The Indigenous Dawn

Abstract

In response to the exploitation of their land by drug cartels, the indigenous Nahua people formed a self-defense group. The Ostula Manifesto, declared in 2009 in Michoacán, proclaimed a right to indigenous self-defense and is of historical importance to the history of indigenous struggle in Mexico. Other indigenous groups throughout the area claimed the Ostula Manifesto and began forming self-defense systems to protect themselves.