Thousands of peasants demonstrate in Mexico to demand dialogue with the Government

Thousands of peasants march along the central Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City (Mexico). EFE / Madla Hartz

"We propose that a dialogue process be established first, because there has been a budget decrease of 22,000 million pesos (about 1,118 million dollars) and because we do not agree with the disqualifications against various sectors," Jesus Gutierrez Valencia told Efe, spokesperson for the Ayala Plan Coordinator National Peasant Movement.

Coinciding with the 140th anniversary of the birth of the revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata, the march, whose organization estimates 50,000 participants, travels through the Paseo de la Reforma to reach the significant monument to the Revolution, where representatives of multiple peasant movements will read a joint manifesto.

In spite of the attempts on the part of the peasants to meet with some representative of the Federal Government, on Thursday a scheduled meeting with the Undersecretary of the Interior of the Ministry of the Interior, Ricardo Peralta, was canceled, which proves, according to Gutierrez, lack of "political will to deal with this sector".

The spokesman explained that since the Mexican Revolution (1910-1921) a base was established to establish a social pact between the Government and farmers that guaranteed the social ownership of the land and that "it was broken by the political class."

"They have established a legal framework for looting and dispossession, breaking social fabric, generating pollution and not social development," Gutierrez said.

Simultaneously, from Tuesday to Thursday, the National Forum of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples between representatives of the 68 indigenous peoples and the Government took place in the Mexican capital, with the aim of generating a document that condenses the proposals of these communities for constitutional reform.

For Gutierrez, spokesman and natural peasant of the southern state of Oaxaca, this means an advance to recognize indigenous people as an object of law.

Also read: Mexico wants U.S help to identify supremacist threats

However, it warns of the dangers of hydrocarbon extraction in certain areas or the construction of the Mayan Train, one of the main infrastructure works of the federal government.

"This means that with this government we do not even have the right to comment," he said.

During this day, the representatives and peasants are carrying out blockades in the accesses to the city, in different points of the adjacent State of Mexico and in the center of the capital in order to call attention to demand more federal support.

In addition, actions such as roadblocks and toll blocks coordinated by peasant movements in other states of the country are also taking place.

This morning in his usual press conference, the leader of the Mexican Government recalled and praised the figure of Emiliano Zapata, who will be honored with several official acts, but did not mention at any time the mobilizations of farmworkers.