Word: garcias
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Down in the state capital of Oaxaca, state human rights commissioner Heriberto Garcia also chastised the custom. "Buying and selling a woman is a clear violation of her rights," he says in his office decorated with leather-bound law books. "And a young teenage girl does not have the experience to make these decisions." Oaxaca state law permits marriage of women at 14 and men at 16. However, Garcia said he plans to send a bill to the state legislature changing the age to 18 for both sexes...
Back in the Triqui village, leaders lay no blame on U.S. authorities. But they excoriate the accused for going to the police. "This man must have had little experience in the United States and must really not understand the way it works there," Garcia says, shaking his head and showing a look of disbelief. "You just do not get the American police involved in a case like this...
...Juan Copala village council secretary Macario Garcia claims the bride price makes the husband commit to the marriage, reducing breakups. "It is so the man gives value to his wife and so he won't easily leave her for another woman," Garcia says, sitting in the shade of a wooden hut under the glare of rugged hilltops. In the ancient tradition, he explains, the suitor negotiates the marriage with the family through a so-called ambassador. After a deal has been struck, the suitor then goes to meet and collect the bride at 2 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Local...
...However, Garcia says the custom of arranged marriage is dying, with many young people meeting their partners at the village middle school. Girls are also marrying much older - at around age 20 instead of the traditional 14 - he said. Village resident Pilar Martinez echoes his defense of Triqui traditional marriage, saying the payment puts worth on the matrimony. "It is a mark of commitment," she says smiling as she plays with her lively daughter and nephew. Martinez married at age 21 after meeting her husband at school. He paid her father about 9,000 pesos ($650), she says...
Mexican officials have long tolerated arranged marriages, Garcia concedes, adding that he doesn't know of any cases of prosecutions. But he says he will also propose to amend a "Treatment of People" law to include an article that makes bride-selling a criminal act. Such action is opposed by many who see indigenous traditions as a virtue of Mexico's cultural diversity. Demonizing arranged marriages is the latest portrayal of Indians as savages that has continued during five centuries since the Spanish conquest, says Ximena Avellaneda of the Rosario Castellanos Women House. "Why do Americans attack an arranged marriage...