State of the Indigenous

Currently, in Mexico there are about fifty-six indigenous groups. An eighty percent of Mexico's indigenous people live in extreme poverty. The poorest state in Mexico is the state of Chiapas which has an extremely high concentration of indigenous people. There are several language barriers between the indigenous peoples in the public education system. The illiteracy rate among the indigenous people in Mexico is six times the national average. In addition to the language barrier comes the reality of unemployment and employment discrimination in Spanish-speaking areas. Many companies discriminate against the Indians not only because of their inability to speak Spanish but because of their physical charicteristics. For example, Indians are often not allowed to do the easier plant packing work because they are "too short" to reach the vegetables. Indigenous women also suffer much discrimination due to a higher illiteracy rate. Many of these woman have double the discrimination due to being an indigenous person and a woman. They suffer from employment and political discrimination and have to deal with rape and sexual asault from military presence in their home towns. The Mexican government is aware that the indigenous people suffer from racial discrimination, but the government blames it on poverty itself.