Land dispute said racially charged

TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2002

A land dispute dating back at least 50 years pits an Indian community in rural Mexico against a mixed-race one.

The battle took to arms last week and resulted in the deaths of 26 men from Santiago Xochiltepec, a Zapotec village. Police have arrested men from Las Huertas, the "mestizo" community.

Xochiltepec residents won a court ruling which upheld their rights to the land. But, according to a lawmaker who represents the area, "it seems the mestizos do not want an indigenous man having dominion over the land."

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