During the last 500 years, indigenous communities of Mexico have faced many attacks. They have endured colonization, impoverishment, marginalization and, in recent years, increasing military occupation. The predominantly indigenous Southern States have been exploited for centuries for resources such as corn, sugar, coffee, oil and hydroelectric power. Now, Mexico's indigenous are faced with a new attack -- subtler, but no less dangerous: biopiracy.
Mexico is a country of exceptionally high ethnic and bio-diversity. A key resource for food, pharmaceutical and agricultural products, it is this diversity which now endangers it. Mexico is in the crosshairs of pharmaceutical and biotechnological corporations looking to harvest the "green gold" of the region, and to tap into the indigenous knowledge that accompanies it.
