Protests - Part 18

400 Pueblos Protest, Mexico

The "400 Pueblos" movement started in the Mexican state of Veracruz in the 1970s by peasant day laborers who wanted to be able to own land.  In 1989 the President of Mexico promised to provide 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of land, but the promise was never fulfilled.

After further unrest, 103 of the group's leaders were arrested and imprisoned.  The group's aims changed to obtaining justice and removing the corrupt political leaders in Veracruz.  They started protesting naked in Mexico City to draw attention to their cause.

The protesters certainly drew attention (above).  Too much attention, getting arrested by police for public nudity.  

To avoid arrest, they started covering their fronts with a picture of the face of he Governor of Veracruz, who they accused of corruption.

Their rears remained uncovered, but apparently this satisfied the law.  These semi-nude protests continued for years.

But some protesters continued to be naked.  This photo is from June 2007.

In this crowd of protesters in July 2007, some are wearing the modesty photo and some aren't.

A tourist captured an interesting sight in June 2007, as the Mexico City Gay Pride parade passed the 400 Pueblos protesters.

Here, a drag queen from the Gay Pride parade meets some naked protesters.

In 2008 the government promised a settlement, but it was not carried out.  Another settlement was promised in 2010.  Apparently that was not carried out, either, because from what I was able to find, protests have continued through at least 2016.