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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > RUMOURS OF MASS FAMINE AND SUICIDES IN RURAL MEXICO TURN OUT TO BE ONE BIG JOKE AFTER ALL
RUMOURS OF MASS FAMINE AND SUICIDES IN RURAL MEXICO TURN OUT TO BE ONE BIG JOKE AFTER ALL
January 17 2012
Mexico City, Mexico – There is no doubt that these are troubled times for Mexico. It really shouldn’t be and it isn’t something that anyone would have predicted even a decade ago, but trouble is exactly what Mexico is in and that situation does not seem to be improving, not even a little bit.
The biggest issue in the country is undoubtedly the growing power and violence of the drug cartels, which has only been amplified by the economic crisis that has taken over the globe. That, in turn, is pushing Mexico further backwards, erasing much of the progress the country has made since opening up trade with its northern neighbours, and threatening to topple the country entirely.
That decline is possibly why people didn’t bat an eye when rumours of mass famine and suicide amongst Indians living in rural areas started to circulate, pressing individuals and local governments to rush food and aid into the remote northern communities. As it turns out, however, the rumours were just that and likely all part of some elaborate joke, because even in Mexico starvation and suicide is as funny as it is everywhere else.
“The Indian women get sad after four or five days when they can't feed their children. They are so despairing that up through December, 50 men and women went to the mountain valleys ... and threw themselves into valleys. Others hung themselves,” said Ramon Gardea, council secretary for the state of Chihuahua, which turned out to be totally untrue.
Officials actually investigating the claims did find food shortages, though nothing approaching famine, and no mass suicides amongst the Tarahumara people living in the region.
It’s not clear how much food was rushed to the region as a result of the rumour, or if it would be practical to have it sent back in lieu of the exaggerated conditions.
“This is a disaster, no doubt about it. It is a disaster of lies and rumours, probably started by the people in the region themselves. This is not funny, we do not find it funny, not one bit. A great many people were very concerned about the health of the people in this area and I can tell you that if this ever does happen for real in this place people are going to be more hesitant to send aid,” said another local politician. “I’m sure they are all up there laughing themselves sick, but we do not make light of mass suicide and famine, these are not funny jokes that we enjoy.”
No one in the community claimed responsibility for the rumour, but someone had to start it.
“Normally in Mexico jokes about starving people or group suicides are as funny as they are to everyone else. I mean who doesn’t like a good Ethiopian joke, or perhaps a Jonestown gag. Funny is funny, unless of course the joke is played on you and then it’s not so funny,” said Scrape TV International analyst Gustav Hander. “I’m sure more than a few people are red-faced, well redder faced, after falling for this one. Those Tarahumara, what a bunch of jokers. I mean they are short of food, that isn’t a joke, and this gag won’t work next year, that’s for sure, but at least now they can all have a good laugh and full bellies.”
Strange laughing noises have been heard echoing across the mountain ranges since the story first broke last week.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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