In the towns of the Costa Chica, even nursery-age children learn steps of the dance and are taught to take pride in their black heritage.
But there is frustration here that the Afro-Mexicans are not more widely known in Mexico and are not officially recognised as a minority by the Mexican government.
According to Humberto Hebert Silva Silva, head of the Bureau for Afro-Mexican Affairs in Oaxaca, this is because Afro-Mexicans speak Spanish, like most other Mexicans – they do not have their own language.
“When we go and ask [for recognition as a minority], they come up with excuses, or say that we don’t have an indigenous mother tongue. Language is the real criterion,” he says. “We are being discriminated against.”
If Afro-Mexicans were classified as a minority they would receive extra funding for promotion of their culture and public health programmes.
But activists including Israel Reyes, a teacher, want more than money, it’s also important to them that the existence of Afro-Mexicans is recognised at the level of the Mexican state.
