'It is a fight that seems that we will never win,' says Lucía Laguna, as Indigenous Mexicans grapple with geography, the legacy of dams and treaties, narcos and climate change.
"It is a fight that seems that we will never win," says Lucía Laguna, as Indigenous Mexicans grapple with geography, the legacy of dams and treaties, narcos and climate change.
"Cucapá means people from the river, that's why we are fighting for it," she said, pointing to a decrease in the river's flow she is seeing every year. “We cling to the river and fight because it gives us water so that the fish can arrive and we can earn our livelihood. But it is a fight that seems that we will never win," she said, disheartened.
Rainfall has always fluctuated, he explained, but now the rain is concentrated in fewer days."And that is bad because we all want it to rain — but nobody wants it to flood, especially the farmers, because that destroys the crops. That is why we are studying everything that is happening." A fisherman from the Cucapá Indigenous people, during preparations to sail, in El Zanjón, Baja California,in April 2021.The Cucapá are one of the five native tribes of Baja California, and they descend from the Yuman people, who emigrated to that area around 1000 BC. According to official data, there are now only between 350 and 400 members of the Cucapá people but, in the 19th century, Western colonizers documented between 5,000 and 6,000 nomads who organized into clans.
The agreement did not consider the rights of the Cucapá people and their ancestral relationship with the river. But it affected their traditional ceremonies, causing a shortage of fruits and grains, and the trees and shrubs used to make houses, boats and clothing. It all depends on precipitation in Wyoming and Colorado, but since 2002 snowfall has been below average, depleting the river and resulting in a"desolating panorama," he said.
On Aug. 14, 2020, Mexicali registered 122 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the record of 121 that dated from August 1981. "Now the ocean currents enter where the old banks of the river used to be, they damage it and we are left without part of our territory," said Hurtado, who said she was born on the banks of the Colorado River.
Flores said that just by looking at the sky, he knows what the weather will be like. That's why he shakes his head disapprovingly every time he sees the relentless sun. "And we must also be careful because the narco is there, they follow our routes through the area and they fish in order to hide tons of drugs underneath. We tell the police, but nobody does anything," said Paco, whose last name is being withheld for fear of retaliation.
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