USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    China
    Home / China / World

    Once-thriving Mayas struggle for survival

    By Henry Morales in Guatemala City | China Daily | Updated: 2012-12-20 08:07

     Once-thriving Mayas struggle for survival

    Top: Mayan shamans perform a purification ritual during celebrations for the upcoming end - Dec 21 - of the Maya cycle known as Bak'tun 13 and the start of the new Maya Era, at the Kaminal Juyu site in Guatemala City, on Tuesday. Johan Ordonez / Agence France-Presse Above: A Mexican man wearing a costume performs at a tourist area of Playa del Carmen in Mexico. Pedro Pardo / Agence France-Presse

    At its peak, the Mayan civilization had one of the richest cultures in the Americas. Today, ethnic Mayas in Central America and Mexico suffer from discrimination, exploitation and poverty.

    In Guatemala, where nearly half of the population is indigenous descendants of the once-mighty ancient civilization have even fallen victim to genocide.

    The rich Mayan culture will be in the global spotlight Friday when revelers - and doomsday watchers - will mark the end of a 5,200-year era as sketched out in the elaborate Mayan calendar. But the plight of indigenous Mayas in the region will likely go undiscussed.

    "The indigenous population was always seen as cheap labor, and this persists to this day," said Guatemalan anthropologist Alvaro Pop, a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. "They are seen as a tool and are not the focus of public policies."

    The Mayan civilization reached its peak between the years 250 and 900, but then slipped into decline around 1200. Three centuries later, during Spanish colonization, the Mayas were dispossessed of their lands and reduced to poverty and servitude.

    Today, there are an estimated 20 million to 30 million direct descendants of the ancient civilization living in southern Mexico, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, where the indigenous group is most prevalent.

    In Guatemala, ethnic Mayas often find themselves on the margins of society, with limited access to education, healthcare and other basic services. Their native languages are not officially recognized.

    Within the indigenous community, which accounts for 42 percent of Guatemala's 14.3-million-strong population, the poverty rate is 80 percent.

    Nearly six in 10 indigenous children suffer from chronic malnutrition, and the infant mortality rate has hit an alarming rate of 40 per 1,000 live births, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

    In Mexico's Chiapas state, social misery and exploitation led to the creation in 1994 of the media-savvy but later weakened Zapatista National Liberation Army, which drew attention to the community's plight.

    But ethnic Mayas paid perhaps the heaviest price during Guatemala's civil war, which pitted the army against leftist guerrillas from 1960 to 1996.

    "There were external reasons which exacerbated the population's poverty and led to a stigmatization of indigenous people," according to Pop, the anthropologist.

    More than 600 massacres of indigenous communities were recorded during that period, and tens of thousands of Indians sought refuge in southern Mexico from the brutal counter-insurgency by the military, according to a 1999 UN report.

    Under the scorched-earth policy conducted by the regime of then-dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who ruled in 1982 and 1983, entire villages were wiped out.

    In the midst of this systematic repression, indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchu rose to prominence. Her strong condemnation of the massacres earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

    "The armed conflict was used as a pretext to exterminate the indigenous population, physically and spiritually," Menchu said.

    Agence France-Presse

     

    Editor's picks
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    久クク成人精品中文字幕| 在线精品无码字幕无码AV| 亚洲中文字幕无码专区| AV无码免费永久在线观看| 精品久久亚洲中文无码| 中文字幕AV中文字无码亚| 办公室丝袜激情无码播放| 一区二区三区人妻无码| 波多野结衣中文字幕久久| 久久久精品人妻无码专区不卡| 中文无码久久精品| 日韩免费码中文在线观看| 忘忧草在线社区WWW中国中文| 精品久久久久久无码专区| AV无码久久久久不卡蜜桃 | 亚洲精品无码MV在线观看| 日韩中文字幕在线| 中出人妻中文字幕无码| 无码精品人妻一区| 国产av永久无码天堂影院| 少妇人妻无码专区视频| 亚洲AV无码成人精品区天堂 | 中文字幕欧美日韩| 精品一区二区三区中文字幕 | 久久无码AV中文出轨人妻| 精品久久久无码中文字幕天天 | 99无码人妻一区二区三区免费| 无码人妻精品一区二区三区99仓本| 国产成人无码AV一区二区| 亚洲欧美在线一区中文字幕| 中文成人久久久久影院免费观看 | 中文字幕久久久久人妻| 亚洲午夜无码片在线观看影院猛| 日韩精选无码| 久久精品中文字幕一区 | 精品无码国产污污污免费网站国产| 色爱无码AV综合区| 国产精品无码专区| 国产AV无码专区亚洲AVJULIA| 精品无码国产一区二区三区51安 | 中文字幕亚洲综合久久2|