicals (dispersants) BP applied in order to stop visible oil plumes making landfall up to 40% of the leaked oil could still remain on the seabed These “invisible oil” blocks will eventually break down and spread gradually over years – possibly decades – to come “It could take at least 20 to 25 years for the ecosystem to recover because of the deepwater contamination,” said the investigative oceanographer Luis Soto A man weighs shrimp brought from a nearby community at a local fishermen cooperative while women wait in line to buy some for their own business Photographs by Luis Antonio Rojas/ The Guardian In Mexico no long-term studies monitoring the impact of the spill and the dispersants have been conducted BP has not directly funded any studies or working groups in Mexico In Mexico, a class-action lawsuit was launched against four BP subsidiaries – two headquartered in Texas by an NGO working with pro bono lawyers specialising in environmental disasters It took two years and several court orders to track down the correct addresses of the Mexican subsidiaries in order to kickstart proceedings the lawsuit was authorised to proceed despite BP’s efforts to have it dismissed but is currently on hold since BP appealed Eduviges Mendoza smokes a cigarette while fishing shrimp on his motorless boat where he slept for a second night in a row Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The Guardian“BP’s pattern has been to deny everything meanwhile settling many cases worth billions of dollars in the US but so is the position of the Mexican government which has ignored the plight of its own people,” said lawyer Karla Borja But so far we’ve seen nothing but nice words and meetings,” said Aran more than 110 cases involving thousands of Mexicans remain open the fishermen leading 41 of those cases wrote to the new CEO of BP requesting he do the right thing and compensate the Mexicans affected by the oil spill In a statement BP said: “All available evidence confirms that oil from the Deepwater Horizon incident did not reach Mexican waters or shorelines … We value the opportunity to do business in Mexico and we are committed to the highest standards of conduct and full compliance with the laws.” A young mangrove stands in a lagoon near empty charangas traps for shrimps made out of wood and fishing nets Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The GuardianIn Saladero shortly before the 10th anniversary of the disaster about 150 people turned out for the town hall-style meeting to share stories of hardship resulting from the demise of the lagoon which has divided families and crushed educational and career ambitions The primary school has fewer than 30 enrolled pupils compared with more than a hundred before the spill The only gas station shut down and abandoned boats dot the riverbank Numerous parents said they were forced to pull their children out of college so they could start work and send home remittances to support the family that’s why all our young people leave,” said Juana Constantino who cares for her grandson while her daughter works in a maquila in Reynosa one of Mexico’s most dangerous border towns This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.