Classmates set 14-year-old boy on fire in racial attack in Mexico
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Mexico City: A Mexican school boy suffered second and third-degree burns after two of his classmates set fire him on fire pouring alcohol in June.
The incident emerged today suggests the boy was attacked for speaking an indigenous language at a high school in the central state of Queretaro.
The 14-year-old Juan Zamorano realized his trousers were wet and stood up, when one of the accused set him on fire, according to his family, AFP reported.
Zamorano was only this week discharged from the hospital.
His family's lawyers said Jaun had suffered weeks of bullying because of his Indigenous Otomi roots.
The Otomi with a population of 350,000 is one of the dozens of Indigenous groups in the Latin American country.
One of the lawyers was quoted saying that Juan did not like to speak his mother tongue fearing harassment, bullying and ridicule.
Even Juan's teacher, the family alleged, harassed him because of his origin.
Authorities in Queretaro have announced investigation into the attack.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reportedly said the country's attorney general's office might handle the case if necessary, according to the report.
Discrimination is common in Mexico, a country of 126 million where 23.2 million people identify as Indigenous and more than 7.3 million speak an Indigenous language, according to a 2020 census, AFP reported.