BorderLines 17 (Volume 3, Number 9, October 1995)

North American Tribes Forge Cross-Border Links

By Rachel Hays

The Second Border Meeting of Indigenous Peoples was held in Hermosillo, Sonora in early September. Over 200 representatives from more than 15 tribes attended the five-day conference to discuss issues affecting indigenous communities both along the U.S.-Mexico border and across North America. Among other resolutions adopted at the meeting, participants in a border issues workshop resolved to form a coalition that could give indigenous tribes along the border a collective voice on the problems of crossing the border.

When the United States pushed its border with Mexico to its current position in 1848, many indigenous communities were cut off from relatives, traditional homelands and sacred sites. Tribes split by the U.S.-Mexico border include the Cocopah, Yaqui, Tohono O'odham, and Hia-Ced O'odham, all currently located in the Arizona-Sonora area, and the Kikapu of Oklahoma, Texas, and Coahuila.

The border affects these indigenous communities in several ways. Most binational tribes the Kikapu are one exception are denied the right to cross freely to visit friends and relatives on the other side, or for religious and ceremonial purposes. The international line has hindered our spirituality. "Some of our most sacred sites are inaccessible to us because they are in Mexico," said Ophelia Rivas, a district chairwoman for the Tohono O'odham Nation. Tribal members on either side of the border have no legal means of protecting sacred lands on the other side from environmental degradation. Tribal members in Mexico, whether recognized by the Mexican government or not, are unable to access health care and other services provided to members on the U.S. side of the line.

Borders carry their own legacy for indigenous peoples, captured in a recent editorial in Abya Yala, the journal of the Oakland, CA-based South and Meso American Indian Information Center: Each demarcated border line has been created by the process of colonization and violence against indigenous nations. Whether domestic or international, borders bear the same colonial logic. Ultimately, they mean our demise.

Formal expressions of cross-border indigenous unity are relatively recent. The Border Tribes Summit, held in 1989, was one of the first intertribal assemblies; it drew representatives from tribes along the U.S.-Mexico border as well as from Creek, Cree, Cherokee, Ojibwa and Mohawk communities. The next such meeting, Auka Maj Kuar Kuar or the First Indigenous U.S./Mexico Border Encounter, was held in June, 1994, in Tecate, Baja California. Although participants said the meeting was successful at re-initiating communication among indigenous peoples in Mexico and the United States, it was organized in part by the Instituto Nacional Indigenista, the Mexican equivalent of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, whose presence tainted the conference for some participants. In addition, loss of momentum and lack of funds prevented resolutions passed at the Tecate encounter from being sent to the appropriate government officials.

The Hermosillo encounter this September was intended to take up where last year's meeting left off. The meeting was entirely grassroots-organized, primarily by the Yoemem Tekia Foundation, a nonprofit organization on the Pascua Yaqui Reservation in Arizona dedicated to the preservation of Yaqui culture. Tribes represented at the conference include Yaqui, Tohono O'odham and Hia-Ced O'odham, Cucapah, Kikapu, Triqui from Oaxaca, Seri from western Sonora, Hopi, Apache, and tribes from Baja California and Canada. Special attention was given to the problems faced by tribes split by the border, but the aim of the encounter was to be as inclusive as possible by addressing issues relevant to all North American indigenous peoples.

The conference was organized into a series of small, closed workshops. Conference organizer Giovanni Panza said that this was done to ensure meaningful dialogue, as harassment of indigenous peoples is still common, especially in Mexico. Workshops addressed issues such as land rights, women and community organizing, environmental contamination of indigenous communities, changes to the Mexican constitution, and border issues.

Participants in the border issues workshop discussed the current U.S. anti-immigrant backlash, militarization of the border, and problems that documentation requirements present for Indians crossing the border, many of whom are semi-nomadic and therefore often lack necessary papers to get through customs. Workshop participants resolved to form a coalition that could give tribes along the border a collective voice on the problems of crossing the border. According to workshop organizer Jose Matus, the idea is to arrange meetings with U.S. and Mexico officials in order to begin discussing alternatives, such as dual citizenship for binational tribe members, or an 'Indian passport' that would ease the crossing process.

Another workshop was devoted wholly to the border's impact on the Yaqui. Yaqui participants decided to begin working to establish a binational office, based on the Tohono O'odham model, as a formal structure dedicated to strengthening ties and communication across the border.

Resolutions passed at the Hermosillo encounter include one from the Cucapah regarding the impingement of their fishing rights on and the pollution of the Colorado River, both of which endanger their traditional livelihood; a similar resolution from the Seri regarding their rights to the Sea of Cortez; one from the Yaqui articulating their commitment to work cooperatively across the border to preserve their common culture; and one from the Triqui requesting support and awareness from other indigenous communities regarding the destruction of Indian culture in southern Mexico.

A follow-up meeting is tentatively scheduled for December of this year. The meeting will ensure that resolutions go out to the right officials, and will also take up the project of formalizing the communication networks among border tribes that have been established at the 1994 and 1995 encounters. Many details, such as whether to establish a resource center, an internet network, or an old-fashioned phone tree, are still to be decided, but everyone agrees on the need for continuity. "Something has to happen with this meeting," said Amalia Reyes, a Yaqui who attended both encounters. "We can't afford not to follow through."

Contacts:
Jose Matus, Arizona Border Rights Project, (520) 770-1373
Yoemem Tekia Foundation, (520) 883-7565
Tohono O'odham Nation, (520) 383-2028