Tehenayuc people in Huenya object to Jinyu treaty
Months after the signing of the Jinyu Agreement, members of the Tehenayuc people in Huenya have begun protesting the establishment of the Canal Zone.
The Tehenayuc people were the original inhabitants of the area around Zapotlán, the former Xiomeran city which is now the capital of the Canal Zone. Around 600 years ago, at the beginning of the Xiomeran conquest of Huenya, the Tehenayuc lands were forcibly absorbed into the Xiomeran Empire. Since then, the stance of the Xiomeran government has been that the Tehenayuc people ceased to exist, having been absorbed into the Xiomeran population.
A group of people claiming to be descendants of the Tehenayuc have begun holding daily protests in the Canal Zone, claiming they were excluded from the talks in Jinyu and that they should be recognized and given compensation for what they have termed the "stealing of our ancient lands" by Xiomera.
"600 years ago, the Xiomerans took our land. When Zapotlán stopped being part of Xiomera, we had a chance to be free again. But now our lands have been stolen a second time, to create this Canal Zone which we have no say in, and which excludes and leaves us destitute twice over," Ilantzitl, the leader of the Tehenayuc protesters, told DTNS. "We do not think that Laeral or the other foreign parties at the Jinyu talks meant to exclude us - we doubt they knew we even existed. Xiomera has claimed for centuries that my people didn't exist anymore, that we became Xiomerans. And that's what they continued to claim in Jinyu."
Ilantzitl was also critical of the Huenyan government, which she also accused of conspiring to hide the existence of the Tehenayuc people "because our existence is inconvenient to everyone involved."
"Neither Xiomera nor Huenya want to acknowledge our existence, because then they have to share the revenue from the Canal and its governance with us. They both want us to just go away, and they just want the money for themselves. But we will not go away. Xiomera tried to obliterate us from history for six centuries, but my people are still here, and we demand recognition and what is justly owed to us," Ilantzitl said.
The Xiomeran government has reacted harshly to the accusations. Empress Calhualyana issued a statement repeating the Xiomeran government's stance that "the Tehenayuc do not exist anymore, and have not for centuries, having been absorbed into the greater Xiomeran population long ago." Her statement went on to dismiss Ilantzitl and her group as "a group of Xiomeran grifters, trying to claim a false identity and profit from it in a shameful scam that is frankly insulting both to Xiomerans and to the memory of the Tehenayuc."
The Huenyan government, meanwhile, responded angrily to accusations that it also tried to hide the existence of the Tehenayuc during the Jinyu talks. "There has been no organized Tehenayuc group or tribe for centuries, at least, until the group Ilantzitl leads came into existence a month ago," Vice-Speaker Tiacihitli told DTNS. "How were we to know they still existed? We didn't deny them a voice, they never raised that voice to begin with, and accusing us of wrongdoing is entirely unfair." The Vice-Speaker went on to state that the Huenyan government would be willing to open talks with the Tehenayuc about revenue sharing, and that the Tehenayuc "are able to participate and hold office in the new Canal Zone government being formed, just as anyone else is, and can thus have representation in how the Canal Zone is governed."
Ilantzitl responded to the Vice-Speaker's claim that the Tehenayuc never raised concerns to the Huenyan government by saying that her group had tried to contact Huenyan officials before, and during, the Jinyu talks, and had been dismissed as "scam artists" much like the Xiomeran government had done. She specifically named several officials in the office of current Huenyan Secretary of Tribal Relations Apaxiuhtzin as people who she tried to contact, only to be rebuffed. "As for the Xiomeran government, they threatened to arrest us and throw us in prison if we said a word," Ilantzitl said. She said that the group feels safe, for now, in the Canal Zone since speaking out, but are concerned that they will be detained if they return to Xiomera.
"If they say we didn't speak out, and didn't 'raise our voices', it's because they didn't want to hear our voices and didn't believe us," Ilantzitl said. "But regardless, the Tehenayuc are real, we are here, and we will continue to demand what is our right."
Neither the Xiomeran nor Huenyan governments would commit to any concessions for the Tehenayuc. The Xiomeran government refused to comment other than reiterating their previous statement that "there are no Tehenayuc." The Huenyan government, meanwhile, said that the matter "requires further study."
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