UCSC Screening: The Demarest Factor: A Film By Simon Sedillo

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

This film and workshop presentation discusses a recent investigation into US 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 communities ability to manage their resources and territory. The involvement of the US Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) based out of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and a US 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 will discuss parallels between US political and economic interests within the North American Free Trade Agreement, and a US military strategy to secure those very interests.