The following report was written by the community of El Mayor so that in their own words and from their own experience you can learn what it is that has occured on their land. 1. Traditional and official name of the community: Indigenous Community – El Mayor 2. Indigenous family name: Cucapá 3. Location: Km. 57 off of (5 Hwy) Mexicali-San Felipe 4. Weather: Arrid (extreme desert climate) 5. Population: 135 members of the community including children and elders. 6. History: 6.1 How the community was as far as: Territory (extension, natural resources, communication with other indigenous groups): Extension: Our Elders strategically in "mojoneras" (rocky hills) to ubicados en lugares estratégicos, fue de esta manera como los mayores decidieron delimitar, protegiendo lugares muy específicos como Cerro Prieto, Laguna Salada, Pozo del Coyote, por mencionar algunos, así como sitios sagrados. Natural resources: mining, stones, fishing, hunting, natural resources from Cerro Prieto such as; fruits and wild seeds, honey, medicinal & combustible (ex: mesquite) plants. Communication with other groups: Primarily with the Kumiai (Kumeyaay) of La Huerta during their traditional celebration, also because we share some blood through some of the clans. From La Huerta they would bring dried fruits, piñón (similar to acorn but longer) & acorns. Communication was always open with the Cucapá of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora and groups on the other side. 6.2 Internal communal structure (the manner in which internal decisions were made, tasks & duties, the role of youth, women, children and elders in the community, the relationship of the community leaders with the government). The manner in which governance took place was traditional, the community named its representatives and they were our leaders. Decisions were made as a whole with the community. The role of youth was to put in practice what they learned as well as working the principal tasks of the community. Women would care for the children, prepare food, make jewelry & crafts, pottery, weaving and they were the primary proponents of our culture. Children would help based on their knowledge and abilities as well as learn from participating. Elders were always aware of all community matters and activities. Community leaders had no relation with the government. 6.3 Culture (language, clothing, crafts, food, housing, medicine, ceremony, games, song & dance, oral traditions, community law, rituals) Language: all the community members spoke the Cucapá language. Dress: Everyone had his or her own way of dressing. Women: long dresses, with a cloth similar to a bandana covering the head, used huaraches or walked barefoot, used braided long hair or loose and they adorned themselves mainly with crafts or beadwork. Men: they also used their hair long, denim pants, flannel shirts, with huaraches or barefoot, they would also wear a cloth similar to a bandana to cover the head, the blankets were done by the women, sewing together small pieces of fabric. They also used the skins of animals they hunted to dress and cover themselves. Arts & Crafts: Pectoral necklaces made of beads & shells, skirts made of mesquite crust & willow, pottery, traps made of reeds and branches, cradles made of reeds and branches and weaving using reeds and branches. Food: Fresh & dried fish, bishop’s weed, ironwood bark, tule roots, fish atole, duck, lamb, deer, atole, wheat tortillas, mesquite pods (seeds), bread made of mesquite pods, quail, hare & rabbit, snakes, wild wheat, dried fruits, piñón y acorns (sweets). Housing: Some where made of reeds and branches other of adobe with roofs made of reeds, branches and tule. Medicine: Herbs and other natural elements. Ceremonies: for funerals. Games: Piak (p’yak) was played with sticks and balls made of ironwood (similar to croquet). Song & Dance: The community would have celebrations when the Cucapá from San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora would visit. Oral Traditions: from Elders to children (history and storytelling). Community Law: There weren’t too many problems but it did exist. Rituals: Used for healing. 6.4 Health (traditional medicine, healers, herbalism, midwives) Everything exerted from herbs and other natural elements, in childbirth it was rigorous & very hard for the mother and newborn. 6.5 Development (agriculture, fishing, cattle ranch, gathering of seeds, fruits & honey, basketwork & pottery, hunting) Agriculture: Riverbeds were used for its fertile soil: maize, pumpkin, beans, chile and tomato were grown for community consumption. Fishing: Fishing was done by canoes and dropping nets. Cattle raising: Some would raise horses and cattle along with chickens. Gathering of seeds, fruits & honey: The majority of the community would partake in this task. Basketwork & pottery: Baskets, pots, jugs and other utensils were created for use in the kitchen as well as for storing water, seeds and grains. Hunting: Men would hunt deer, wild lamb, quail & duck. 6.6 Self-sufficiency (nourishment, transportation, of organization) Nourishment: hunting, fishing, harvesting and agriculture achieved this. Transportation: On foot or by horseback. Organization: Free because there was no outside influence. 6.7 Housing (materials used) Reeds, branches, tule & adobe. 6.8 Education (how the teachings of language, of culture, who teaches, what was taught) Teaching of the language: It was learned at home and in coexisting on a daily basis with the community, in general, our culture was learned in the same manner. Who taught: The adults or any person who already had knowledge. What was taught: Every aspect needed to live within the community. 7. THE PRESENT - How the community is as far as: 7.1 Territory (extension, natural resources, communication with other indigenous groups): Extension: The territory has seriously been reduced on account that ejidos, and private properties have been created along with invasions by corporations. The Secretary of the Agrarian Reformation (SRA in it’s Spanish acronym), the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Towns (CDI), the State Government State, as well as the Local Congress among others, created and fomented the domination and influence of a cacique within the community and the result has been the destruction of our territory. Agrarian Reform (SRA) was the cause of which today a great number of people exists who are not indigenous but that nevertheless posses a certificate of agrarian rights and as it is obvious demand land to sell with the aid of the program Procede or Procecom that this same dependency imposed in the community, whereas we the indigenous people "are not legally recognized" on our own land because we do not have a certificate issued by the government. In the year of 1980 the river was raised and the community flooded, they then relocated us to where we now live. Along with us they relocated others into our community who are not indigenous. Mr. Mosqueda is the "owner" of one of the fields along the river, this gentleman sued the US government when the river flooded and they paid to him, damages, that is that he ended up winning, is not indigenous and has a shrimp farm on indigenous land. Natural resources: The few that are sacked indiscriminately. On June 10th of 1993 the federal government decreed the delta a Protected Zone, The Reserve of the Biosphere, preventing fishing by the Cucapá, arguing that we caused an ecological impact. We have been witnesses of how other cooperatives enter and capture tons of fish under the consent of the same government, and they still deny us the right to fish knowing that it is an ancestral activity for survival. The other requirement is that we must work under their laws and lately the government offered us the opportunity do recreational fishing, which is a great offense to us. In 1980 the first permits were granted to the first communal cooperative that was called Jawimak, nowadays to be fisherman means to be delinquent. The army and navy, the corporations who benefit from these same waters that are in the Biosphere are armed and are a constant danger to us. Communication with the other indigenous groups: The creation of private property and ejidos has created walls & fences that close paths that from ancestral times our people walked and this does not allow for communication here in Mexico. On the other side it is no longer possible and it is even more difficult and because of the border, it is no longer possible to visit neither by cultural nor familiar ways. 7.2 Internal communal structure (the manner in which internal decisions were made, tasks & duties, the role of youth, women, children and elders in the community, the relationship of the community leaders with the government and civil associations NGO’s and with society as a whole). Internal leadership and governance: There is no government, the agrarian regime ended the forms of internal organization imposing authorities that do not even live within the community, but that the government recognizes them as our representatives, these people decide for us. Decision-making: At level of clans or families. Relations with traditional and Mexican government: Those that impose themselves as traditional authority are complices with the Mexican government and the result ends in damage to the indigenous peoples. Personal benefits and sacking of resources are the only results. Relations with NGO’s: These only serve to use the communities buying the will of those who say they are our representatives using the name of the community to sack the culture as it is in the case of the Institute of Native Cultures (CUNA), a civil association that supposedly supports the community. Of its empowered general and anthropologist Mike Wilken Robertson and his president Javier Ceseña, we do not see clear its work in "benefit" of us, another case is the one of Consultancy of the Indigenous Towns in the North of Mexico A.C. (Consultoría de los Pueblos Indígenas en el Norte de México A.C.), its licensed representative Patricia Creek Kings, who also "works" for us mainly making management and impelling the state law. Relation with society: It is good as long as we deal with people who understand to us. 7.3 Culture (language, clothing, crafts, food, housing, medicine, ceremony, games, song & dance, oral traditions, community law, rituals) Language: It is rarely spoken even by some elders. Dress: Traditional dress is no longer used. Arts & Crafts: Some people still do beadwork. Food: We sometimes use traditional food. Housing: They are squared shacks made cement with wood ceilings, some are of wood (walls and ceiling), others have walls made of wood and asbestos ceiling, (the asbestos was what the government gave us when we were relocated). Ceremonies: On some occasions they are practiced. Games: No longer practiced, only a few play. Song & Dance: No longer practiced. Oral Tradition: No longer practiced. Communal Law: No longer practiced. Rituals: Rarely practiced. Museum: Handled by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in complicity with some members of the community, it is not of benefit to the community. 7.4 Health (traditional medicine, healers, herbalism, midwives, government healthcare, social security and others) Traditional Medicine: None. Government Healthcare: A module of health service with a very deficient, almost null service exists. 7.5 Development (agriculture, fishing, cattle ranch, gathering of seeds, fruits & honey, basketwork & pottery, hunting) Fishing: Prohibited by the Mexican government. Cattle Raising. None. Gathering of seeds, fruits & honey. None. Basketwork & pottery: No longer done. Hunting: No longer done. Employment outside the community: All people work outside the community in different things. 7.6 Self-sufficiency (nourishment, transportation, of organization) Nourishment: Depends on how much money one makes. Transportation: Some have their personal car. Organization: By family. Electrical energy: We pay the consumption to the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE) although the geothermal plant of Cerro Prieto is within our territory and is considered a sacred site. Water supply: We do not have autonomy in the use of the water, we pay the government for its use. 7.7 Housing (materials used) Cement blocks, wood, and asbestos. 7.8 Education (how the teachings of language, of culture, who teaches, what is the consequence of the government issued education, what is taught and what it serves). There is no teaching of our language, or of the culture, nobody teaches. The consequences of government issued education are very serious. This is the main cause in the loss of the language and culture, the system of indigenous education that the state operates has much responsibility, it only serves to accommodate the relatives and close friends to Armandina González Castro that has for many years been supervisor of education – took control of kinder and elementary destroying our indigenous culture, in complicity with the educative and other authorities of all the levels of government. We have understood that these "professors" are paid to be bilingual and to teach in our indigenous language, but how she can teach something that she does not know and matters nothing to them. The only thing of interest is her paycheck, because the children who attend the community do not even learn to read or write. She does not let the children grow their hair and the children are discouraged from going to school. All this is not taken into account. As far as the Telesecundaria (Jr High by way of video), this is the only thing that works to some degree, but if so it must begin with teaching to read and write. Most receive this kind of Jr High education by video.