Mexico's forgotten Afro-descendants celebrate roots
BY JEAN LUIS ARCE (AFP) 3 HOURS AGO
With dancing devils, fireworks and traditional musical instruments like the donkey jawbone, Afro-Mexicans proudly celebrate a heritage that is often forgotten in the Latin American country despite a centuries-old presence.
The festival in honor of their patron saint Nicolas of Tolentino is part of efforts by the community of Cuajinicuilapa in southern Guerrero state to stop their culture and identity dying out.
Around 1.5 million of Mexico's 128 million people are of African ancestry, but they are largely invisible outside of a stretch of Pacific coast known as the Costa Chica.
These descendants of slaves are hard to find in the country's history books and sometimes mistaken in their own country for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti or Belize.
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