In Mexico, Poverty Is Killing Indigenous
The main causes of mortality among Mexican indigenous can be attributed to poverty and marginalization, high-ranking official Xochitl Galvez declared Wednesday.

Without giving exact figures, Galvez, director general of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples Development, said "available information" confirmed her conclusion.

Health is one of the most illustrative indicators of the progress in the government's performance and of the scale of a delay in an effective exercise of indigenous rights, she stressed.

Galvez presented the report, "Government Actions for Indigenous People's Comprehensive Development 2005", to President Fox, citing progress made in this regard.

She mentioned education as another indicator of human development, clearly reflecting the inequality of the indigenous population's access to developmental opportunities.