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The Demarest Factor: US Military Mapping of indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico (Documentary film 55 minutes)

Published on September 15, 2011 in Indigenous Mexico

(55 minutes) 2010. This film is part of an ongoing investigation which has exposed US military mapping of communally owned indigenous land in the Southern Sierra in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The mapping took place under the auspices of the department of geography from Kansas University in Lawrence, Kansas in collaboration with the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) at Fort Leavenworth, in Leavenworth, Kansas. The FMSO senior analyst Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey B. Demarest declares in several essays and texts that communal ownership of property, leads to crime and insurgency. The film irrefutably exposes an ongoing military strategy to criminalize indigenous land tenure and identity in order to secure political and economic interests in the region.

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DOD funded mapping project “Bowman Expeditions / Mexico Indigena” to participate in The 2011 World Human Geography Conference

Published on September 14, 2011 in Indigenous Mexico

Among the invited speakers and plenary participants are Jerome Dobson, president of the American Geographical Society, Miguel Aguilar Robledo, geographer from the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Peter Herlihy, from the Department of Geography at Kansas University, and Lieutenant Colonel Geoff Demarest, of the U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Office. In 2005, the aforementioned individuals and their respective institutions collaborated in the mapping of communally owned indigenous territory in Mexico. The mapping was conducted without informing the local communities that there was military funding behind the project.

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U.S. army’s geo-piracy in Oaxacan communities condemned

Published on July 30, 2011 in Indigenous Mexico, Oaxaca

San Juan Yagila By Oscar Valdivieso
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Ciudadanía Express
Translated by Scott Campbell

Oaxaca, Mexico.- Several officials from communities in the Sierra Juárez of Oaxaca condemned the geo-piracy carried out by experts from the U.S. army under the cover of supposed scientific research.

They explained that at the end of 2008 the mapped results of an investigation called México Indígena, started two years earlier by a team of geographers from the University of Kansas, were handed over to two Zapotec communities in the Sierra Juárez. What appeared to be a beneficial project for the communities has now left many of the participants with the feeling of being the victims of an act of geo-piracy.

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Official Trailer: The Demarest Factor

Published on October 26, 2010 in Indigenous Mexico, Oaxaca

The Demarest Factor: US Military Mapping of Indigenous Communities in Oaxaca, Mexico

This film and workshop presentation discusses a recent investigation into U.S. military mapping of communally owned indigenous land in Oaxaca, Mexico. Kansas University geography professors presented the mapping project to indigenous communities as a participatory research project intended to benefit the community’s ability to manage their resources and territory. The involvement of the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) based out of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and a U.S. Army School of the America’s graduate, Lt. Col. Geoffrey B. Demarest, raised serious suspicions about the true nature of the mapping project known as “The Bowman Expeditions” or “Mexico Indigena”. This film discusses parallels between U.S. political and economic interests within the North American Free Trade Agreement, and a U.S. military strategy to secure those very interests.

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Threat of Genocide: US Military Mapping Against Mexico’s Indigenous

Published on June 26, 2009 in Indigenous Mexico

Originally published in Left Turn July/Aug 2009
By Simon Sedillo

The facts are clear: indigenous communities in Mexico are being preyed upon by the US military with the help of Kansas University geographers. In 2005, the Department of Geography at Kansas University received $500,000 in Department of Defense funds to map communally-held indigenous land in the Mexican states of San Luis Potosi and Oaxaca. With the help of the US Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO), located at Fort Leavenworth Army base in Leavenworth, Kansas, geography professors Peter Herlihy and Jerome Dobson ploughed ahead with the “Mexico Indigena” project, a part of the larger mapping project, the Bowman Expeditions.

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The Demarest Factor: The Ethics of U.S. Department of Defense Funding for Academic Research in Mexico

Published on March 26, 2009 in Indigenous Mexico

demares-and-proffs-sm by Simon Sedillo
March 25th, 2009
www.elenemigocomun.net

On October 23, 2006 the Lawrence Journal World or LJ World published an article which silently uncovered a funding scandal within Kansas University, in Lawrence, Kansas. In 2005, the university’s department of geography received at least $500,000 in Department of Defense funds to map communally held indigenous land in the states of San Luis Potosi, and in Oaxaca, Mexico.

As a result of this original story, on November 26th, of 2007 elenemigocomun.net published a feature follow up story on the funding scandal titled “The Road to Hell”, which elaborates on the the potential dangers of this type of militarily funded mapping project. Since the publication of this 2007 article, myself and a growing number of community members and students from both sides of the U.S. Mexico border, have engaged in several extensive investigations into the details of this particular research project. Our growing concern has revolved around, academic ethics violations due to improper transparency with communities about the research funding, and serious U.S. Army violations of Mexican sovereignty, and of indigenous autonomy. Our collective research over the last year has resulted in several key pieces of irrefutable evidence, demonstrating both academic ethics violations, and serious violations of Mexican sovereignty and indigenous autonomy.

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