Puebla Official Fired for Calling for 'Extermination' of Indigenous Voladores de Papantla teleSUR
go to original February 21, 2017

The ritual has been recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO (Reuters)

A Mexican state official was fired after calling for the extermination of the Indigenous group of the Voladores de Papantla on social media, along with a picture of a swastika.

“Let's be patriotic and let's exterminate them; they are only getting by thanks to our taxes without providing anything. They are bloodsuckers,” Roberto Carlos Vega Monroy said in the post that quickly became the core of a national controversy.

In an open letter to the governor of the central state of Puebla, Senator Hector Yunes complained about the state official. Puebla's education ministry then condemned his actions as “unacceptable behavior” on Twitter, adding the state official would be immediately removed.

Vega Monroy later apologized in a video, admitting he “offended the people of Papantla, as well as the whole Indigenous community of the state of Puebla.”

He added that since he posted the comments, he heard testimonies of Voladores, or "Flyers," about the risk they are taking while doing the religious ceremony that he was making fun of, while some have even lost their lives.

The ritual has been recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO, and consists in four of five participants flying and dancing as they are hanged from ropes on a 30-meter pole.

See the original at teleSUR

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