Starvation Looms for Mexico’s Reclusive Tarahumara Indians

Still a toddler, Marcelino Moreno already looks exhausted by life, his body hanging from his bones as if he were an old man.

Marcelino will be 2 in March but, at 11 pounds, he weighs as little as a 3-month-old baby. He is lethargic, barely moving his willowy limbs while lying in a hospital bed. His skin is loose and wrinkled, his belly bloated.

For nine years, a drought in northern Mexico has been slowly starving the reclusive Tarahumara Indians in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, an 800-mile range famous for the mile-deep gorges of Copper Canyon.

Many people fear the new year could be even worse.

In October, farmers ended their most devastating growing season in nearly a decade, harvesting a third of the corn usually produced in the past--years in which the number of reported child deaths averaged three dozen annually. But experts think the real number is much higher and expect it to rise even more.

“From January on it’s going to be difficult,” said the Rev. Juanito Cordero, who ministers in remote villages. “The rains arrived too late, and the soil is chalky and hard. There was very little land that could be worked.”

Even the Good Years Are Bad

The poor soil rarely provides enough food even in good years. When the harvest runs out, the Tarahumara depend on wild plants, hunting and travel to seasonal jobs in the cities and farms of northern Mexico.

Around the village of Pamachi--an area with a population of 600--an average of five children die each month from malnutrition and related illnesses like diarrhea and stomach infections, says the Maria Dolorosa Missionary, a Roman Catholic order that started working with the communities two years ago. Some estimate the drought has killed more than 3,000 Indians, mostly children under age 5.

Marcelino was one of 31 children hospitalized at the Santa Teresita Clinic, run by Vincentine nuns in the mountain town of Creel, where thousands of tourists come to start a spectacular train ride that crosses the canyon. Marcelino was released weeks later after gaining 4 pounds.

“Oh my Lord, children are dying,” said the clinic’s director, Genoveva Candido Reyes, letting out a long sigh after receiving a call that another boy sent to a larger hospital had died. “Children aren’t supposed to die.”

Churches in the region are buying grain and coordinating aid efforts to prepare for the coming months. But not all those in need will be reached in this vast maze of rugged, sun-scorched canyons that are home to 60,000 Tarahumara Indians, some of whom live in caves.

President Vicente Fox has promised to continue federal aid programs, but many worry the help may be disrupted during his first weeks in office as the first opposition party candidate to be president in 71 years.

Those who work in the region believe countless children are dying quietly in remote villages. Individualistic and distrustful of government, many Tarahumara don’t bother to record births or deaths.

Even if they do want help, many live too far to make it to a hospital.

Wearing sandals with soles carved from used tires, Marcelino’s father, Candelario, had to hike three hours from his village, carrying the emaciated boy. Once they got to a road, they caught a bus for the remaining two-hour ride to the clinic.

Sitting on a curb while his son was in the hospital, Moreno said he wasn’t able to salvage anything from this year’s crop.

“The weeds won this year,” said the thin man wearing a “World Champions” baseball cap. “I’m going to try to find work wherever I can, because there is nothing here.”

He, his wife and four children have been surviving on pinole, a type of porridge made from last season’s ground corn and water.

Moreno, 40, said he will travel to the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa to work in the hot pepper and tomato fields, along with hundreds of mostly Indian farmers like him.

Two years ago, the Maria Dolorosa Missionary launched a health program in six communities after discovering that more than 80% of toddlers suffered from severe malnutrition. The group encourages farmers to plant more vegetables instead of just corn and beans.

“We never planned on dedicating ourselves to being health workers, but we arrived here and saw the reality. We’re seeing an average of one child die per week,” said Sister Mayra Lopez, who visits remote villages once a month to weigh the babies and distribute food and medicine. “One little girl died while we were treating her. She was 4 years old and weighed 7 kilos [15 pounds]. She was pure skin and bones.”

Endemic Afflictions

Last January, a group of Mexican evangelical doctors and the nongovernmental Pro Indigenous Assn. used grants from U.S. foundations to build a hospital in the town of Samachique, a two-hour drive from Creel. Dozens of other Mexican and international groups have sent supplies and donations to the region.

But the task is daunting. Some experts say malnutrition and tuberculosis have been endemic for generations.

Before settlers arrived centuries ago, the Tarahumara farmed in the fertile river basins. The settlers forced them up into the mountains, where the soil is poor and the weather harsh.

Besides the drought, overgrazing and logging--a business dominated by non-Indians--are taking their toll. Only 2% of the area’s old-growth forest remains.

Deep in a remote canyon, Maria Hernandez sifted through the thorns and weeds that have invaded her field in search of bean pods. Hours later she had harvested a tiny pile that would have to feed her nine children.

“My children are starting to lose weight,” said Hernandez, 35, wearing a scarf with the Mexican flag on her head.

Her husband, Martin Espino, said he would look for work at the few stores in nearby Norogachi.

“We try not to let it get us down,” he said, wearing a traditional white sarong and a big smile. “We’ll just work harder to be able to eat.”

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Northern Arizona University site on Tarahumara: https://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/miscpubs/stabilize/additional/tarahumara.htm

Tarahumara Children’s Hospital Fund: https://www.giveaminute.org/

Wilderness Expeditions Ltd. site on Tarahumara relief:

https://www.mexonline.com/tfr.htm