Scheme To Revive “Valley Of Death”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31768, 27 August 1968, Page 22

Scheme To Revive “Valley Of Death”

(N.Z.P. A.Reuter)

IXMIQUILPAN.

Roads, schools and power lines are bringing new life to Mexico’s barren “Valley of Death,” where 40,000 impoverished Otomi Indians live.

The Government has invested about $14.3m in the programme to help the Otomis, who form a race of Indians as old as Mexico itself.

Only a handful of the Otomis have ever been to school. Hunger has been the constant companion of these people for centuries. Shown on the maps as El Mezquital, the sun - baked valley is only 62 miles north of the bustling modern life of Mexico City. The Government programme calls for the construction of irrigation canals as well as schools, medical centres and drinking water systems. Power lines are threading their way into the valley, followed by roads which are linking the almost forgotten villages. Two private banks opened offices recently to advance money to peasants to improve their meagre harvests, and the Department of Agricul-

ture is sending good-quality maize seed to the farmers, and 100 Holstein cows to improve their herds.

Low Income

The average family daily income has been estimated at about 54 cents, the equivalent of three loaves of bread in Mexico City. Monday is market day and hundreds of people walk to the sleepy little town of Ixmiquilpan to join the crowds bargaining for goods along the footpaths. But the Otomis, who arrive barefoot and clad in rags, do not bargain, for usually they have nothing to sell and nothing with which to buy goods. In the valley of about two million acres, about 2 per cent of the area is sown in lucerne, but the Indians gain little from the sale of this crop because hey have no means of taking it to the market. The middleman with his truck makes all the profit. “One of our jobs will be to eliminate the middleman by a system of collective transport," Professor Francisco Hernandez, one of the new bank managers, said. The 400,000 Otomis make up a third of the population of the State of Hidalgo. Officials said it was hoped that, with new schools appearing, the children would shake loose from their lethargic tribal customs and develop an incentive for living.