‘It’s where we come from’: the River People in Mexico left without a river
The demise of the Colorado River has destroyed the social fabric of the Cucap tribe and is partly to blame for its population decline
They are called the River People, but they no longer have a river.
Inocencia Gonzlez is the traditional tribal elder of the Cucap the River People in northern Mexico. She spends her days beading traditional chaquira jewellery to sell at the community museum, and reminiscing about happier times spent fishing for tilapia and mullet.
Gonzlez grew up in the Colorado River delta when the mighty waterway and lakes provided abundant food, water, medicines and spiritual nourishment for her people to thrive.
It was on the river that Gonzlez, now 82, taught her children, just like her parents and grandparents taught her, to fish with canoes and traps made from willow trees which flourished on the riverbanks.
Now, the river stops at the US-Mexico border and the lakes are dry and native vegetation is confined to reforestation projects. The only fish come from irrigation canals and the nearby River Hardy a polluted 16-mile tributary of the Colorado sustained by agricultural runoff and a water treatment plant.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/22/mexico-colorado-river-people-left-without-river