The national flag was flown at full mast for the first time on International Day of Indigenous Women.

MEXICO CITY (apro).- This Friday, September 5, Mexico raised its national flag at full mast for the first time on the occasion of International Day of Indigenous Women.

During the presidential morning press conference this Thursday, September 4, the Undersecretary of Basic Education of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), Noemí Juárez Pérez, announced this action as part of the recognition of women promoted by President Claudia Sheinbaum.

"Tomorrow, our country's flag will be flown at full mast for the first time in commemoration of September 5, International Day of Indigenous Women," she reported.

The head of the federal Undersecretariat of Basic Education presented, as she does every Thursday, the "Women in History" section, recalling that September 5th was established as the International Day of Indigenous Women in 1983, during the Second Meeting of Organizations and Movements of the Americas.

This recognition was defined in honor of Bartolina Sisa, an indigenous woman from the Aymara people, who led a rebellion defending the rights of her community against Spanish colonialism and was assassinated on September 5, 1782, in La Paz, Bolivia.

Noemí Juárez Pérez mentioned that “despite her courageous resistance and that of her troops, Sisa was betrayed and handed over to the Spanish authorities, where she was subjected to various forms of violence, tried, and murdered.”

The official mentioned that, since the Law on the National Coat of Arms, Flag, and Anthem came into force, only the anniversaries of the deaths of women such as Sara Pérez, Leona Vicario, and Carmen Serdán were taken into account, which meant only the flag was flown at half-mast. However, starting this year, September 5th will be one of the official anniversaries promoted by the president regarding the recognition of women.

The Undersecretary of Basic Education of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) presented a video of an example of the struggle and resistance of indigenous women in Mexico: the women of the Yaqui people.

The audiovisual material mentions that, during the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, at the end of January 1900, 250 Yaqui widows and their children were deported from Sonora to Yucatán. They were survivors of the Mazocoba massacre, in which the indigenous community was repressed by the federal army.

This first forced mobilization affected up to 15,000 Yaquis, who were sent to other states of Mexico to work as forced laborers, while thousands more had to emigrate to Arizona, in the United States, or took refuge in the Bacatete Mountains to survive.

Juárez Pérez recounted the memories of Juana, an 82-year-old Yaqui woman, whose parents had told her about the return of indigenous women to their places of origin after the mass deportation.

"They began walking from Yucatán. They came in groups of families, walking day and night. They came along the central route of the country, where they said there were fewer soldiers, and along the way they found many children alone in the mountains and they picked them up to take care of them, bringing them to Sonora.

“They also say that along the way they found many dead people and buried them, and they said that's why they came, because those dead people helped them, defended them so they could reach Sonora alive. They walked for months. When they arrived in Sinaloa, they knew they were close to their homeland and there would be nothing to worry about anymore.”