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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2006 
Mexico Seeks Additional Indian Lawmakers
 Ioan Grillo - Associated Press
| | Xochitl Galvez, Indian affairs adviser to President Vicente Fox. |
Mexico City - Mexico has redrawn its congressional districts to try to increase the number of Indian lawmakers in a nation where the indigenous minority has long been on the margins of politics, the government said this week.
Xochitl Galvez, Indian affairs adviser to President Vicente Fox, said there will be 28 new districts with an Indian majority when the July 2 presidential and congressional elections are held.
About 13 million of Mexico's 103 million people are Indians speaking the languages of groups such as the Aztecs and Mayans who lived here before the 16th century Spanish conquest.
However, there are currently only three Indian federal congressional representatives in the 500-seat lower house and no Indian senators.
Galvez, who is an Otomi Indian, said the redrawing of districts, which was worked out with the independent Federal Electoral Institute, will guarantee better representation.
"The party that chooses Indian candidates will have the best chance of winning, because the voters will identify with the candidates more," Galvez said.
None of this year's presidential hopefuls are Indians. But front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador began his political career campaigning for Indian rights in his native state of Tabasco.
Impoverished Indian communities have often been the target of bribes or coercion by power-hungry politicians, Galvez said.
To stop any electoral shenanigans in July, the government is handing out leaflets in 32 Indian languages encouraging people to report any foul play.
"We are working intensely ... to prevent electoral crimes in indigenous communities, above all the classic (crime) of coercing the Indian vote," Galvez said.
Despite the scarcity of Indians among Mexico's political leadership, the country's most honored president was the Zapotec Indian Benito Juarez, who ruled in the 1860s and 1870s.
When Evo Morales was elected as the first Indian president of Bolivia in December, nearly 30 Mexican Indian organizations sent him a letter of congratulation saying his victory "lifts the spirits of our people." |
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