MEXICO CITY - The recent Spencer Tunick installation that saw 18,000 volunteers pose nude in the name of art in the central square of Mexico City was by no means the first instance of naked masses congregating in that city.
Up to 600 native peasants of all ages known as the “400 villages” protest three times daily in the streets of the world’s most populous city. They use their naked bodies as a means of drawing attention to an injustice committed against them 15 years ago in the state of Veracruz. It was at that time that the state’s governor, Dante Delgado, illegally took 2,000 hectares of land from them, as well as jailing 350 people. The name “400 villages” the movement adopted is inspired by a 1970 protest march that 400 Mexican villages participated in. Not all Mexicans support the protesters, many in the ultra-Catholic country finding the nudity offensive.

Related Sites:

• Photos of Protests