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Community
FM 102.1

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Broadcasting live
from Santa Maria Jicaltepec

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Broadcasting live from
Community Radio Nu Kaan

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It is 8:30 in the morning.

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Before, it was prettier because

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in the rainy season
it rained well.

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The first rain that falls,

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the trees begin
to look green.

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Everything looked
much prettier

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Before, it rained well.
There would be a rain storm.

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We used to have good rains.

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But nowadays
the rain doesn't want to come.

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We could get there on foot
but we are carrying too much.

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I remember once, we went

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and the rain came in May,

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and then it rained no more.

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And people started worrying.

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What are we going to do?

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Lord, take care
of these trees that we plant

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so that they may never dry up.

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May you will help them
grow strong.

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May they grow in the North
or wherever you allow

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for our sins,
our Lord, Jesus Christ...

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The Luck of Water

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Everyone is clearing
and grazing,

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burning the underbrush,

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this month.

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Getting ready for the rain.

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That's why everyone has to wait

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for the rain to fall.

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One or three times

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so the soil is moist.

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We sow,

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four days later the corn
starts to grow.

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And so it grows quickly.

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Are you going back already?

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No, a little later.

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Are you burning the brush?

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This weekend, I think.

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That's better,
so I can help you.

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I remember when I was a child

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I would also
go out to the hills.

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My brother would sow as well.

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I would help him carry
the water to spray

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and then later
we would plant tomatoes,

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local chiles,
blackberries, chipil,

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that's what people used to eat
with their beans.

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And what they used to plant,
but not any more.

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Looks like my uncle Lipe
planted some trees there.

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There was much suffering
because of the water,

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because the well dried up.

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There was no water
and people were worried

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Where are we going
to get the water?

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There were even fights
over water that time,

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but we are the ones
making it, so it doesn't rain.

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Because we pollute.

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I tell my brother we have
to plant more,

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to see if that way
it will rain like before.

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We burn because
we can't plant like this

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with so much trash.

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We definitely can't.

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And if we plant like this,

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it definitely won't grow,

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the corn.

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And it gets in the way...

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we definitely cannot plant
like this.

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That's why we burn,

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to clear it all up.

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That way we plant better,

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at ease, in a straight row.

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Because with all that trash,
we definitely can't.

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It is definitely impossible.
Even if they say we are lazy.

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We know we have to burn.

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Community Radio Nu Kaan,
Community Radio Nu Kaan

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FM 102.1

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Broadcasting live
from Santa María Jicaltepec

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and this time we have prepared

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a special program with guests

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from out of town, in this case,
a group of citizens

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from the community of
the Ejido of Paso de la Reina.

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Let's welcome them
so we can hear their voices.

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Good Morning, my name is
Eva Castellano Mendoza

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also from Paso de la Reina.

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Good morning,
my name is Julia Herrera Bustos,

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I am
from Santiago Pinotepa Nacional.

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My name is Pedro Gonzalez

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and I am President
of the Community Council

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in Paso de la Reina.

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Good morning listeners
of Radio NuKaan

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My name is Jaime Jimenez Ruiz

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and I am municipal police agent
for Paso de la Reina.

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This river is called La Arena.

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This river comes
from way up in Chayuco

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joining other rivers
further upstream.

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But once it reaches the bridge,
near Pinotepa Nacional.

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from that point
is called the La Arena River.

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The La Arena River
doesn't have much water

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before people would wash there,

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they would go fishing.

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You mentioned it earlier,
there used to be tilefish,

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something to eat.

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But now,
people have forgotten that river

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because
it's excessively polluted.

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And everything coming
from the communities upstream,

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to the communities
downriver, well...

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They are practically drinking
contaminated water.

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There's too much garbage.

00:11:42.927 --> 00:11:44.513
There's too much garbage here.

00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:52.834
Before, we would burn the trash
at home.

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I'm not saying
there wasn't trash,

00:11:57.236 --> 00:12:03.032
but I think that the more
the population is growing,

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one generation after another,

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the amounts of garbage increase.

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Before,
we used to drink this water

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but after hurricane Paulina,

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after that
we couldn't drink it any more,

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because it was contaminated.

00:12:32.882 --> 00:12:37.327
Since then we haven't been able
to drink it.

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Why? because we would
get diarrhea, vomiting

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Why? Because the water
is highly contaminated.

00:12:49.708 --> 00:12:54.222
With the first rains,
the water runs black,

00:12:54.247 --> 00:12:57.403
with all the garbage
from Pinotepa Nacional

00:12:57.489 --> 00:12:59.144
that ends up in La Arena River.

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Dragging all the garbage
in its path.

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And we get all of it

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because Pinotepa
is not a town anymore.

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It is a city.

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It should have
a sewage treatment plant.

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But it doesn't, all that ends up
in La Arena River.

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For that to happen, I think...

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all the townships
should put pressure on

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Pinotepa Nacional so that it
builds a water treatment plant.

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That's what needs to be done,
that's my opinion.

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Soco Ta Nu'u, the Ocean's Limb

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Awaken Pinotepa!
Reduce plastic and disposables

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We need a water treatment plant,
sewage and a land fill

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I arrived here
in Pinotepa Nacional

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approximately in 1974 or  1975.

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My father was born here.

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I was born in Mexico City
but we came to live here.

00:14:48.786 --> 00:14:53.524
When I arrived, it was pretty,
very impressive,

00:14:53.549 --> 00:14:57.688
to see the streams
in the city filled with water,

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heading to what we know
as the lower regions

00:15:02.543 --> 00:15:05.535
there was a lot of water,
and a lot of vegetation.

00:15:08.918 --> 00:15:10.627
In that region,

00:15:10.965 --> 00:15:13.462
heading toward the ocean,

00:15:13.462 --> 00:15:20.124
in the towns of Corralero,
Collantes, El Ciruelo,

00:15:20.384 --> 00:15:24.399
all that area had great amounts
of water and vegetation.

00:15:28.694 --> 00:15:31.341
In the 80's
I had to return to Mexico City,

00:15:31.592 --> 00:15:33.529
to continue my education.

00:15:34.381 --> 00:15:36.108
and that's when
I noticed the difference.

00:15:36.133 --> 00:15:39.608
I go to the city for classes
and, upon return on vacations,

00:15:39.633 --> 00:15:42.562
I notice that the streams
carry less water,

00:15:43.429 --> 00:15:46.742
that there's less vegetation
around the city,

00:15:47.779 --> 00:15:50.159
that the streams
not only have less water,

00:15:50.184 --> 00:15:51.785
but that the water runs filthy.

00:15:52.169 --> 00:15:55.340
And it is impossible to drink
the water from the streams

00:15:55.365 --> 00:15:57.208
like we used to.

00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:07.827
The rainy season is increasingly
more erratic, more unstable.

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Before it was really precise,

00:16:10.180 --> 00:16:13.692
by the second week of May
it would start raining.

00:16:14.530 --> 00:16:15.968
And good rain.

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Hermenegildo Castro Lopez,
according to Mixtec tradition,

00:16:22.781 --> 00:16:26.057
would classify rain: good rain,
bad rain, normal rain...

00:16:27.411 --> 00:16:29.762
There were very good rains.

00:16:29.787 --> 00:16:33.676
It used to rain
for three, four, five days...

00:16:33.701 --> 00:16:37.505
A constant rain,
but a gentle rain...

00:16:38.178 --> 00:16:41.004
A rain that allowed aquifers
to reload.

00:16:41.934 --> 00:16:45.010
And a week would pass
and then more rain, and so on.

00:16:45.035 --> 00:16:47.761
Those were excellent rains,
they were constant.

00:16:48.667 --> 00:16:51.245
Suddenly,
what we have now is...

00:16:51.815 --> 00:16:54.807
Heavy rains
at the beginning of the season

00:16:55.198 --> 00:16:57.816
then no water
till September or November.

00:16:57.841 --> 00:17:00.703
Two more heavy rains
and then it’s over.

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It doesn't help
the aquifer to reload.

00:17:06.808 --> 00:17:10.511
You can see it
in the vegetation right away.

00:17:10.536 --> 00:17:14.668
There's not enough water to
reload with that kind of rain.

00:17:14.693 --> 00:17:17.200
But it is what we have,
insufficient rain, bad rain.

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We get shorter periods of rain.

00:17:30.325 --> 00:17:34.762
A beautiful invitation extended
by Radio Nu Kaan.

00:17:34.787 --> 00:17:38.435
This community
has a beautiful organization.

00:17:39.708 --> 00:17:43.356
We are very worried
about the increasing pollution,

00:17:43.794 --> 00:17:47.786
specially now with the lifting
of fishing restrictions

00:17:47.811 --> 00:17:49.951
on the La Arena River.

00:17:51.934 --> 00:17:56.355
It's the only river
we have in Pinotepa Nacional.

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And yet, lately,

00:18:01.761 --> 00:18:04.214
it's even more polluted

00:18:04.239 --> 00:18:06.876
because that's where
all sewage ends up.

00:18:07.131 --> 00:18:09.701
Pinotepa Nacional's sewage.

00:18:09.726 --> 00:18:12.561
From La Caña and from other
communities upstream.

00:18:13.021 --> 00:18:17.288
All sewage
ends up in the rivers.

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Now we have the great risk
that with restrictions lifted

00:18:24.147 --> 00:18:25.850
by Enrique Peña Nieto's
Government.

00:18:26.122 --> 00:18:28.809
The rivers are in real danger.

00:18:28.834 --> 00:18:31.435
That is why
it's so important that...

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The common land...

00:18:35.560 --> 00:18:38.341
here in the coast,

00:18:38.366 --> 00:18:40.420
there are two endangered rivers,

00:18:40.445 --> 00:18:42.523
the Rio Verde
and the La Arena River.

00:18:42.548 --> 00:18:46.141
If that river
is put in private hands,

00:18:46.796 --> 00:18:50.093
Pinotepa Nacional will
be left without water.

00:18:50.203 --> 00:18:53.022
We painted a mural in town

00:18:53.047 --> 00:18:56.961
saying that we are against

00:18:57.298 --> 00:18:59.141
the lifting of restrictions
on the river

00:18:59.429 --> 00:19:01.984
because the La Arena River
is in danger.

00:19:02.601 --> 00:19:07.733
But no one questions
anything, no one says anything.

00:19:07.758 --> 00:19:10.500
How is it possible that the
SEMARNAT or CONAGUA

00:19:10.630 --> 00:19:12.628
are supposed
to protect the environment,

00:19:12.800 --> 00:19:16.768
how can they be the ones
trying to implement projects

00:19:16.793 --> 00:19:18.355
against the remaining
clean water and our territories

00:19:18.380 --> 00:19:21.019
in places where they
are still protected?

00:19:21.894 --> 00:19:26.198
We said earlier that
it was a dam.

00:19:26.433 --> 00:19:31.643
But it's not just a dam.
That's just a first step.

00:19:32.050 --> 00:19:36.815
What the Government is after
is the mining industry, gold...

00:19:36.840 --> 00:19:40.285
All the resources
that are located upstream.

00:19:40.401 --> 00:19:42.822
It's not just Paso de la Reina.

00:19:42.901 --> 00:19:45.550
Accessing Paso de la Reina

00:19:45.575 --> 00:19:52.003
opens the way to implement
the projects they need

00:19:52.347 --> 00:19:54.534
without any accountability
towards us.

00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:57.823
Now is the time to fight,

00:19:58.112 --> 00:20:00.010
to defend
the little that we have

00:20:00.035 --> 00:20:02.423
which has sustained us.

00:20:02.644 --> 00:20:06.487
And not allow other corporations
or people

00:20:06.512 --> 00:20:10.458
that do not appreciate
the value of our lands

00:20:10.678 --> 00:20:12.930
and our communities,
from taking over.

00:20:26.929 --> 00:20:30.906
Better go out
to the lookout point...

00:20:36.054 --> 00:20:38.181
Good morning.

00:20:45.910 --> 00:20:48.830
Well, all those
who have faith

00:20:50.512 --> 00:20:54.390
we are going to climb a hill
that is called Yucu Chaa.

00:20:54.864 --> 00:20:59.202
In Mixtec language we call it
'Petty Hill.'

00:21:07.520 --> 00:21:10.106
This is the fourth year

00:21:11.211 --> 00:21:13.114
that we climb the hill.

00:21:13.139 --> 00:21:16.017
We plan to do it seven times,

00:21:16.985 --> 00:21:18.653
so that the rain may fall.

00:21:19.483 --> 00:21:24.029
Enough for farmers
to plant their harvest

00:21:24.362 --> 00:21:27.073
and generate abundance.

00:21:33.932 --> 00:21:36.767
We are going to get there early.

00:22:27.378 --> 00:22:29.103
It's really hot because
of all the burning,

00:22:29.128 --> 00:22:30.542
all the trees burned down.

00:22:35.176 --> 00:22:39.019
The story is that
it is a stubborn hill.

00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:46.949
A hill that won't let other
spirits have power over it.

00:22:47.482 --> 00:22:49.675
People have no mercy...

00:22:49.675 --> 00:22:50.717
It won't give in.

00:22:50.717 --> 00:22:52.636
..men have no consideration.

00:22:52.636 --> 00:22:57.011
They’ve burned down
our hill again.

00:24:00.665 --> 00:24:02.662
May we never run out of faith.

00:24:14.297 --> 00:24:19.261
We have been coming
for three years

00:24:19.286 --> 00:24:22.721
to ask our Lord to give
us water for our harvests.

00:24:22.746 --> 00:24:27.377
May we never lack water,
our Lord.

00:24:28.150 --> 00:24:31.227
This is what we need, our Lord.

00:24:31.252 --> 00:24:34.781
Bless us all, our Lord,

00:24:34.806 --> 00:24:37.767
Who come to your hill.

00:24:38.540 --> 00:24:41.696
As you have taught us,
Heavenly Father.

00:24:41.721 --> 00:24:45.107
Our father, our mother,
ancestral mother.

00:24:45.132 --> 00:24:48.071
As the Prophet Elias
in the Old Testament.

00:24:48.096 --> 00:24:51.346
Remember that there are
four heads in this world.

00:24:52.078 --> 00:24:55.832
That is why we are here,
pleading for rain.

00:24:55.857 --> 00:24:59.569
And that we may have peace
and not storm

00:24:59.594 --> 00:25:03.348
to frighten our children
or grandchildren.

00:25:03.373 --> 00:25:07.010
We ask for abundant water

00:25:07.600 --> 00:25:12.233
in our rivers
and streams and wells.

00:25:12.258 --> 00:25:15.219
Eternal Father,
and for our authorities

00:25:15.244 --> 00:25:22.900
and for all the children
in grade and middle school.

00:25:22.925 --> 00:25:26.674
And all around us, Holy Father,
Holy Mother,

00:25:26.699 --> 00:25:29.105
creator of the Heavens...

00:26:36.028 --> 00:26:37.659
Welcome to the common land
of Paso de la Reyna,

00:26:37.684 --> 00:26:38.685
hunting, fishing and logging

00:26:38.718 --> 00:26:39.719
are banned according to the
General Assembly.

00:26:39.744 --> 00:26:41.985
STOP. Look out at 50 meters

00:27:02.468 --> 00:27:06.122
Told you we would make it.
No more danger.

00:27:09.549 --> 00:27:13.713
In those times, fishing was
the main activity here.

00:27:14.689 --> 00:27:23.207
We had catfish, mullets, bass,
parrotfish, swordfish, trout.

00:27:23.571 --> 00:27:28.736
All the fresh water fish.

00:27:28.761 --> 00:27:31.514
After that,
they killed our river

00:27:31.995 --> 00:27:34.828
and all those species were gone.

00:27:36.972 --> 00:27:41.037
That was during the government
of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

00:27:41.062 --> 00:27:42.855
In the 1960s,

00:27:43.192 --> 00:27:47.663
that's when the people from
the government started coming.

00:27:47.688 --> 00:27:50.035
Because they were government
no one could do anything

00:27:50.060 --> 00:27:53.085
they would make these huge
paths, hill to opposite hill,

00:27:53.163 --> 00:27:55.081
they would cut down the
trees in our fruit orchards

00:27:55.106 --> 00:27:58.535
knock them down
and make a total mess.

00:27:58.943 --> 00:28:02.613
But we were completely isolated

00:28:02.638 --> 00:28:06.684
we had no information,
we didn't even know our rights

00:28:07.332 --> 00:28:09.918
as a community,
as indigenous people.

00:28:09.943 --> 00:28:14.052
So we let them run free,
they did what they wanted.

00:28:14.996 --> 00:28:19.691
But for a long time
they were planning for this dam.

00:28:20.207 --> 00:28:21.379
Initially we were in favor,

00:28:21.404 --> 00:28:23.722
we thought the community
would benefit

00:28:23.747 --> 00:28:25.886
that there would be development,

00:28:25.911 --> 00:28:29.043
that we would have a paved road
and all that.

00:28:29.068 --> 00:28:30.521
We were excited, right?

00:28:41.703 --> 00:28:44.311
From this point to over there

00:28:44.336 --> 00:28:48.194
they wanted to flood 7660 acres.

00:28:48.749 --> 00:28:51.842
All the way
to Santa Cruz Sesontepec.

00:28:52.704 --> 00:28:54.914
Yes, from that hill.

00:28:54.939 --> 00:28:57.942
Yes, that hill, on that side.

00:29:00.269 --> 00:29:03.043
From this hill
to this other one.

00:29:03.953 --> 00:29:07.206
This belongs to the municipality
of Tataltepec de Valdes

00:29:08.265 --> 00:29:13.398
So their plan was that once
the construction was completed,

00:29:13.636 --> 00:29:16.764
floodgates here would open
and water would flow out.

00:29:17.366 --> 00:29:19.175
For those of us who live here,

00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:23.039
we would see water
run only at night.

00:29:23.776 --> 00:29:26.522
But only during two hours
because once floodgates open

00:29:26.547 --> 00:29:29.550
water flows out
and generates power.

00:29:29.984 --> 00:29:32.312
Turbines start working
and water flows out.

00:29:32.978 --> 00:29:35.686
And that water was to be held

00:29:35.711 --> 00:29:39.423
in the other dam,
the exchange dam...

00:29:39.449 --> 00:29:43.072
The lower part of the community,
down by the...

00:29:43.143 --> 00:29:46.400
sign that says
'Welcome to Paso de la Reina.'

00:29:46.941 --> 00:29:51.086
Down by the plains, right?

00:29:51.111 --> 00:29:56.658
All that area was supposed to
be flooded by the second dam.

00:29:56.683 --> 00:30:00.452
When the big boss comes,
his last name is Zurutuza.

00:30:00.658 --> 00:30:03.268
He is the big guy.

00:30:03.322 --> 00:30:05.228
He finally brings a scale model.

00:30:05.594 --> 00:30:09.820
And you can see in the model,
the two sets of floodgates.

00:30:10.374 --> 00:30:14.484
Not just this 340ft,
one but the exchange dam,

00:30:14.540 --> 00:30:17.211
from 82 to 98ft, downstream.

00:30:17.653 --> 00:30:22.061
We would have ended up
as ants in the water.

00:30:22.309 --> 00:30:25.099
So people said,
"No, what is this?"

00:30:25.124 --> 00:30:29.122
They were ready with sandwiches
and drinks, but no.

00:30:29.187 --> 00:30:32.406
And that's
when we started organizing.

00:30:33.327 --> 00:30:36.891
Even after
they were barred from coming in.

00:30:36.891 --> 00:30:39.436
They kept coming in.

00:30:39.461 --> 00:30:42.945
No respect for the
community's decision.

00:30:42.969 --> 00:30:45.404
So then we organized

00:30:45.733 --> 00:30:48.945
with the help
of lawyers from EDUCA.

00:30:48.945 --> 00:30:52.999
We organized, formed teams
to protect the common place.

00:30:53.063 --> 00:30:56.688
And down by the lookout,
that's where we kept watch.

00:30:57.710 --> 00:30:59.477
We watched day and night.

00:30:59.502 --> 00:31:01.035
-During seven years.
-Yes.

00:31:01.060 --> 00:31:03.688
Ceasing the struggle
is beginning to die.

00:31:04.462 --> 00:31:07.522
It's quiet now because
in the first lawsuit

00:31:07.547 --> 00:31:11.872
was to get the power company
out of the community.

00:31:12.664 --> 00:31:14.760
And we managed
to drive them out.

00:31:15.414 --> 00:31:17.210
They left and once
hey took their things

00:31:17.235 --> 00:31:20.437
left the offices
and went to Cuernavaca.

00:31:21.163 --> 00:31:22.528
They were gone.

00:31:22.553 --> 00:31:26.403
They were the danger
to us, running around here.

00:31:26.748 --> 00:31:30.460
Once they left,
we also backed down.

00:31:30.485 --> 00:31:32.391
Because there was
no immediate danger.

00:31:32.642 --> 00:31:36.523
But we are always
on the look out.

00:31:37.327 --> 00:31:39.287
We have an alarm system

00:31:39.312 --> 00:31:42.461
-to warn people
-How do you do it?

00:31:43.022 --> 00:31:44.215
With the church bells.

00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:48.077
We ring bells
in a different way.

00:31:48.102 --> 00:31:51.773
Not like during celebrations
but it is a fast ringing.

00:31:51.798 --> 00:31:54.092
Emergency bells to get ready.

00:31:58.971 --> 00:32:00.572
Danger is imminent

00:32:00.597 --> 00:32:03.722
because as long as we don't
have a formal document,

00:32:03.747 --> 00:32:07.004
that cancels
the project down permanently,

00:32:07.029 --> 00:32:08.110
there is danger for us.

00:32:08.135 --> 00:32:12.111
We are on the lookout,
we are working on that.

00:32:12.190 --> 00:32:14.057
We don't relax.

00:32:14.587 --> 00:32:17.227
We'll relax the day that we know

00:32:17.252 --> 00:32:20.630
that the project is cancelled
and here is the paperwork.

00:32:20.984 --> 00:32:23.445
Then we'll be able
to live in peace.

00:32:23.501 --> 00:32:25.999
But we are not there yet.

00:32:59.393 --> 00:33:01.026
How many water bottles
do we have?

00:33:01.059 --> 00:33:03.855
Eleven, twelve.

00:33:05.848 --> 00:33:10.283
Once there we can make a well,
there's water there.

00:33:17.851 --> 00:33:22.851
When will they get to Corralero,
at noon?

00:33:35.706 --> 00:33:38.493
We have always done this,
every year.

00:33:38.518 --> 00:33:40.182
Since our ancestors,

00:33:40.207 --> 00:33:42.347
grandparents
and great grandparents.

00:33:42.462 --> 00:33:45.026
And those no longer with us.

00:33:45.161 --> 00:33:50.614
And we maintain the custom and
tradition to go bring the rain.

00:33:57.804 --> 00:34:01.974
Even if we wear these clothes,
we are still indigenous people.

00:34:02.324 --> 00:34:07.058
...it means "Indigenous People."

00:34:08.111 --> 00:34:10.682
Even if we wear these clothes,

00:34:10.857 --> 00:34:14.325
we are indigenous people,
all of us.

00:34:15.141 --> 00:34:18.569
And we like this tradition,
so we continue doing it.

00:34:45.281 --> 00:34:50.369
Welcome to Corralero, Oaxaca

00:35:37.109 --> 00:35:40.585
There you go,
it’s not going to bite.

00:36:20.225 --> 00:36:23.107
The first step was to eat.

00:36:23.132 --> 00:36:29.822
No we can ask for rain
at Peña de Cristo.

00:36:29.847 --> 00:36:34.143
Which is about 2.5 miles away.

00:36:34.924 --> 00:36:38.549
There we carry out a prayer.

00:36:47.814 --> 00:36:49.329
Here everything gets on fire,

00:36:49.354 --> 00:36:51.971
if you start a fire,
it will keep going.

00:37:48.257 --> 00:37:50.634
Yucu Tunduti

00:37:50.659 --> 00:37:54.782
We call it Cacahuananche
(Mother of Cocoa) Hill.

00:37:55.367 --> 00:37:58.812
Mestizos call it Peña de Cristo.

00:38:13.240 --> 00:38:16.939
They say that down there,
deep down,

00:38:17.337 --> 00:38:19.642
there is a Christ figure.

00:38:20.810 --> 00:38:25.696
And it has become a tradition,
we come here to pray.

00:38:25.858 --> 00:38:28.240
To ask the God of Rain

00:38:28.698 --> 00:38:31.213
that we may be well,
that we may have water,

00:38:31.238 --> 00:38:33.238
that we may have wellness.

00:38:33.503 --> 00:38:38.003
Water mainly, so that we may be
able to keep living.

00:38:57.681 --> 00:39:01.642
Those of us from here,
the natives,

00:39:02.025 --> 00:39:03.618
we used to believe in the Gods!

00:39:03.643 --> 00:39:08.314
There was the God of Fire,
there was...

00:39:08.918 --> 00:39:11.921
the Father of Rain, Our Father:
rain.

00:39:12.897 --> 00:39:16.957
Of course, it all disappeared
when Christianity arrived.

00:39:17.443 --> 00:39:20.013
We became Christians,
they made us Christians.

00:40:17.136 --> 00:40:20.191
No littering in the lagoon.
The Health Committee.

00:40:23.340 --> 00:40:28.136
This lagoon used
to be alive, full of fish.

00:40:28.343 --> 00:40:32.947
And most of us
who live here by the lagoon,

00:40:33.791 --> 00:40:36.018
we live off of the fishing.

00:40:36.682 --> 00:40:40.767
But pollution
of the lagoon is terrible.

00:40:41.169 --> 00:40:43.387
There's insufficient
oxygen intake

00:40:43.412 --> 00:40:46.817
so that the scarce
remaining fish can survive.

00:40:52.874 --> 00:40:57.671
About 20 or 30 fishermen,
tourists as well,

00:40:57.696 --> 00:41:00.950
who have, unfortunately, died.

00:41:00.975 --> 00:41:04.399
But it is all due to the
siltation of the river mouth.

00:41:04.820 --> 00:41:07.062
Neither previous governments,
nor the current one,

00:41:07.265 --> 00:41:08.965
are paying attention
to this case.

00:41:09.020 --> 00:41:11.273
To this serious problem
that we have.

00:41:11.481 --> 00:41:13.168
And not just Corralero,

00:41:13.942 --> 00:41:16.605
but all these Afro Mexican
fishing communities.

00:41:16.630 --> 00:41:19.466
Afro Mexican fishermen
who have this problem.

00:41:28.379 --> 00:41:30.214
There's not enough lagoon
to go around.

00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:36.595
We need the river mouth
to be permanently open.

00:41:36.626 --> 00:41:38.879
Because it is via
the river mouth

00:41:38.904 --> 00:41:42.298
that the lagoon system
stays alive.

00:41:42.546 --> 00:41:48.760
When the high tide comes in it
feeds the entire lagoon system.

00:41:49.093 --> 00:41:55.225
It brings unending shellfish,
mollusks...

00:41:55.913 --> 00:41:57.611
It enriches the lagoon.

00:41:57.815 --> 00:42:01.073
But with this problem
we've had for years,

00:42:01.098 --> 00:42:02.613
The lagoon is getting worse,

00:42:02.638 --> 00:42:06.119
it's polluting the surroundings,
it is standing water.

00:42:06.144 --> 00:42:08.847
It's like having a pond there.

00:42:15.575 --> 00:42:18.912
They say
the Corralero Lagoon is closed

00:42:19.109 --> 00:42:22.831
because excessive trammel use
in the river mouth

00:42:22.856 --> 00:42:26.246
They say the Corralero Lagoon
is closed

00:42:26.271 --> 00:42:30.841
because excessive trammel use
in the river mouth...

00:42:38.169 --> 00:42:40.421
Before the lagoon
used to be natural.

00:42:40.570 --> 00:42:44.324
When it filled up,
it reached its own level.

00:42:44.349 --> 00:42:48.863
We could open the river mouth
with picks and shovels.

00:42:48.888 --> 00:42:51.716
Just a few of us with shovels
from Minitán and Corralero.

00:42:53.452 --> 00:42:57.271
We could carve out
a small channel in the sand

00:42:57.296 --> 00:42:59.022
so the water could flow out.

00:42:59.047 --> 00:43:00.672
That would break out the water.

00:43:00.697 --> 00:43:03.976
Water would flow out and
the lagoon level would go down.

00:43:04.001 --> 00:43:07.136
And we could fish
all the big fish in the lagoon.

00:43:07.161 --> 00:43:09.610
We could catch them
as they came in.

00:43:09.883 --> 00:43:13.553
The bass, the parrotfish,
flapping around.

00:43:14.495 --> 00:43:16.764
They would kill people
but we would fish big.

00:43:16.789 --> 00:43:19.124
Because that fish
would go to the ocean.

00:43:20.513 --> 00:43:23.692
A month later only small fish
would return.

00:43:24.232 --> 00:43:27.002
Like now, with all the dredging
that they did,

00:43:27.027 --> 00:43:29.808
now fish just come in,
grow, and then leaves.

00:43:34.955 --> 00:43:37.394
This lagoon is called
Alotengo Lagoon.

00:43:38.047 --> 00:43:41.847
It includes the towns
of Corralero,

00:43:41.943 --> 00:43:43.810
Pie del Cerro,
La Noria, Minitan,

00:43:43.835 --> 00:43:46.592
Banco de Oro and El Jicaro,
Mariano Matamoros.

00:43:48.037 --> 00:43:50.045
There used to be water
up to here.

00:43:51.122 --> 00:43:54.000
Now it has gone down
to this level.

00:44:00.962 --> 00:44:04.399
It's really
hurting us fishermen.

00:44:05.108 --> 00:44:08.842
There were no fish because it
was deep, the fish were dying.

00:44:17.425 --> 00:44:19.651
This is the reserve
that we protect.

00:44:19.878 --> 00:44:21.963
It is better known
as "La Piedra".

00:44:22.448 --> 00:44:29.188
From here to La Verdolaga
and all the way to Los Cajones.

00:44:29.213 --> 00:44:33.923
This is what we protect,
no spear fishing.

00:44:34.064 --> 00:44:38.103
No diving,
you can only fish with rope

00:44:38.128 --> 00:44:42.001
or large nets,
not the smaller ones.

00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:46.470
We made those rules in 2010.

00:44:48.384 --> 00:44:51.913
We made an agreement to protect
the lagoon

00:44:51.938 --> 00:44:55.086
because too many people
were blasting the lagoon.

00:44:55.895 --> 00:45:00.107
And when you blast the water
you kill the small fish.

00:45:00.770 --> 00:45:04.148
And that affects us
because it inhibits fish growth.

00:45:33.345 --> 00:45:36.541
This used to be water,
we used to fish here.

00:45:38.463 --> 00:45:43.298
Look at all the mud.
That's the dredging machine.

00:45:45.323 --> 00:45:48.760
But to no use because
it all went back in the lagoon.

00:45:50.347 --> 00:45:52.941
The dredger is a kind of machine

00:45:53.864 --> 00:45:59.278
with an underwater drill
that dredges up mud,

00:45:59.303 --> 00:46:04.134
and a hose siphons it off
to the dry part, over here.

00:46:04.619 --> 00:46:10.329
All the dirt from below gets
thrown out as if it were a pump,

00:46:10.354 --> 00:46:11.853
a water pump.

00:46:12.132 --> 00:46:15.123
All the garbage, rotted leaves

00:46:15.148 --> 00:46:16.815
and throws it out
to the dry part.

00:46:17.600 --> 00:46:20.014
But here it did not good
because it just took out,

00:46:20.426 --> 00:46:22.902
but it's flowing back out
to the lagoon again.

00:46:24.543 --> 00:46:26.855
Here we used to catch
parrotfish, catfish, shrimp...

00:46:26.880 --> 00:46:29.761
In this part where we are...
Flathead, mojarra...

00:46:31.003 --> 00:46:34.299
But now look at it...
Wilderness, dirt.

00:46:36.651 --> 00:46:39.447
I don't know why the government
agreed to do this.

00:46:39.472 --> 00:46:40.954
They shouldn't have.

00:46:40.979 --> 00:46:44.759
Fish went off to the ocean
or into hiding.

00:46:47.402 --> 00:46:50.086
It's critical now.

00:46:50.899 --> 00:46:54.493
No use in that dredging of
the river mouth that they did.

00:46:56.415 --> 00:46:58.040
Before,
when it opened up normally,

00:46:58.065 --> 00:47:00.416
water would rise when it rained.

00:47:00.559 --> 00:47:02.204
And when they opened up the
river mouth,

00:47:02.229 --> 00:47:05.337
the lagoon would go down.

00:47:05.362 --> 00:47:07.677
And that is
what the tradition was.

00:47:08.283 --> 00:47:10.379
When it was raining,

00:47:10.854 --> 00:47:13.276
the lagoon would be full when
they opened up the river mouth

00:47:13.301 --> 00:47:15.394
the rain would leave,
no more rain.

00:47:16.232 --> 00:47:18.210
And that tradition comes
from the elders.

00:47:18.235 --> 00:47:20.613
When the folks from Corralero
open up the river mouth

00:47:20.638 --> 00:47:22.181
the water withdraws.

00:47:22.729 --> 00:47:24.764
But now we don't know,
since the river mouth is open,

00:47:24.789 --> 00:47:27.673
it's hard to know
if it's true or if it's not.

00:47:38.615 --> 00:47:41.222
It's as if it were brick

00:47:47.481 --> 00:47:51.513
My name
is Taurino Cortés Vargas.

00:47:53.092 --> 00:47:55.678
I’m from here,
the community of La Noria.

00:47:56.340 --> 00:47:59.580
I don’t think the river mouth
is to blame.

00:48:00.339 --> 00:48:05.829
Instead, I’ve been thinking
that it doesn't rain.

00:48:06.589 --> 00:48:07.916
It doesn't rain enough

00:48:08.236 --> 00:48:14.235
because we ourselves
are destroying the trees.

00:48:15.667 --> 00:48:19.973
I don't know if you realize
that it's the big trees

00:48:20.009 --> 00:48:22.553
who bring the water.

00:48:23.150 --> 00:48:27.953
And we destroy, 25-50 acres.

00:48:27.978 --> 00:48:29.934
And then another 25.

00:48:29.959 --> 00:48:32.921
We just destroy, there’s no...

00:48:34.680 --> 00:48:40.135
There are no species
to draw the water.

00:48:40.455 --> 00:48:46.931
We just have small trees
that can't draw the water.

00:48:47.440 --> 00:48:51.854
That's been our problem.
That we destroy.

00:48:52.690 --> 00:48:54.869
We destroy but we don't plant.

00:48:56.018 --> 00:48:57.088
That's it.

00:48:57.167 --> 00:49:00.721
That is what has reduced
the rain.

00:49:01.158 --> 00:49:04.728
Because we ourselves
we just destroy.

00:49:15.195 --> 00:49:18.490
Sometimes one is laying
down over there, on that rock...

00:49:18.935 --> 00:49:25.826
And suddenly you hear a sound,
like a boom.

00:49:26.490 --> 00:49:29.572
You just hear it
and stay like...

00:49:29.597 --> 00:49:36.350
And the birds start chirping...
And that's it.

00:49:37.263 --> 00:49:41.333
That's why I say that there's
something in this lagoon.

00:49:41.358 --> 00:49:47.357
A mystery, something,
maybe we haven't found yet.

00:50:07.332 --> 00:50:12.528
This was the center,
the tabletop,

00:50:12.826 --> 00:50:15.954
where they gathered to discuss
and solve their problems.

00:50:16.357 --> 00:50:18.442
And that's why clouds formed.

00:50:18.467 --> 00:50:23.420
But it was them roaming,
with the power they had.

00:51:45.389 --> 00:51:48.419
She is known as "The Old Woman,"
the rain.

00:51:48.538 --> 00:51:53.293
the Goddess Rain,
Ma A Cha Nu, the old woman.

00:51:54.147 --> 00:51:56.069
That's why they say
the old woman's house,

00:51:56.102 --> 00:51:57.352
This is where she lived.

00:51:57.377 --> 00:52:02.138
Ndatu is fate,
that's why this is a request.

00:52:02.638 --> 00:52:05.833
We are coming
to ask for a favor,

00:52:06.114 --> 00:52:10.386
that’s why we say
"Ma Ndatu Savi."

00:52:10.411 --> 00:52:14.073
let's ask her for water
but as a favor.

00:52:14.098 --> 00:52:16.121
In good faith, as goodwill.

00:52:16.146 --> 00:52:19.082
Enough water without heavy rain.

00:52:26.648 --> 00:52:33.675
The story is that the old woman
fell ill...

00:52:37.055 --> 00:52:40.359
So she told her two sons,

00:52:40.793 --> 00:52:43.643
"take me to the ocean,
if I go to the ocean,

00:52:43.668 --> 00:52:46.504
and swim in the ocean
I'll be cured."

00:52:51.180 --> 00:52:54.971
They had to walk
and walk and walk...

00:52:55.810 --> 00:52:59.014
...till they reached the rocks.

00:53:04.061 --> 00:53:07.677
The old woman swam
into the ocean for a while

00:53:07.702 --> 00:53:12.165
then she came out and said,
"sons, now I feel better."

00:53:12.686 --> 00:53:14.229
"I am cured."

00:53:14.881 --> 00:53:16.383
"Thank you, children."

00:53:16.673 --> 00:53:20.342
"Sad for you but,
on the other hand...

00:53:20.790 --> 00:53:24.897
...rejoice, because
I'll be here, waiting.

00:53:24.922 --> 00:53:27.883
...if ever you want to visit me,
I’ll be here."

00:53:49.453 --> 00:53:53.958
Praised be, my Lord...

00:53:53.983 --> 00:53:58.279
...praised be, my Lord....

00:53:59.501 --> 00:54:03.964
singing the Universe
in all its Beauty

00:54:04.618 --> 00:54:14.587
with all its creatures,
a song of love.

00:54:15.935 --> 00:54:25.518
Praised be, my Lord.

00:54:26.428 --> 00:54:31.563
Singing the Universe
in all its Beauty

00:54:31.588 --> 00:54:43.283
with all its creatures,
a song of love.

00:54:57.809 --> 00:55:05.498
One of the reasons
I decided to be near a school

00:55:05.523 --> 00:55:08.835
or work in education
of the youth,

00:55:09.173 --> 00:55:14.131
is to try to plant the idea
in young people.

00:55:14.766 --> 00:55:19.133
To plant the idea that we
need to change, we need to care.

00:55:19.158 --> 00:55:21.638
There is no interest in water.

00:55:21.663 --> 00:55:25.686
Water is the most important
thing in life.

00:55:25.734 --> 00:55:31.713
Water is life in everything,
in us, in animals,

00:55:31.738 --> 00:55:34.324
in all plants that we have.

00:55:34.928 --> 00:55:36.859
And here is
where the battle begins

00:55:36.884 --> 00:55:41.351
because they are going
to fight to be recognized

00:55:41.376 --> 00:55:43.178
because they think
that they are right.

00:55:43.248 --> 00:55:47.771
And we are going to keep
fighting that we are right,

00:55:47.796 --> 00:55:49.480
because we are the natives here.

00:55:50.781 --> 00:55:53.211
What is here belongs to us
not to them!

00:55:57.584 --> 00:56:02.685
Really, we grew up here,
live here and here we will die.

00:56:16.668 --> 00:56:18.780
I remember this one time...

00:56:19.114 --> 00:56:22.075
it started raining in May.

00:56:22.461 --> 00:56:26.668
We were walking back
down when the storm hit.

00:56:26.999 --> 00:56:29.178
We reached the church
in the rain.

00:56:29.368 --> 00:56:31.968
We could barely stand the cold.

00:56:31.993 --> 00:56:34.922
We were drenched
the whole way down.

00:56:35.548 --> 00:56:39.633
But we are happy because
our plead was answered.

00:56:53.764 --> 00:56:56.663
Now with all this technology...

00:56:58.021 --> 00:57:01.293
This new project
that would mean more fish,

00:57:01.318 --> 00:57:04.005
we would have better harvests...

00:57:04.325 --> 00:57:06.120
There can't be more fish.

00:57:06.145 --> 00:57:08.104
When they open up
the river mouth

00:57:08.104 --> 00:57:10.447
that's when the rain
becomes scarce.

00:57:21.050 --> 00:57:23.153
There's no fish in the lagoon.

00:57:27.168 --> 00:57:29.668
They went back to the ocean when
they opened the river mouth.

00:57:30.368 --> 00:57:33.312
This hill here
is a limb of the ocean.

00:57:35.066 --> 00:57:38.226
There is a connection
with the lagoon.

00:57:53.169 --> 00:57:54.588
Next one.

00:58:27.663 --> 00:58:29.456
So that it comes back to life.

00:58:29.535 --> 00:58:31.162
There comes a sprout.

00:58:31.679 --> 00:58:33.683
Look, it's sprouting

00:58:35.304 --> 00:58:37.499
That's why I give it life.

00:58:38.876 --> 00:58:40.046
Where?

00:58:40.585 --> 00:58:44.281
It's green here,
I pinched it.

00:58:44.306 --> 00:58:47.649
That's why I am watering it,
so it revives.

00:58:56.216 --> 00:58:57.646
There's something.

00:58:58.443 --> 00:59:00.521
We all seek something,
I seek something.

00:59:01.536 --> 00:59:06.309
He seeks something, the young as
well, everyone seeks something.

00:59:06.334 --> 00:59:08.117
It isn't for nothing.

00:59:08.648 --> 00:59:10.036
And we will find it.

00:59:11.237 --> 00:59:14.574
Because look...
This breath is a god.

00:59:15.379 --> 00:59:18.667
This breath is a god,
and that spirit listens.

00:59:20.342 --> 00:59:21.677
And there is no other way.

00:59:24.096 --> 00:59:25.222
I say.

00:59:26.512 --> 00:59:28.900
Or what do you think?

00:59:39.355 --> 00:59:42.761
May the Universe and the Heavens
Bless Thee and Thy Son

00:59:42.786 --> 00:59:45.178
That we may be blessed
with water in abundance

00:59:45.345 --> 00:59:48.014
abundance for our cattle,
bean and green chile.

00:59:49.908 --> 00:59:56.573
The Luck of Water.

00:59:58.191 --> 01:00:00.980
To those who have died
in Paso de la Reyna

01:00:01.005 --> 01:00:02.922
defending the Rio Verde.

01:00:02.946 --> 01:00:05.659
In memoriam Jaime Jimenez
and Felipe Garcia Hernandez