There are 1.95 million victims of slave labor in the Americas, five percent of the world total, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index. In Mexico, the second largest regional economy with 129 million inhabitants, 341,000 people were living in slavery conditions.
Water shortages, an unstable climate, proliferation of pests, infrequent but more intense rainfall, hail and the effects of human activities are affecting an area that is crucial for the supply of food and for climate regulation in Mexico.
A pressing concern of Mexican communities today is how to organize against the escalation of violence triggered by the government's militarized war on drugs, and how to counteract the temptation of easy money and other perks offered by the drug trade, especially to young men.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019