An airport on top of mangrove swamps, El Salvador’s bet on regional development

Por

12 April, 2023

^{Translated by Elizabeth L. T. Moore.}

^{Cover image: A farmer guides us toward the mangrove region in the Central American Pacific where work is underway to build an airport. Photo: Juliana Bittencourt}

Don Elmer, a 63-year-old rural dweller, feels happy. “I cheer up when they come to sing to me,” shares the farmer about the birds chirping in the forest, in an ecological buffer zone of mangroves called El Tamarindo, a Protected Natural Area on the Pacific Coast of El Salvador.

“If they make the airport, all these birds, what are they going to have to land on?” laments Don Elmer, who makes up part of the 57 families in the Flor de Mangle community, in the Conchagua municipality, that are being displaced for the implementation of the International Pacific Airport megaproject.

According to formal complaints of the residents consulted by the team of this report, since February 8, 2023, personnel that introduced itself as part of the Guatemalan company Rodio Swissboring, hired by the Port Authority Executive Commission (CEPA in its Spanish abbreviation), began work in the Condadillo and Flor de Mangle communities, saying they would conduct a ground study in the area and move forward with the construction of a new airport terminal.

*^{Machinery invades and destroys agricultural land in preparation for the construction of the Pacific International Airport.}*

The testimonies recount how the workers entered with machinery and crew in the agricultural and housing land plots, “without authorization from the proprietors or a court order to do so,” they emphasized during the public complaints. Community members report that members of the Armed Forces and the National Civil Police are being mobilized to act as security for the company's machinery.

The workers drilled and excavated the ground, forming ditches with dimensions up to 40 meters wide, 60 meters long and more than nine meters deep. “In one of the plots of land, the ditch has come to span almost the whole area. Less than one kilometer away in this same plot are the mangroves of the El Tamarindo estuary,” says the complaint.

The rural inhabitants point out that upon finishing work in the invaded plots of land, the workers stopped and left, leaving the area unusable for agriculture and creating risky conditions, for both people and the rural families’ grazing livestock.

In March, reporting by the El Salvador media outlet MalaYerba proved that work had begun on the new airport, despite the fact that they still did not have the environmental permit currently required by law. In a report, they highlight the conduct of the CEPA director who, on national television on February 8, lied to assure that they had permits, even when the media confirmed that the resolution of the license was not made available by the environmental authorities until March 22.

“Not just Flor de Mangle will be affected. Here we have Condadillo, we have Llano Los Patos, a part of El Carrizal and also El Embarcadero,” stated Don Elmer with bitterness while he listed the populations threatened not just by the airport infrastructure, but also by what the development of this special economic zone will trigger, involving touristic, industrial and commercial complexes.

Development Pole

The team of this report traveled through the Condadillo territory in La Unión municipality, in the department of the same name, located in the eastern region where the Salvadoran government is looking to transform into a “development pole.”

To strengthen the plan, in addition to the new airport terminal, other efforts are in the works: standing out among them, so-called Bitcoin City, the Pacific Train and the modernization of ports in the strip of the Pacific coast, from Acajutla to La Unión; mega infrastructure projects that make part of Plan Cuscatlán, a government proposal that Nayib Bukele presented during the 2019 presidential elections, but that dates back to previous administrations.

“It’s a Special Economic Zone (ZEE in its Spanish abbreviation). It’s the privatization of territories. The previous administration had already launched the project by law on July 19, 2018, to establish it,” points out agroecology professor José Ángel Flores, member of the Asociación Intercomunal de Intipucá, which belongs to the Vida Digna Communication Network, an organization that brings together communities in the east of El Salvador threatened by megaprojects.

At the time, they distributed an agreement between the administration of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN in its Spanish abbreviation) and China, which sought to invest in the development of a 2,800 square kilometer Special Economic Zone between La Libertad port, in the Lempa River, reaching La Unión port, in the geostrategic Golfo de Fonseca.

Previously, since 2014, the progressive FMLN administration was considering building El Jagüey International Airport, a project renamed and currently put into motion by Bukele in the same territory in Pacific Central America.

Without defense

As we passed through the forest, we noticed a pattern of sign posts; orange paint covers the tree trunks. Santos Cruz, a rural inhabitant of the region, mentions that they’re marks left over from an odd census in which, for days, workers from CEPA and the Ministerio de Obra Pública measured and evaluated the site for construction of the airport.

*^{Local residents have reported unusual activity since the announcement of the construction of the airport terminal. Photo: Juliana Bittencourt}*

Since the first few months of 2022, Condadillo residents noticed more activity by the State workers, who in addition to taking measurements of the land, would photograph the dwellings and plots of land that belong to the rural inhabitants. For them, that added to the presence of military contingents and police, which was standardized from the month of March on, when an emergency government was declared in the whole country, justified by the rise in homicides and gang-related violence.

The residents’ situation worsened, given that various communities don’t possess deeds. Nor do they have formalized possession of the land. That means they can be dispossessed at any point, emphasized Professor Flores, who joined us on the traverse through the affected communities, while highlighting that the right to have appropriate information has been stripped away, and the populations have not been consulted.

Laws on the fast track

While we visit the mangrove forest in the ecological buffer zone of the airport project, Flores contextualizes the actions of the legislative power and environmental institutions, and emphasizes how they’re at the mercy of President Bukele, who has fast-tracked these megaprojects.

As an example, he mentions the passage of the Law of Eminent Domain of Property for Municipal and Institutional Works on November 24, 2021. In said regulations, mechanisms are established for the expropriation of properties due to “public utility or social interest,” a law approved only three days after the announcement, on the part of Bukele himself, of the construction of the mega undertaking that encompasses the so-called Bitcoin City.

According to the professor, the law omits the conciliation phase, that is to say, a space for dialogue does not exist, “while the process starts up, the Salvadoran state can go on building and installing the megaprojects until a resolution emerges. The population remains dispossessed and does not have any kind of state entity that it can turn to,” Flores maintained.

He affirms that the passed laws intend to ease the process of establishing mega investment projects. In this way, the Legislative Assembly also passed the Law for the construction, administration, operation and maintenance of the International Pacific Airport and the Law of the special regime for the simplification of procedures and administrative acts related to the Pacific Train. Both regulations have been criticized because they permit both the train and the airport to be exempt from the Law of Acquisitions and Recruitment of the Public Administration, remaining totally outside the transparency standards.

For his part, Don Elmer expresses worry about the uncertainty of his land in Flor de Mangle. He complains about the constant visits from bureaucrats, who pressure the rural inhabitants in the context of an expropriation process. Both residents of this community and those of Condadillo have publicly denounced CEPA’s pressure to sell their land at prices that they consider unfair, which has led them to reject the valuation signature; even though the countryman affirms that some families have ended up conceding out of fear.

Before the increase in threats, in October 2022, the rural residents publicly rejected negotiations with CEPA. Representatives of the two communities pointed out that the institution valued its land at an amount of $8,000 USD per manzana (equal to 0.70 hectares or 1.73 acres), though they think the true value is higher.

Santos Cruz, a farmer with land in the area, accused CEPA officials of visiting landowners to give an ultimatum. “If you don’t sign, you could end up with nothing,” the rural inhabitant said about the behavior of the state workers. “As the farmers, the poor people of the country, we’re suffering so much for megaprojects the government brings. Why not take this airport somewhere else? The country doesn’t need two airports,” he complained, maintaining that dozens of families would be left without sources of income if the project is implemented.

“Green” airport

According to the Cuscatlán Plan, the core ideas guiding the Bukele administration, constructing the Pacific Airport represents the consolidation of the first “green” airport terminal in Central America. To do so, it assures that its implementation will be based on the standards of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the United States Green Building Council, “protecting the buffer zone and establishing new legislations for the development of ecotourism in the region.”

The International Pacific Airport, with an investment of approximately $300 million USD, intends to encompass a surface area of almost 20 thousand square meters. Even though CEPA still has not specified if it will be administered by the state or by a public-private entity, the feasibility studies were run by UDP CONSORCIO PEYCO–ALBEN 4000, property of Grupo SEG, of the Spanish capital.

According to CEPA’s projections, the airport will bring “poles of (economic) development” for the eastern zone and generate jobs for residents. Federico Anliker, president of the Commission, assures that the new airport terminal will be converted into an “air-tropolis,” a city of industrial plants, hospitality, resort centers and factories for the exportation of technological goods.

Contrary to the promises of sustainable development, the environmental impact study stresses that construction of the airport terminal poses a threat to more than 44 species of birds that live in El Tamarindo swamp.

“The impact includes the destruction of nesting sites, obstructing the flow of migratory birds, and the death of bird species and specimens that are endangered or in threat of extinction, like the Yellow-naped amazon, Orange-chinned parakeet, Pacific parakeet and the Many-colored rush tyrant,” it says, referring to the danger that looms over the fauna, where other species, like mammals and reptiles that inhabit the mangrove swamp and its ecological buffer zone, will also be affected.

According to data from MARN, El Salvador has 13 swamp ecosystems along the Pacific coast, whose surface area has reduced 60% in the past six decades. The construction of the Pacific Airport would pose a continued decrease of the area’s swamps, affecting the populations that live off the fish and the extraction of other marine species for its survival.

Despite the effects, the investigation media GatoEncerrado revealed in a report released at the end of 2022, that the chief of the Environmental and Natural Resources Department (MARN in its Spanish abbreviation), Fernando López Larreynaga, promoted less-restrictive directives to facilitate the construction of the Pacific Airport, although in September 2021 specialists of the institution designated the project as “environmentally unfeasible” for affecting a PNA and altering the swamps in La Unión area.

*^{Machinery invades and destroys agricultural land to prepare for the construction of the Pacific International Airport.}*

As Secretary Larreynaga justified, the implementation of new guidelines complied with at least 53 investment projects that had not been executed in the seven municipalities of the coastal strip, due to the fact that the environmental regulations were holding up the works. Because of that, the institution made the regulations more flexible with the objective of preparing the coastal territories, previously cataloged as “high protection,” to be home to the construction of huge infrastructure undertakings.

Integration for the dispossession

Despite the narrative spread by President Bukele, for professor Flores, the news of these megaprojects are not in the slightest novel.

“It’s something that comes from the era of Alliance for Progress,” he said referring to the long history of incorporation driven by the United States with the Central America region since the second half of the past century through agreements that were promoted by that country “to guarantee the economic policy of North America.”

The agroecologist emphasized the logistical component through which the existence of the Pacific Airport is justified, like the train and other megaprojects that seek to consolidate key infrastructure, through the use of public resources, for the operation and interest of the large capital transnationals.

*^{Sources of water in the Condadillo community are threatened by projects for the new airport terminal}*

“It secures everything with a more regional rationality. In this case it comes from the Maya Train in Mexico, then its extension in Guatemala (referring to the Bicentennial Train that will connect the border with Chiapas, Mexico, to Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic Coast) and then continuing with the Pacific Train in El Salvador (...) all these logistics are the extraction of natural resources of the few natural ecosystems left in Latin America, for the purpose of transforming goods.”

Flores points out the historical interference of the United States in El Salvador, which has implemented various strategies to deepen neoliberalism. The creation of the free commerce zone firmed up the Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Central America and the Dominican Republic, just as with the most recent cooperation programs like FOMILENIO II, which defined vital highway infrastructure for the later development of the specific coast.

“They’ve worked to configure the country like a small logistical passageway where the objective is the assembly, the storage, the distribution and the commercialization of goods, at an extremely low cost, without the sound judgment to avoid the depredation of the environment,” the professor upheld.

“The Land is Not For Sale”: Defenders in the Face of the Mis-named Mayan Train

Por

Aldo Santiago

6 April, 2023

^{Translated by Schools for Chiapas}

^{On the cover: Advance of the construction work on the Mayan Train cause the deforestation of hundreds of hectares of jungle.}

It is more than a slogan. The phrase, “the land is not for sale”, reiterated in the testimonies shared by participants of the most recent Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), held on March 4 and 5, embodies the fierce defense of native peoples in the southeast of Mexico, where they are already experiencing the negative effects of the imposition of one of the star projects of the so-called Fourth Transformation: the Maya Train in the Yucatan Peninsula.

In its advancement, it links a series of megaprojects to offer the territories of indigenous communities to the markets: industrial parks, energy plants, infrastructure for the circulation of goods and military barracks, to mention just a few.

As Avispa Mídia has documented, since the beginning of the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), the use of diverse tactics to implement, at any cost, both the Interoceanic Corridor in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Oaxaca, and the Mayan Train in the territories of the Yucatán peninsula has been evident.

Among the strategies identified in both megaprojects are the simulation of consultations, cooptation through assistance, falsification of signatures and assemblies to accept the projects and non-compliance with judicial resolutions ordering a halt to the works. At the same time, violence is implemented in its different forms, specifically criminalization and persecution against those who demand the defense of their territory.

In this installment, we take up the testimony of organizational processes in Quintana Roo from where they make a call to unveil the strategies and the intertwining of actors, legal and illegal, who promote the engines of reconfiguration in the Mexican Southeast.

It is important to highlight the role of the Armed Forces who, under the pretext of executing the works, have extended their presence in the indigenous territories. At the same time as militarization is advancing, the communities charge that organized crime is also making inroads and, with it, violence through executions, disappearances and other crimes within the native populations.

*^{Elements of the Armed Forces during their deployment in territories of the Yucatan peninsula to direct the works of the megaproject.}*

This publication is part of a series of dialogues we held with participants in the CNI Assembly held in Tehuacán, Puebla. Here you can read the first installment on indigenous organizations in Michoacán.

The Assembly of Defenders of the Maya Múuch’ Xíinbal Territory, which celebrated five years of existence last January, defines itself as an itinerant Assembly through which different communities of the Yucatán peninsula share the problems surrounding the megaprojects that are landing in their territories in order to build agreements on strategies for their defense.

Made up of ejidatarios and peasants from Mayan communities, one of the main agreements of the Múuch’ Xíinbal Assembly is not to sell or rent land in the face of “megaprojects implemented by companies that, in classic conquistador fashion, come to take our lands to develop their business,” according to its members.

The Mayan organization has denounced the negative effects unleashed by the avalanche of extractive projects, including those disguised as “green”, among which are the plans to erect 25 wind and photovoltaic farms on the peninsula. They have also raised their voices against the proliferation of hundreds of pig farms that threaten to contaminate the largest subway water reserve in the country and, of course, against the devastation caused by the construction of the Tren Maya.

The following are excerpts from a conversation with Alexis Juuj, a member of the community of Chunhuhub and a member of the Múuch’ Xíinbal Assembly. He talks to us about the progress of Section 6, which runs from Tulum to Chetumal, and whose construction is being carried out by the Mexican army, which, he accuses, has led to the militarization of the communities.

Avispa Mídia (AM): Can you give us an update on the progress of the train megaproject in your region?

Alexis Juuj (AJ): For the so-called Mayan train project, they have practically opened the road into the jungle. In spite of the fact that they have been constantly changing the tracks where the train is going to pass, because it does not really have an executive plan.

*^{Other organizations, communities and collectives have been protesting against the advance of the train construction.}*

They have been improvising, passing over cenotes, caves, which they have been filling with stone material and garbage. From the beginning we pointed out that the ground is not suitable for a project of this magnitude.

Currently the project of the train, wrongly-named Maya, is already very advanced. This has also led to the communities filling up with military personnel, who are in charge of some sections of the construction of the train.

AM: The CNI Assembly that convenes us today proposes to reflect on the relationship between violence, militarization and megaprojects, how is this being expressed in the specific instance of the train?

AJ: Since the construction of the train and the militarization of the area began, there is something very clear: the rate of violence has shot up since the arrival of the military in the communities, whose presence was justified by the need for greater security. However, the opposite is true.

^{Sections 6 and 7 of the Tren Maya are among the most complex due to the geography they cross. Both are being built by the Sedena and go from Quintana Roo to reconnect with Campeche. The Armed Forces project the completion of these sections by December 31, 2023.}

There is something very interesting here, because previously in the small communities of Quintana Roo and Yucatan you did not hear anything about disappearances or about “levantones”, about confrontations with the drug traffickers. However, since the beginning of the construction, we started to hear a lot about this. And it is happening specifically in the communities, not in the big cities as it used to be: Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum. Now they are already inside the communities. So, women, children and men are disappearing, but the interesting thing is that most of the young men and adult men who disappear are found executed and the women are not found, nor are the children, which leads us to think that it is really trafficking in women and children. This is what is happening now in the communities. In addition, there is a link between the National Guard and organized crime, which is something we already know. Organized crime has flooded the communities with drugs to enlist in their ranks the young people of the communities, who are then used as cannon fodder for drug trafficking.

AM: What other actors show up in the territories and what are the effects of the advancement of the project?

AJ: The project does not mention the secondary effects that the train will bring. There are communities right now where companies are moving in, especially energy companies, wanting to set up in ejidos that are close to where the train is going to pass.

In my community of Chunhuhub, there is a town very close to where a substation of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is being installed. Fonatur (National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism) presented the plans for the substation, which is being built exclusively to feed the Section 6 station that will be in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, 60 kilometers from where the train will pass. In that same ejido, a 2,000 hectare solar park is to be installed.

In that area, for example, in my community, there are 400 people who are not from the peninsula, who are working on these energy projects. This has caused violence within the social fabric, because of the ways that these people have brought with them. The people working there are also getting involved with the women of the communities and this has caused family problems.

In addition, in other areas, where the construction of the train has advanced much more, such as in the Izamal area, there are not only workers from all over the country, but also Central Americans who are migrating to the US. Many people are being hired to move forward as quickly as possible with the construction work, regardless of whether they are undocumented. This has also brought drug addiction problems within the communities, because many of these people bring other ways of life, which is spreading to the community.

In a new order, Mexico gives in to U.S. pressure over banning genetically modified corn

Por

Jeny Pascacio

27 March, 2023

^{Translated by Elizabeth L. T. Moore.}

^{Pictured: Corn producer. Photo: Eduardo Miranda}

The Republic of Mexico president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, published a new order in the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF in its Spanish abbreviation, the main government publication where all rules and regulations must be published) on February 13 that establishes new actions in matters of glyphosate and genetically modified corn. In December 2020, the president passed a first order, now repealed, which decided to gradually eliminate genetically modified corn and the herbicide glyphosate by 2025.

The new publication was a response to the ultimatum the United States gave to Mexico by requesting the scientific basis facing the ban of genetically modified corn and glyphosate, said Malin Jönsson, coordinator of the Fundación Semillas de Vida, in an interview with Avispa Mídia.

The publication was issued one day before the deadline set by the new United States chief agricultural negotiator, Doug McKalip, and the under secretary of agriculture for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, Alexis Taylor, so the Mexican government could explain its decision for the ban.

The recent order maintains the ban on growing genetically modified corn, as well as its use in the dough and tortilla sector.

The previous “does not represent some affectation to commerce nor imports, among other reasons,” maintained the Secretary of the Economy in a press release.

The new order removes the deadline to ban genetically modified corn in animal feed and the food industry. In the release, the Secretary of the Economy explains that “with regard to the use of genetically modified corn for feed and the industry, the deadline has been removed to ban its use, leaving it subject to what exists in supply. Committees will be created with the national and international private sector to achieve an orderly transition.”

Furthermore, the date to stop importing glyphosate and substitute it with agroecological alternatives will be modified from January to March 2024.

In the press release, the Secretary of Economy maintained that “the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris in its Spanish abbreviation) will conduct scientific research surrounding the possible health impacts genetically modified corn has on people. Such studies will be completed with health agencies from other countries.” With this, “Mexico reiterates its commitment to fulfilling the Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada, according to which the decisions to preserve organic life should be based on scientific evidence.”

USMCA

The United States government is threatening Mexico with resorting to formal measures associated with the Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada (USMCA), previously NAFTA. For the organizations that join the “Sin Maíz no Hay País” campaign, the controversy shows that free trade treaties jeopardize sovereignty when some of the parties are at a disadvantage.

Nevertheless, as Jönsson argues, USMCA contains articles that protect sovereignty, meaning Mexico can ban the use of modern technology products or genetically modified organisms (GMO).

*^{Obrador and Biden meet in the US. The U.S. government declared itself "disappointed" with the decree issued on Monday, February 13.}*

“USMCA does not have an obligation to accept (the U.S. complaints). We can use those arguments we have. There are many studies that are showing the damage they cause to biodiversity, to health, to life,” added Jönsson. He said they could even put a deadline on closing the border to imports.

Not compliant

Various studies on corn flour contaminated with transgenics and glyphosate exist. “The two are being mixed,” Jönsson said.

Even studies by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM in its Mexican abbreviation) and the Asociación de Consumidores Orgánicos showed discoveries of glyphosate and transgenics in tortillas. Using yellow corn in this food would mean government controls have failed.

“How are we going to eliminate the consumption of contaminated flours that we currently have? How are we actually going to implement the order? How are we going to assure that we’re not consuming it? What has been done to guarantee that we’re not consuming it directly?” asked Malin Jönsson. Seeing as there are several problems, “the order is not compliant,” because it doesn’t resolve them.

The Semillas de Vida researcher reminded that the corn is genetically modified to resist herbicides “go hand-in-hand”. That’s how glyphosate application ends up with other plants. “It controls, but it kills all other life, killing biodiversity.”

The items in the new presidential order recognize the scientific research that warns of the harmful effects of herbicide on the health of human beings, the environment and biological diversity. Furthermore, it recognizes it as a likely carcinogen, as established by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

The Intersecretary Commission on Genetically Modified Organism Biosecurity, a dependent of the National Council of Science and Technology, published an extensive document on the subject. But, according to Mexican organizations, the United States government nor companies consider these studies valid. “They want to take us down a dead-end street.”

It’s an entirely complicated situation, insisted Jönsson, also because of the interests of large capitals of transnationals that control the glyphosate business and the production of genetically modified corn, like the company Bayer - Monsanto, Syngenta, among others.

“Incompatible realities”

Mexico is a constant center of origin and diversification of corn. It’s the world’s largest living genetic corn shelter. Indigenous villages have been saving, selecting and improving the seeds for some ten thousand years, the researcher highlighted.

Fifty-nine native races are registered, but millions of corn varieties exist as the essence of Mexican food culture, which was domesticated more than seven thousand years ago. In contrast, in the United States, corn is merchandise and supply for animal feed, to make ultra-processed products and to generate agrofuel.

“They’re two different and incompatible realities,” agreed the researcher. “But we come from a neoliberal economic model where the agricultural population has not been supported at all, where genetically modified corn has been allowed in,” she said.

The organizations highlight the self-sufficiency of Mexico in the production of corn it consumes. “That’s why it’s essential to establish concise and transversal public policies its respective proposal, that guarantee that in a fixed amount of time there will be permanent self-sufficiency of non-genetically modified corn for the food supply chain in its group,” she said.

Reaction

On Tuesday, February 14, the United States agriculture secretary highlighted that they are carefully revising the details of the new order “and we intend to work with the USTR to assure that our commitment is based on science and the rules remain firm.”

Fernando Bejarano, of the Pesticidal Action Committee, considers that the agencies and organizations of the Federal Public Administration should complete the corresponding actions with the effect of carrying out the gradual substitution of glyphosate until reaching its ban in March 2024.

He highlighted the eighth article of the 2023 order that speaks about the research protocol group that will join the Federal Commission and the same requests by other countries in a study about the consumption of genetically modified corn and the possible damages to health.

The organizations that join the national campaign convened people to join the proposals, so they can establish laws and rulings that include sanctions.

Currently some 17 million metric tons of genetically modified corn are imported to Mexico, due to the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States of America.

In Defense of the Isthmus: The Persistent Struggle Against the Interoceanic Corridor

Por

Aldo Santiago

23 March, 2023

David Hernández Salazar, community agent of Puente Madera, the Indigenous Binizaá community located in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, was detained on January 17 by members of the Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office, accused of supposed damage to public roads and highways.

However, these crimes are fabricated. The political persecution against the community agent of the Binizaá community is a consequence of the persistent struggle of the community of Puente Madera to defend their common use lands of El Pitayal, where the state seeks to build one of the 35 industrial parks that make up the Interoceanic Corridor megaproject.

After his arrest, the community mobilized applying pressure and forcing the state to release him only a few hours after his detention. Now, Hernández emphasizes that he is not the only person being persecuted. There are 17 others, all inhabitants of the community of Puente Madera, who have warrants out for their arrest.

For Hernández, the strategies taken up by the state are no surprise. Since 2021, members of the assembly of comuneros of San Blas Atempa—the municipality to which the community of Puente Madera belongs—have denounced the simulation and falsification of signatures to give approval to the installation of one of the industrial parks, which the state is naming, “development poles for wellbeing.”

With the mobilizations that have taken place to denounce the simulated approval of the industrial park, the criminalization of representatives and inhabitants of the community of Puente Madera has not stopped. The same people facing criminalization are those who demand a resolution to the nullity lawsuit presented in the Local Agrarian Court of Tuxtepec seeking the cancelation of the construction of the industrial park on the common use lands of El Pitayal.

As the Binizaá community has pointed out, the United States is also involved, interfering in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec via investments in their quest to reconfigure southeast Mexico, principally for geostrategic value.

As Anna Esther Ceceña, the coordinator of the Latin American Observatory of Geopolitics, reflects: “When containers from China and the United States pass through the Interoceanic Corridor, the security forces watching over them will be from North America, not only from Mexico. It is important to observe the military risk.”

This publication is part of a series of discussions with participants in the Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress, which took place on March 4-5 in Tehuacán, Puebla. You can also consult the past discussions on other social struggles in Michoacán and Quintana Roo. Below, we share excerpts from the interview with David Hernández Salazar, from the community of Puente Madera.

Avispa Mídia: What is the status of the lawsuit against the supposed assembly decision that approved the construction of the industrial park in El Pitayal?

David Hernández Salazar, community agent of Puente Madera (DH): The last hearing was in March of 2022, where the alternate of the Communal Lands Commissioner, Gregorio Salva, and the head of the Agrarian Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Paredes, informed us that the industrial park had not been approved in the assembly of March 14, 2021. So, that is where we are. They recognize that the project wasn’t approved, but the state and federal governments continue entering the lands of El Pitayal for the construction of the industrial park.

AM: Was there a legal resolution?

DH: That is still pending. We also had a conversation with the National Agrarian Attorney General’s Office. They received us in Mexico City. There I presented all the evidence of the irregularities that have taken place in this process. They say that while there is no official ruling which stops them from entering the lands, then they will continue to enter. Thus, the response I gave them was: “Well, then we are going to defend the land.” We are the same. While there is no resolution from the Agrarian Court, you enter the land, and as long as you continue to enter the land, we are going to defend it.

AM: That was last year and then you were arrested…

DH: Exactly, from there we arrive at my arrest…and in response to my arrest we saw clearly the support of the population of Puente Madera. In the end, this struggle is a community struggle, not just of a few individuals, much less of a sole social leader, but of an entire community.

AM: What are you being accused of?

DH: Attacks on public roads and highways, material damage, and the burning of vehicles. That is what they are accusing me of. It shouldn’t be this way, but we know they are fabricated crimes, crimes that don’t have any legal basis, that aren’t based in what really happen.

The fabrication of these crimes is an attack against us, to stop this struggle in defense of the common use lands of El Pitayal. Furthermore, there exists 17 other arrest warrants against the compañeros of Puente Madera. These are the same, fabricated crimes. There is no basis in what really happened that day to justify these warrants. More than anything, these 18 arrest warrants are to intimidate the community. My legal case has already proceeded, but those of my compañeros are pending. However, they are preparing an appeal, so that the compañeros can feel protected and supported by the community.

AM. How important is this struggle against the imposition of the Interoceanic Corridor?

DH: We know that it is one of the priority megaprojects of the president of the republic. We also know that there are political leaders who want to claim these lands and territories. These claims are based upon imposition via the falsification of signatures and of lies to the communities.

As of now, the Interoceanic Corridor has faced many problems. For example, I can mention the group UCIZONI (Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus) who have been stopping the advancement of the project for various days, obstructing the train lines, due to the state refusing to fulfill certain agreements with the communities.

On the other hand, is the municipality of Santiago Astata. There, a blockade has been in place for five days because the company hasn’t paid for the stone material that they are extracting, which already exceeds 11 million pesos.

In the specific case of San Blas Atempa, there are various issues: rigged assemblies, both of the comuneros, as well as of the Indigenous communities, on part of the National institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI). These rigged assemblies have been carried out in complicity with the municipal president, the communal lands commissioner, and of course, the state and federal governments.

The message is clear: we are going to continue defending our lands and territories. It is our right as Indigenous communities. The lands are not for sale. With the position that we have taken in Puente Madera, we will continue defending our lands, although the state seeks to intimidate us with these arrest warrants. They can lock up one, two, three, as many of us as they want, but because the struggle is of an entire community, we will continue in defense of our common use lands.

AM: What is your reading of the impulse of the United States with the announcement of more investments in the Isthmus region?

DH: We know that on March 21, the United States ambassador to Mexico will arrive to the Isthmus, and of course, we know that larger projects are on their way. Imagine, there are ten industrial parks, which need to be supplied electrical energy. So, there they go, seeking to privatize the common use lands, and in particular the lands of San Blas Atempa, because we have almost 10,000 hectares, enough to put a wind farm to provide energy to these industrial parks. For that, we are on maximum alert, seeking to strengthen this movement in order to impede them from advancing further on the common use lands.

David Hernández emphasizes that the Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress gathers communities who, in spite of their differences, share similar problems in their communities, such as the actions of governments and corrupt agrarian authorities, or the militarization around megaprojects to intimidate the population. “And when they can no longer do what they need to do, organized crime steps in,” said the Binizaá man.

“The message that we bring from our communities is to strengthen our struggle. It is not only in the Isthmus region, but throughout the country, that we are experiencing this situation,” says the member of the community of Puente Madera.

Resistance Grows Against Water Privatization in Mexico

Por

Santiago Navarro F

9 March, 2023

^{Cover image: Participants in the Second National Assembly for Water and Life pose on a water truck to emphasize the water crisis in different parts of Mexico. Photo: Santiago Navarro F}

A soft breeze, followed by a strong wind, stir up the earth, causing dust to dance between the bodies of those arriving from different geographies of Mexico, and even some from other parts of the world. Their gazes cross with a certain complicity, not surprisingly, the present times are a tragedy. There isn’t one movement that hasn’t suffered state repression: disappearances, political imprisonment, dispossession, harassment, and the worst, assassination. But on this occasion, people gathered around a common element which represents life, which connects everyone’s destiny: water.

Participants from at least eighteen states of Mexico, and people from six other countries—more than 500 people—arrived to rebel Otomí territory, in the community of Santiago Mexquititlán, pertaining to the municipality of Amealco, Querétaro. The majority of whom were there for their first time, enthusiastically attending the Second National Assembly for Water and Life.

For two days, participants shared their thoughts, strategies, and the challenges they have faced, in expanding coordinated actions “against the exploitation of water and the water crisis being caused by national and multinational companies,” they explained.

Otomí women, wearing their traditional clothing with contrasting colors, making their appearance and the certainty of their words more powerful, understand it well. They chose their community to host the event, and this was not a random decision. “In the state of Querétaro, they’ve begun implementing laws to privatize water. But this vital liquid is located principally in our territories, in the territories of Indigenous peoples,” said the Indigenous Otomí woman, Sara Hernández.

Sara refers to a law that was proposed in 2021, going into effect in July of 2022. The law primarily benefits private capital. As a consequence of the law, “a large number of water concessions were issued to the private water sector,” she adds.

Among other benefits to private companies, the new law allows those with water concessions to “temporarily provide, totally or partially…the public services of drinking water, potabilization, drainage, sewage treatment, and the disposal of wastewater.”

In addition to allowing the private sector to profit from the blue gold, the law opens the door for private companies to participate in making policies, guidelines, and technical specifications for the construction, expansion, rehabilitation, administration, operation, conservation, and maintenance of drinking water supply systems and other services. This law will even reward the private sector with recognition for encouraging what they are calling, “citizen participation in water culture.”

The Indigenous Otomí woman, Sara, recalls that one of the principle activities that caused alarm in the community was in 2021, when the new law was being prepared in the parliament of Querétaro. “That year we began to see that they were exploiting the water in the community with pipes and water trucks,” she says.

The most outrageous thing, Sara relates, is that the community was paying the State Water Commission (CEA) for the water service, but the water was not meeting their daily needs. The situation was so dire that the only well that fed the entire community was beginning to reach its limit and dry up. “That’s when the community got organized and took over one of the water trucks and decided to take control of the well,” says Sara.

The Legal Battle for Water

Next to the Otomi community’s drinking water well, there sits the remains of an official vehicle of the State Water Commission (CEA), a water truck with a phrase written in graffiti on its 30,000-liter capacity tank: “It’s not a drought, its exploitation,” alluding to the water crisis in several Mexican states.

The well providing water to the Otomi community is part of the Valley of Amealco, one of seven aquifers that sustain the monstrous industrial complexes and urban zones established in this area. At the same time, these water reserves form part of 653 aquifers that provide the groundwater of Mexico, according to studies from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT).

“Water continues to be managed in the same way as it has been by previous governments, as it has been since the reform to Article 27 (of the Mexican constitution). Since the enactment of the national water law, through the simulation of a concession system, the privatization and exploitation of water has been approved,” explains the lawyer, Carlos González, of the National indigenous Congress (CNI), who provides legal support to the Otomí community.

The lawyer calls the concession system a “simulation” because “through the figure of the concession, water is disproportionately handed over to large companies, concentrating it into very few hands in this country: in the mining sector, for soda and beer companies, for the industrial and real estate sector, for industrial agriculture and cattle raising,” summarized the advisor to the National Indigenous Congress.

Carlos González points out that this strategy of privatization is taking place in the Otomí region, principally with the concession of a well located in Barrio 4 of the community. That well is formally administered by the State Water Commission (CEA). “With this law, there exists the possibility, the high probability, that this well will be handed over to management by a private company,” remarks the CNI lawyer.

For this, “We’ve begun a legal battle, filing several appeals in Querétaro. We’ve also begun to mobilize,” Sara explains.

According to the lawyer, the community has taken up a legal battle as one of the strategies of resistance. Three appeals have been filed against the law, against the refusal to hand over management of the well to the community, something that has been requested by the community on various occasions. Furthermore, an appeal has been been filed to prevent a private company from acquiring a concession and taking over management of the well.

“Two appeals were ruled on in favor of the community. The unconstitutional acts that were extremely harmful to our people were suspended,” explains the legal advisor.

The Struggle Must Be Nationwide

As if they were mirrors, the social and legal problems arising from the water crisis in different Indigenous communities in Mexico, all reflect the same scene of exploitation. This second assembly, which took place on February 18 and 19 in this Otomí community, followed a previous assembly in a different community that stood up to the blatant exploitation of the multinational corporation Danone.

The history begins in Santa María Zacatepec, in Juan C. Bonilla, Puebla. There, the French company, Danone, via its affiliate, Bonafont, installed themselves in the community in 1992. The company was “extracting 1,642,000 liters of water daily. In addition, they exploited the workers with miserable wages. This company left us without water. In 2021, the 20 communities who have since organized, didn’t have water in our wells,” says an activist from the community, who for security reasons only introduced herself as Adela.

This company offers a liter of water to the Mexican market for nearly the same cost as a liter of gasoline. “So, if oil theft is a serious crime, why does the government allow water theft and not classify it as a crime?” asked the Indigenous man, Alejandro Torres, a member of the organization, Pueblos Unidos de la Region Choluteca y de los Volcanes.

Via direction action, these communities took over and stopped the activities of the Bonafont plant. “From that moment, our wells began to have water again. We’ve calculated that, to this day, more than 1.2 billion liters of water have flowed again. That number will continue to rise because we will not allow the company to return to our territory to exploit our water,” added Adela.

After this experience, different communities from different regions of Mexico decided to organize a second assembly to strengthen the defense of water and the defense of Indigenous territories. Among the agreements reached were that the communities would adhere to their self-determination as Indigenous peoples, not asking for permission from the government to manage their water. “Because we have the capability, and the forms of organizing ourselves. We know how to manage and take care of our water, as we have done since time immemorial,” says the Indigenous man, Miguel López Vega, of the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra, y el Agua, Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala.

Participants in the second assembly warn that if no action is taken, the coming crisis will be much worse and will not only affect Indigenous peoples, but urban zones as well. “The struggle must be nationwide,” Adela adds.

Those who participated in the assembly have named this new epoch of dispossession, “A war of extermination,” and the examples are clear.

Among them are: “A) The plundering, extraction, trafficking, sell, and exploitation of water; B) The extermination of our forests, rivers, oceans, minerals, flora, fauna, cultural and linguistic richness and diversity; C) The imposition of megaprojects like the Mayan Train, the Interoceanic Corridor, and the Morelos Integral Project; and D) By all means they seek to end with our autonomy, the autonomy of Indigenous peoples,” they denounce in the agreements from the assembly.

In order to continue the organizing work, an agreement was reached to carry out a third assembly, to be held on August 12 and 13 in the Indigenous community of Xochimilco, if approved by the community.

Different activities have been announced for March 8, 9, and 22, including mobilizations. Above all, they are calling for “global action against the exploitation of water and for the right to life,” to commemorate the United Nations recognition of the importance of access to drinking water as a basic human necessity.

From the assembly, they also seek to denounce the exploitation, privatization, and plunder of water, especially by “the exploitative companies like Nestle, Bonafont, Danone, Coca Cola, and tourist real estate companies.”

In a press conference on Monday February 20, at the close of the assembly, they remembered the Indigenous activist Samir Flores Soberanes, who opposed the Morelos Integral Project (PIM), and was assassinated four years ago.

“His struggle against the Morelos Integral Project (PIM) and his open opposition to the Huexca Thermoelectric Plant caused the narco-state to order his assassination. We not only condemn the delay of justice and the impunity, but we demand truth and justice for Samir. Today we reaffirm that the seeds that he planted in the struggle are flourishing in the Second National Assembly for Water and Life.”

This assembly was also dedicated to the activists Antonio Díaz Valencia and Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Garza, who have been disappeared since January 15 in Aquila, Michoacán. Throughout the event, emphasis was placed on the demand for their alive return.

Mexico abides by United States climate policy, adding four wind farms in the Isthmus

Por

Santiago Navarro F

22 February, 2023

^{Translated by Elizabeth L. T. Moore}

^{Pictured: AMLO during a meeting with the United States special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry}

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador maintained this Wednesday, February 8, that, of the first round of the request for bids for 10 industrial park areas in southern Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec, four will be set aside for the generation of wind energy. This measure was taken as part of a climate change agreement established with the United States.

Obrador added that the United States special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, will set foot on Mexican territory for the seventh time on March 19 to supervise the areas set aside for wind energy generation in the Isthmus, where physical and legal infrastructure are being created in the so-called Interocean Corridor.

“This is an agreement with the United States government to contribute to confronting the climate change problem,” detailed the Mexican president.

The president of Mexico also assured that the four renewable energy generation complexes, adding to the 29 wind farms already in operation in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, will be part of the public agency Federal Electricity Commission (CFE in its Spanish initials). Furthermore, he emphasized that they will be funded by the United States or its banks, “with very low (interest) rates” and that they will be built “by Mexican and United States companies.”

The United States special envoy, along with the United States Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and other officials, will meet on March 19 with the Mexican president and Chancellor Marcelo Ebrard with whom they’ve already met. During their participation in COP27, both countries outlined commitments to tackle climate change with an investment of $48 billion dollars.

Among the objectives they’ve laid out to justify the creation of new renewable energy generation complexes is increasing their impact to reduce 22% to 35% of greenhouse gas emissions in the next eight years. This means doubling the Mexican territory’s infrastructure to generate twice as much of the current renewable energy emissions until 2030, on track with the production of an additional 40 gigawatts (GW).

“These goals will allow the North American region to have one of the most efficient energy transitions [...] President López Obrador’s decision will mean thousands of new jobs and the expansion of Mexico’s green economy,” celebrated Chancellor Ebrard at COP27.

The International Coalition

The current decisions about renewable energy in Mexico are a continuation of the agreements established with the United States and Canada at the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS) held in 2021. The Mexican government committed to rolling out more than 30 additional gigawatts of combined wind, solar, geothermal and hydroelectricity capacity by the year 2030, meeting the 40 GW the United States needs to add in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Although this is not the only measure the U.S. is taking in matters of climate change.

The United States special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, recently met with the United Arab Emirates, a country that has joined the First Movers Coalition with the joint objective of “bolstering efforts to scale up key clean technologies, including in the context of the US-UAE Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE)”.

This Coalition was announced by United States President Joe Biden in association with the World Economic Forum during COP26, assuring they are the driving force “for companies to harness their purchasing power and supply chains to create early markets for innovative clean energy technologies.”

Currently, the Coalition has more than 65 corporate members that have pledged a total of $12 billion to embed in the new production chains and the new renewable energy generation complexes.

The United Arab Emirates joins the government partners that already form part of this Coalition: Denmark, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom. All have committed to promoting the Coalition and accelerating the development of innovative low carbon emission technologies to a global scale.

Mexico plays an important role in the United States’ decisions when it comes to the creation of new renewable energy complexes. Ken Salazar has justified that “the commitment between our governments with clean energies and the energy transition benefits our nations and the planet.”

The United States ambassador used the example of the progress of United States company investments in Mexico. “You can see in Baja California, where Sempra Infrastructure (the Mexican subsidiary of Sempra Energy) will develop a wind farm with a 300 megawatt capacity and announced the signing of a 20-year purchase agreement to supply renewable energy to different locations in California.”

Ambassador Ken Salazar during his mission in the north of Mexico at the end of 2022 also highlighted the capital presence of multinational company Invenergy that “will invest $70 million in the Energy Center La Toba, Baja California, for a 40 megawatt (MW) solar plant.”

1...151617...43 Página 16 de 43