The Ministry of Mexico Foreign Affairs is launching the Aboriginal languages initiative
Mexicans living abroad will be able to access information from the Mexican government in 15 indigenous languages thanks to a consular initiative launched last week.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, and the director of the Institute for Mexicans abroad (IME), Tatiana Cloudier, launched the consular protection initiative of Aboriginal languages last Wednesday.
During the launch event, the Fuente “confirmed continuous efforts to improve the protection of Mexican nationals in the United States using indigenous languages”, according to a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE).
The start of the consular protection initiative for indigenous languages occurs at a time when undocumented Mexicans in the United States are faced with a potentially higher risk of expulsion due to the commitment of US President Donald Trump to “make the largest deportation of American history”.
The government is committed to supporting Mexicans at risk of expulsion via its vast consular network in the United States, and Developed a plan called “mexico te abraza” (Mexico kisses you) to help those who have been sent home.
The SRE said that the Aboriginal languages initiative “will reach Mexican communities around the world, especially in the United States, because the safeguarding of indigenous languages directly protects their speakers.”
“… The Fuente Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed the Ministry’s commitment to both preserving indigenous languages and using them to advance justice,” the statement said.
“Messages in 15 indigenous languages will be presented in Mexican consulates, embassies and representative offices abroad,” said the SRE.
During Notes during the launch event in Mexico CityDe la Fuente said that thanks to the consular protection initiative for indigenous languages, the federal government seeks to “better protect our compatriots” abroad and “make Aboriginal languages an instrument” which “helps us to be more effective in this task”.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also said It is “clear” that “there is still a lot to do so that in all the spaces of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, inside and outside the country, it is fully recognized that indigenous languages are full of life.”
▶ ️Hoy, at @SRE_MXThe “Consular Protection in Aboriginal Languages” campaign @Ime_krewhose aim is to strengthen attention to the Mexicans of Aboriginal peoples who live abroad and to promote diversity in representations of Mexico … pic.twitter.com/ep42i1g5oj
– Foreign relations (@sre_mx) March 13, 2025
“… They bear knowledge accumulated from centuries of existence,” said Fuente.
He also said that “the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum is absolutely attached to the inclusion of the Aboriginal and Afro-Mexican and communities in the transformation of the country”.
For his part, Nail said it was delighted at the start of an initiative that protects the rights of Mexicans abroad that speak an indigenous language.
“I believe that something we should always feel very proud of is to have the ability to speak more than one language,” she said.
According to the SRE, Cloudier – a former federal minister of the economy who assumed the first job at the IME earlier this month – stressed that “while 23.2 million people in Mexico identify as Aboriginal, only 7.4 million speak their language (native). “”
“She stressed that multilingualism deserves pride and noted the importance of continuous work to preserve indigenous languages,” said the SRE.
The ministry also summarized the remarks made during the launch event by Alma Rosa Espíndola Galicia, interim director of the National Institute of Aboriginal Languages.
She “congratulated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the IME for having established communication channels with Aboriginal migrants who recognize their linguistic and cultural characteristics,” said the SRE.
Espíndola “welcomed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the development of public policies promoting inclusion, linguistic justice and the protection of Aboriginal migrant communities in the United States,” said the ministry.
A significant number of Aboriginal Mexicans have migrated to Mexico states in the United States.
Citing an indigenous study, agricultural workers, ABC7 reported in 2021 That “California is home to around 120,000 Aboriginal Mexican agricultural workers in the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Michoacán”.
A 2019 study published in the review Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science have found that the inhabitants of the Mexican communities “with relatively high indigenous populations are more likely to migrate” to the United States “like undocumented migrants rather than documented”.
“We conclude that the concentration of indigenous peoples in communities probably indicates an economic and social disadvantage, which limits the possibilities of residents for the international movement,” said the study.
Mexico News Daily
