BULLETIN NO. 10

VIDEOS

The video Plaguicidas y Huicholes (Pesticides and the Huichol Indians) is now being translated into 12 Mexican indigenous languages, to warn these groups of the dangers of herbicides, insecticides and other chemicals used in agriculture.

The video shows many disturbing scenes, like that of a woman who drinks water from a can that formerly contained some poison like paraquat or 2,4D. The director Patricia Díaz Romo worked with the Huichol Indians in the coastal areas of the Pacific state of Nayarit and documented the illnesses they suffer as a result of contact with tobacco leaves that have been treated with toxic chemicals. Children, women and men are impregnated with these chemicals when they cut and hang the tobacco leaves; even worse, frequently these workers sleep under the tobacco when it is hung up to dry.

Díaz Romo is currently analyzing the results of an epidemiological study of this community and will soon produce a second video on the theme.

She told Video Red Mujer: "In Nayarit it's the Huicholes, but the same story is repeated all over Mexico, for example the Mixtec Indians who work with tomatoes in Baja California, also suffer various ills as a result of their contact with dangerous pesticides. Many of these migrant workers cannot read, nor do they know how they should protect themselves from these substances.

The case of the Huichol Indians is paradoxical because they traditionally have used a native tobacco (called macuchi) in their ceremonies; now they are working to produce commercial tobacco that is destroying their very lives."

Díaz Romo works with the Action Network on Pesticides and Alternatives in Mexico; their email is: rapam@laneta.apc.org

MEETINGS

The Mexican Academy of Human Rights and the National Pedagogical University (UPN) will conduct the First National Colloquium on the Human Rights of Women and Girls from October 20-22, 1999.

The event will take place in the University (Ajusco, Mexico City). Themes to be dealt with include Design and development of resumes, reproduction, sexuality, national and international legislation, communications media, women and art, cultural diversity, violence, and political participation.

Information with Lourdes Garcia at the AMDH: (52) 5659 4980; fax 5658 7279, or: lulgarcia@ laneta.apc.org