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Mexico: Indigenous people who kicked a mine out of their territory celebrate five years of daily struggle

Por
Avispa
-

By Diego Saydel García

Justino García is a youth from Magdalena Teitipac. When a mining company called “Plata Real” (a subsidiary of Sunshine Silver Mining, based in the United States) arrived in his community, he was only five years old. Now he’s 12 and he’s made it his responsibility to defend his territory from mining. He’s part of the community radio station “Teitiradio Lobadani”, which means “Root of the Hill” in Zapotec. This radio station was built as a necessary part of the defense against mining. Today, resistance is an everyday thing.

The boy says that since he was five, he has held onto the memories of when the mining company tried to descend upon his community. “My siblings, my friends, and I were afraid because they arrived on the hills in helicopters. Now, seven years later, we’re not afraid of them anymore, because we don’t want the foreigners to come and exploit our lands”, states the young radio announcer, better known as “el tigrillo” [the little tiger].

Magdalena Teitipac is a Zapotec pueblo located in the Central Valleys region of the state of Oaxaca. This community is organized under its own system of rules, the general assembly being the highest authority. Land ownership in Teitipac is communal; in 1975 this was recognized by presidential resolution as the Communal Property of Magdalena Teitipac. A large portion of the population works in agriculture: “We’re peasants; we depend on the land”, shares Mr. Fernando Martínez, a local from this Zapotec village.

The expulsion of the company

 On September 6, 2007, the General Directorate of Mining Regulation granted mining concession number 230489, called “El Doctor,” to Plata Real for exploitation. The company was seeking to extract gold and silver from a surface area of 9,652 hectares [about 24,000 acres] of Magdalena Teitipac’s communal lands. “We were not informed about this decision; we didn’t know that our lands had been handed over”, denounced Martínez.

In the beginning of April, 2009, the Communal Property Commission of Magdalena Teitipac signed an agreement with the Plata Real mining company allowing them to carry out exploratory work, without the consent of the community assembly.

The commission’s actions generated discontent among the population. “In 2009, the commission’s term ended, but they didn’t want to leave. The people were already upset by everything they had done with the mining company without consulting the assembly, so they decided to remove them from their post in October 2010. This situation greatly affected our community organization”, says Fernando.

See also ⇒ Panamá: Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous region at risk of disappearing

From April 2009 until July 2012, according to the testimony of residents, the mining company drilled 17 holes for mineral exploration in the communal territory of Magdalena Teitipac, each approximately 15 centimeters [6 inches] in diameter. One hole close to the Río Dulce contaminated the river, causing the death of livestock.“In 2011 we realized that the mining company’s work was contaminating the river, and so the community decided to kick out the mining company, because its work was killing the animals and polluting the water”, remembers Fernando.

The community went about organizing itself in community assemblies, in which they made their most important decisions. On February 23, 2013, they created the Committee for the Defense of the Territorial and Cultural Integrity of Magdalena Teitipac, which strengthened the resistance against the Plata Real mine. In July 2013, the community of Teitipac gathered in general assembly and resolved to expel the mining company from their lands. “By means of the community assembly, we formed a plan to close the road off from the mining company. When the company saw our strength they had to withdraw and they took their machinery with them. The pueblo was also left affected and damaged”, comments Fernando, who together with several of his comrades faced 3 made-up charges for defending his territory. That same year, on August 17, the town council session declared mining activity to be prohibited on the communal property of Magdalena Teitipac.

 

Celebration and Struggle

 Now five years have passed since Magdalena Teitipac kicked the Plata Real mining company out of their territory and declared their lands free of all mining activity. In these five years they have been weaving strategies to keep defending their communal life. “The Territorial Defense Committee was born when the conflict with the mining company broke out. Up through today we continue in our plan of resistance. Our job is to keep defending the territory, and to preserve the indigenous language, because it’s a powerful weapon of resistance for aboriginal peoples”, Don Agustín López, member of the Territorial Defense Committee, tells Avispa Midia.

With the goal of continuing to defend the territory in the face of threats from mining projects in the Central Valleys region of Oaxaca, “On Friday, February 23, we are going to celebrate the five years we’ve been in resistance. In an open town council session, we’re going to confirm our territory as being free of mining, so that the government knows we’re still in struggle, we’re still in resistance here in Teitipac, and at the same time, we want to motivate other communities to weave alliances,” says the Territorial Defense Committee.

On February 23rd and 24th, the Agrarian and Municipal Authorities of Magdalena Teitipac, together with the Committee for the Defense of Territorial and Cultural Integrity and the Oaxacan Collective in Defense of Territory, organized the second “Here we say yes to life, no to mining” statewide encounter of pueblos, communities, and organizations.

This event, which was open to the general public, was divided over two days. The first was a celebration of the fifth anniversary of the “struggle against mining and in defense of Magdalena Teitipac’s Mother Earth.” On the second day, February 24, the “forum of pueblos, communities, and organizations to strengthen defense strategies” took place.

The hope was for social organizations and civil society collectives to show up to the event. They also made an open call to free and alternative media.

The forum entitled “Yes to life and No to mining” included other pueblos and communities from different Mexican states. The goal was to share experiences of resistance and struggle, such as the cases of the pueblos in the Guerrero mountains, the family members of the Pasta de Conchos miners, and pueblos in Chiapas who fight against mining. “The encounter is for sharing experience and making bonds between communities and organizations, to unite us under one single goal: defending our territory”, said Agustín López, a member of the Territorial Defense Committee.

The Oaxacan Collective in Defense of Territory, in the words of Neftalí Reyes, told Avispa Midia that this encounter had two pillars: “On the one hand, the anniversary of the struggle of Teitipac, which five years ago began a process of territorial defense, and on the other hand, the second pillar of the event is to reflect on and analyze the strategies that the mining companies are putting into place to exploit the Earth. This will help us, as pueblos from every corner of the state, to strengthen our resistance”.

Total of 38 Assassinations During Protests Against the Electoral Fraud in Honduras

Por
Santiago Navarro F
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Translated by Ana Zavala and edited by Alessandro Morosin

Blockades took place in the principle cities of Honduras as part of a National Strike in response to the results of the November 26th election, where it appears Juan Orlando Hernandez is the winner for the second consecutive time. The objective of the protests is to prevent Hernandez from taking office on January 27th, and requesting for a new election to take place.

At the start of the National Strike, created by the Alianza de Oposición (Alliance of Opposition) against the dictatorship, a total of 38 protestors were killed by the police and military for protest activities over the past two months. On January 20th, in the city of Saba, Colon, in the northern area of Honduras, the state security forces killed 73-year-old Anselmo Villareal and injured Martir Ramirez.

“We condemn the assassination of Don Anselmo, a person who was simply fired at, going through Saba. This is the undeniable proof that the military is shooting to kill. A president cannot govern at the cost of deaths. Never!” stated the iconic Honduran social activist, Miriam Miranda, coordinator of the Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (OFRANEH) (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras).

On the same day, a reporter from the Iranian channel HispanTV, Dassaev Aguilar Moncada, was also seriously injured, resulting in a fracture in his left leg while he was finishing his work on the closing of a public road in Tegucigalpa. A few days prior, Moncada had filed a lawsuit. “On Thursday we joined other reporters and we went to the human rights office to file a lawsuit against the government of Juan Orlando Hernandez for harassment, hate incitement and possible aggressions towards our lives. And today this happens. It was clearly an attack towards me because there were no protestors present,” said Moncada, referring to the moment in which he was fired at.

Read also---> US Intervention in Mexico and Central America: The Continuation of a War Economy

The strike is programmed to take place the 20th and 27th of January, where the general population, various organizations and human rights groups have come together. Even ex-president Manuel Zelaya, who was impeached for a coup d’état in the year 2009, came out to protest. “We call out to all the governments in the world, to the international organizations, to take interest in what is happening in Honduras. The democratic electoral systems are put at risk in all the countries of the world. Do not forget, Honduras is a political laboratory,” Miranda pointed out.

United States

“We congratulate President Juan Orlando Hernandez on his victory on the November 26th presidential elections, according to the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) (Supreme Electoral Tribunal) of Honduras,” said the U.S. State Department through spokesperson Heather Nauert, long before the political situation of this country was defined.

The TSE declared that Hernandez obtained 42.95 percent while Salvador Nasralla had 41.24 percent of the votes in the Alianza de Oposición, and claimed there was fraud in the elections.

On the other hand, the Fuerza de Seguridad Interinstitucional Nacional (FUSINA) (National Inter-Institutional Security Force), in a talk with the press a day before the start of the strike, argued that they would commit to protecting the Estado de Derecho (State of Law). “It is the responsibility of the people who secure the state, to be active in maintaining order and guaranteeing the people the constitutional rights to free movement and travel throughout the national territory,” announced a member of the navy force, spokesperson for FUSINA.

FUSINA was created by President Hernandez on February 2014. It is an interinstitutional task force made up of members of the police, the military, the Attorney General and intelligent agencies. It is driven by the Honduran military and their mission is to fight against organized crime. “The institution’s job has been consolidating in the development of operations with inter-institutions”, said lieutenant colonel military justice of Honduras Santos Nolasco, spokesperson of FUSINA, in 2017. “Also, in support of these actions a new legislation has been created that will help implement justice more effectively”.

Meanwhile the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), Elizabeth Throssell, told the press that the Honduran government had been asked to abstain from sending military quotas to the opposition demonstrations. “We ask the Honduran authorities to avoid using the Military Police and armed forces to police demonstrations, functions for which they are neither effectively trained nor equipped,” advised Throssell.

Read also---> The US Southern Command’s Silent Occupation of the Amazon

There is a complicit silence on behalf of the United States authorities in regards to the military presence on the streets of this Central American country. The Honduran military not only carries equipment “donated” by the U.S. Government, but has also received U.S. training. Since the year 2016 the US Congress approved US$100 million to provide assistance, antinarcotic military training and border security for the countries of the northern triangle, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. “A portion will also support military and police units engaged in public security, including support from U.S. Special Operations,” said the Washington Office on Latino-American affairs office (WOLA) in 2016.

FUSINA has received military training from the Southern Command of the United States. An example occurred in June 2017 at the center of naval training, located in the bay of Trujillo, where a group of 255 Honduran officials and sub officials received elite training, provided by specialized marine instructors from the U.S., Colombia and Chile.

“The objective of the training, besides elevating the operational readiness and training the personnel of the naval force to fight against drug trafficking and other illicit activities, it is to strengthen and adopt the elements in the marine infantry and the creation of a new and equipped force comparable to the army’s special forces,” declared by spokesperson of the military affairs Dialogo, Naval Captain (DEM) Hector Manuel Tercero Lopez, Chief of the Naval General Staff of Honduras.

Read also--->Southern Command in Costa Rica: US Occupation Disguised as Humanitarian Aid

It is worth noting that the U.S. installed at least 2 military bases in Honduras, Mosquita and Palmerola or Soto Cano. At the Soto Cano base, located in the valley of Comayagua, they operate with at least 600 United States soldiers that can be rapidly deployed for operations in the rest of Central and South America, controlled by the United States Southern Command. At this base they also receive training for the Fuerzas Especiales Navales (FEN) (Special Naval Forces) of Honduras working together with the Joint Task Force Bravo.

The South Command is one of the nine commands belonging to the United States. It embarks the south area of the American continent, Central America and the Caribbean, with headquarters in Miami, Florida.

State Coup

The coup against president Manual Zelaya occurred early in the morning on June 28th, 2009, when he was kidnapped by the military dome and transferred from Costa Rica to the military base of Soto Cano. Enrique Reina, Zelaya’s ex-secretary, confirms that the U.S. was aware of the coup the entire time. “The Honduran military doesn’t do anything without the U.S. approval,” said Reina in an investigation published by The Intercept.

The coup was executed over a dispute between the National Congress, the Supreme Electoral Court of Honduras and the Supreme Court of Justice, over the legality of the cuarta urna (Honduran fourth ballot box). Zelaya proposed voting on a referendum and changing the constitution by constituent assembly. Months after the coup, a democratic drama had been created to elect Porfirio Lobo from the National Party, subsequently succeeded by Hernandez, who has always depended on the support of the U.S. government.

Massive Protest in Brazil over Fare Hike

Por
Santiago Navarro F
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The clock strikes 5 p.m. It's been raining all day. People are looking for a spot where they can stay dry. There are militarized police everywhere. They've got guns and riot gear. A few youths start to gather in front of the municipal theater in São Paulo, Brazil, just like other generations have done in years past. Their motive is the public transit fare increase—almost $1.50 USD [4 Brazilian Reals] to get on the metro or the bus, which some have to take 4 to 6 times a day.

Massive protest in Sao Paulo, Brazil, over increased cost of public transportation

Leliche Passos is a student who has recently finished middle school. She's joined the demonstration and is giving out pamphlets that claim public transit as a right and not a commodity. "This is the first protest against the fare hike this year and we're not going to stop until they lower the fee. There are workers who come in from the outskirts of the city who can't afford that price every day. We're in a moment of crisis in Brazil and we see that there aren't possibilities for young people or for workers," Passos told Avispa Midia.

A teacher, trained in social service, has also joined the protest with her coworkers. She's part of the "Passe Livre" ["Free Fare"] movement and claims that the cost of transit has been increasing year after year: "The price keeps going up and with it, an increasing number of people are excluded from transport. So people from the outskirts of the city only ride transit to go to work; it's not possible for them to get around the city to do anything else," states the teacher, who introduced herself only as Davita.

See also---> The US Southern Command’s Silent Occupation of the Amazon

She claims that the price increase is part of a package of political and economic reforms that are bringing about a severe crisis in Brazil. "Along with this we have the labor and retirement reform, which is going to lead to an increase in the cost of living. It's all part of the orientation of the capitalist class in our country, which follows transnational economic agreements," said Ms. Davita.

Massive protest in Sao Paulo, Brazil, over increased cost of public transportation

Effectively, Brazil has committed to improving and expanding its public transit system through 2030. It's objective number 11.2 of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which came in with vigor on January 1, 2016. Among other things, the Brazilian government has promised to "provide access to safe and sustainable transport systems at prices that are affordable for all." But in São Paulo, the 10th richest city in the world, where people can travel in helicopter air taxis, there are also people who aren't able to move between different points of this huge metropolis.

"It's a means of social control; this way it's impossible for poor people to leave the periphery. It's a border that's established with purchasing power. It's the same thing for all services. Only those who can pay have access, and if you can't, you're left out", adds Davita.

The UN's 2030 Agenda consists of 17 objectives and 169 goals that address labor systems, security, industry, energy, and health, among other services that are being politically and economically re-calibrated towards privatization and outsourcing.

Criminalization

The number of militarized police who are present cordoning off the fare hike protest is incredible. Some of them are covering their guns as though wanting to draw them against the threat of the crowd, although none of the demonstrators are carrying anything dangerous, apart from some symbolic shields.

"We're living through a dire crisis of institutional and democratic politics in this country. There's no longer any credibility in the institutions. They respond to the demands of the people with repression and criminalization," asserts Davita.

A mask covers the face of the young anarchist, age 16 or so. He prefers not to mention his name, stating that the State has developed an intelligence system that has begun to map possible protest organizers. "In every demonstration there are police recording and focusing on certain faces. Then they go to social media to look for political links. The information is filed away to be used at some point to criminalize and justify repression, because the protests are going to continue to get bigger," says the young man.

"It's a crisis of capitalism itself and today it's more necessary than ever before to think of new forms of organization. We need to look to the rest of Latin America for inspiration, like the indigenous movements in Mexico and Bolivia," shares Ms. Davita.

In spite of the diverse protests carried out year after year by students and teachers, the government has increased the cost of transit using several strategies, such as "approving this increase on holidays, when no one works. Or when there's a soccer match. This is absurd; we as a movement have to learn to be more firm and radical in our actions. This society has to learn to disobey the norms that harm everyone in their daily lives. We need to be smarter in our political actions," adds the young anarchist.

This first mobilization was a relatively peaceful protest. The demonstrators didn't cause any damage to the private property of third parties. The only action they attempted was hopping the metro turnstiles, for which the police decided to unleash the fury and power of their anti-riot weapons on the protesters. The metro's internal security, some uniformed and others in civilian clothes, also used over the top violence against the young people who tried to enter without paying.

Meanwhile, the Passe Livre movement already has several mobilizations planned for the rest of January in other cities in Brazil. In São Paulo the demonstration brought out at least 10,000 people, and double that number are expected for the next protest.

Mexico: Real estate sector robs Zapotecs of their communal lands on the coast of Oaxaca

Por
Santiago Navarro F
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Overnight, the authorities responsible for carrying out justice in the area of agrarian rights in Mexico ignored the legal recognition of the communal lands of more than 70 indigenous Zapotec families on the coast of Oaxaca. At least one arrest warrant for each head of household has been issued, under the argument that they have stolen the land of two supposed small property owners. The region's lands have been allocated for the construction of luxury tourist complexes.

Tilzapote is in the Municipality of Santa María Tonameca, District of Pochutla, Oaxaca. It has less than 300 inhabitants, who live off of the cultivation of corn, beans, peanuts, melon, watermelon, and hibiscus, as well as fishing. Their lands are communal and include deeds dating back to 1870. They're also backed up by a resolution on the recognition and titling of communal lands in the town of San Francisco Cozoaltepec, located in the Municipality of Santa María Tonameca. This credits the Zapotecs as the legal, legitimate owners of these lands.

However, in 2008, two supposed owners of 300 hectares [741 acres]—Pedro Martínez Araiza and Domitila Guzmán Olivera—appeared out of nowhere. Strangely enough, no one in the community knows them.

"There are documents that date back to the time of the viceroyalty [translator's note: historical period from 1535-1821] that give the community the right to the communal holdings of San Francisco Cozoaltepec. When the Ministry of Agrarian Reform incorporated these documents, which came from a presidential resolution, the Zapotecs got a 29,000 hectare [72,000 acre] plot. The supposed owners refute this presidential resolution, alleging that they hold private property enclosed within the communal lands of Cozoaltepec, specifically in Tilzapote. A surface area of 300 hectares [741 acres]",

BEATRIZ RAMÍREZ HERNÁNDEZ TOLD AVISPA MIDIA. SHE IS A PRIVATE ATTORNEY WHO HAS GIVEN LEGAL COUNSEL TO THE INHABITANTS OF THIS COMMUNITY.
See also ⇒ Oaxaca: Plans for New, Enlarged Military Base on Communal Lands

This year, the Agrarian Court ruled in favor of the supposed owners. The community found out from someone who introduced himself as Cruz Amador Martínez, sent by the Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development (SEDATU). He notified them that beginning in October of this year, the clock would start ticking for them to move out of their houses. In exchange, he offered them relocation onto 10x30 meter [33x99 foot] lots. He also stated that if it became necessary, the state would turn to security forces. The residents of Tilzapote claim that there has been influence peddling and that politicians who have held federal government positions, like "Héctor Pablo Ramírez Puga, two-time federal representative, Gerardo Estrada, and Alfredo Ramírez Gómez, agrarian subdelegate", have helped this process along.

"Tilzapote is considered one of Oaxaca's most precious beaches, in the possession of Zapotec farmers. It's the beauty of these beaches that has stirred up the greed of petty tyrants and individuals who are looking to take over these lands to build tourist parks", Tilzapote's lawyer Abram Cruz García told Avispa Midia. He has also served as spokesman of the journalists' association of Oaxaca.

Dispossession of communal lands has become common in this southern Mexican state. These lands are an obstacle to foreign direct investment, but also to small and medium investment flows. Interests around industrial and tourist corridors have drastically increased the change in land use. At first, they try to convince or buy off local, traditional authorities, then they try to purchase influence, and finally, there is forced displacement.

"These injustices are the daily bread of life in Oaxaca. All over the state, indigenous people are stripped of their land, and the respective authorities are involved in it, because they are accomplices to these abuses and injustices that have spilled so much blood in the region. They're using every single legal instrument to carry out this dispossession", added Cruz.

Agrarian Court

On December 8, 2017, residents of Tilzapote traveled towards the city of Oaxaca with banners denouncing the land grab. The objective was to participate in a public hearing in the Agrarian Court, where the legal representative of the supposed owners of the 300 hectares also appeared. In the end, the corresponding authorities didn't show up and the hearing didn't take place. "Now we have to wait for the resolution of two injunctions. One that the supposed owners of these properties filed, demanding that the decision be executed and as such, the removal of the inhabitants of Tilzapote. Another injunction on the part of the defense of the inhabitants of Tilzapote, where they demand that the documents dating back to the viceroyalty be respected", stated Tequio Jurídico, an organization that has accompanied the community members in their case.

Underdevelopment in the South

María Luisa Santos Martínez is a woman of more than 70 years of age who has lived her whole life in Tilzapote. She is the living memory of this community that she knows like the palm of her hand. It's almost certain that the supposed owners of this land don't know even a millimeter of what she holds in her memories. She's a grandmother of great courage, known for being fierce and tough in the defense of her ancestral territory.

Together with other members of her community, she was arrested in 2011, accused of aggravated land theft. She told Avispa Midia that "at first there was neither water nor a road in her community", but today, they find themselves right next to one of the major coastal highways, number 200, through which a great quantity of tourists drive. "Everything started with that fucking highway. Lots of people from other places showed up like vultures wanting to buy our land. We don't ask for anything from the government and they come to take away the little that we have. They talk about progress and jobs, but those are pure lies. We want our land", says María.

Highway 200 is part of the Development Strategy of Southern Mexico, launched in 2015 by the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto. Under this strategy they announced a 450 million peso [$24 million USD] investment to propel the development of Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca. In these states the proposal is to set up a skilled labor force in the agro-industrial and tourism sectors, allocating a 127 million peso [$7 million USD] investment to grant training fellowships to 35,000 people, especially youth, who would specialize in hotel and restaurant work. A series of reforms, among them change in land use, was established to permit the investment.

Under article 41 of the Reform to the Organic Law of Federal Public Administration published on January 2, 2013 in the Official Journal of the Federation, the SEDATU, who gave the order to evict the inhabitants of Tilzapote, is responsible for handling—among other matters—the following:

  1. In coordination with state and municipal authorities, to drive national territorial planning and structuring that harmonizes, among other things, the utilization of the productive advantages of diverse regions of the country;
  2. To elaborate regional and special programs of the federal executive branch's choosing;
  3. To promote the construction of infrastructure and equipment for regional development;
  4. To plan, design, promote, support, and evaluate financial mechanisms for regional development;
  5. To project and coordinate regional development planning, with the participation of the governments of federative and municipal bodies.

"The underdevelopment of the South/Southeast in terms of economic growth and human progress is recognized, and we seek to integrate the states involved into national and global development. The nature of the indicated actions clearly shows that there is a strategy in mind whose core is economic development",

READS THE DOCUMENT FOR THE PROJECTED 2014-2018 STRATEGY.

Ramírez claims that there are already rumors of "a very large tourism and hotel construction project" in the area of Tilzapote's beaches.

One example of the construction of these complexes is the already underway Conjunto Hornitos project, which will be built on the coast of Santa María Tonameca. It will consist of 14 luxury houses, a beach club, administrative offices, convenience stores, guardhouses, and a water treatment plant. The complex will cover 2.17 hectares [5.36 acres]. It's an example of how real estate speculation has begun to move forward in the region. There's no doubt that at some point, the land grabs will get worse.

Resistance

Recently, on December 6, agrarian authorities and representatives of various communities from the Coast, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Southern Sierra, and the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, as well as the nonprofit Tequio Jurídico, met in the community of Morro Mazatán, municipality of Santo Domingo Mazatán for the "Regional Encounter for the Defense of Our Territories". It was a space for sharing information and organization, "for defense in the face of megaprojects and extractive projects, among them mining and Special Economic Zones", states the encounter's declaration. The community of Tilzapote participated as well.

Meanwhile, on December 8 the residents of Tilzapote carried out a mobilization on the coast, from the community of Santa María el Tule all the way to Tilzapote. "It's an injustice on the part of the Agrarian department and the Unitary Agrarian Tribunal. They were directly involved with a rigged, dirty judgment, where the community of Tilzapote's voice was not heard", said Cruz.

For the Zapotecs, "dialogue has broken" and they have started the process of strengthening their organizing. "I was born here and grew up here 70 years ago. The machines have arrived, threatening to remove us, and they've threatened us many times. We say that we're not going to leave. These are our lands and here we will remain; we are going to fight", said Santos, the elderly woman mentioned above.

"We want the supposed owners to show themselves; we want to know them by their faces. Because here we are fighting for our land, our life. We will go all the way to the final consequences; we are not going to turn over our lands", said Estela Pinacho Venegas, of Tilzapote.

Oaxaca: Plans for New, Enlarged Military Base on Communal Lands

Por
Ñaní Pinto
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In the beginning of 2017 after an order from the federal government, Alejandro Murat, the governor of Oaxaca, announced that the 28th Military Zone’s campus, today located in the municipality of Santa Lucia del Camino, would be enlarged in terms of infrastructure as well as number of soldiers and relocated to Tlacolula de Matamoros, just 30 kilometers [19 miles] from the city of Oaxaca. This announcement provoked an immediate response from the region’s inhabitants, who made it known that they would not allow the installation of the base.

The donation of 300 hectares [741 acres] of communal lands was initially proposed to the state government for the relocation of this new military complex, although these lands are legally under the responsibility and protection of the community members of this region, where the highest authorities are the community assemblies. The SEDENA (Ministry of National Defense) and the state government first attempted to approach San Mateo Macuilxóchitl, where they were rejected in a general assembly. Afterwards they approached the neighboring community of Teotitlán del Valle, and finally, Tlacolula de Matamoros and Villa de Mitla, where they received the same response from the assemblies.

It seemed that the government and the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) had changed their attempt at relocation after the population’s decision by assembly not to accept the base or cede their lands, but what happened was actually a change of strategy.

They hired a real estate company that has been using people from the same community to facilitate individual land purchases. “This time, a company that has refused to provide its name to the owners of these plots has approached them through intermediaries not just to make their offer clear, but to agree on a specific price per square meter—which will be settled between the 20th and 30th of this month, November 2017—without mentioning that these lands will be used to put in the military base”, declared the residents of Tlacolula de Matamoros in a statement published November 13, 2017.

“First they approached asking for copies of the property titles and offering between 150 and 170 pesos [$8 to $9 USD] per square meter. Now a new problem has come up—speculation on land prices. Because they’re offering people a laughable sum, dispossessing them and then increasing the price by five or seven times”,

JAVIER RUIZ, A MEMBER OF THE AUTONOMOUS INVESTIGATION AND ACTION GROUP WHO HAS ACCOMPANIED COMMUNITIES IN THE REGION, TOLD AVISPA MIDIA.

The town’s inhabitants have several concerns over the impacts that the military camp will bring. “Environmental, social, and cultural impacts generated by new housing developments and shopping centers”, they point out in their statement.

In March of this year, Division General Alfonso Duarte Mújica, who holds a Military Staff diploma, confirmed that the SEDENA base, with more than 5,000 soldiers, could trigger economic growth in the neighboring communities. Between the salaries of troops, officers, generals, etc., approximately 25 million pesos [$1.3 million USD] flow through this base monthly: “These resources”, he said, “could be taken advantage of by stores, hotels, restaurants, and transport companies in the area where the new army base is built”.

It seems the government and the SEDENA have been quick to mention the beneficial impacts for these communities, but they haven’t talked about any of the negative effects, which any project is obligated to, no matter the field. “The effects of the population increase in the region will be a shortage of potable water, insufficient garbage collection. And then there are the experiences from other contexts in other Mexican states where the military has established itself and we see a proliferation of the sale of drugs and alcohol, abuse of authority, venereal diseases, bars and brothels”, added a member of the Autonomous Investigation and Action Group.

See also ⇒ The US Southern Commands Silent Occupation of the Amazon

“Faced with all of this, the concerns come with questions about the size of the base, which is comparable to the size of the city of Tlacolula. Why do they need a territory that’s larger than the Salina Cruz refinery, the Tuxtepec brewery, the cement plant in Lagunas or the factories of the Papaloapan Basin [all large industrial projects]?” ask the residents of Tlacolula, who have put out an urgent call to the region’s communities to remain alert to this project’s developments.

Strategic relocation

The concerns of the inhabitants of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca with the base’s installation are in part due to the fact that this base is directly linked with more than 50 mining projects and wind farms that are on the docket for their communities.

“At first we didn’t know why they were insisting on the relocation of the military base, but it’s because of the importance of Highway 190 and the international highway in terms of commodity flows [translator’s note: the state is seeking to build a new international superhighway through the region as part of the Puebla-Panama Plan]. The second matter is what we call the mining corridor, where we have identified 50 mining projects, which run from the community of Totolapan all the way to the village of Lachigoló”, states Ruiz.

Map and infographic of mining concessions and active mines in Tlacolula, Oaxaca.

Oaxaca is one of the states in the Mexican republic where struggle and resistance in defense of communal lands, and the territory as a whole, are on the increase, and this has led to situations where the state has employed extreme violence. “As such, having a military base in the middle of a context of territorial defense makes these communities vulnerable”, maintains Ruiz.

The experience of other communities that have had to deal with the presence of a military base in their territory has made it necessary to self-organize in this region. “At the moment it began, this organization was spontaneous, due to the army’s actions in other parts of the country. There’s a general consensus of distaste and fear towards members of the army. The people are also clear on the fact that the army won’t bring any benefits to the communities; on the contrary, it’s widely known that it will always stand guard so that the investors can freely carry out their extractive endeavors”, says Ruiz.

The Autonomous Investigation and Action Group has taken on an arduous task, in partnership with the communities of the Central Valleys: doing the job that the companies and state and federal governments are responsible for, in terms of the negative effects that the many projects designated for the region will generate. “It’s not just the projects in the Tlacolula Valley; it’s an intrinsic relationship with the wind farms in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and their transmission lines, as well as the Special Economic Zone that they’re trying to establish in Salina Cruz. These projects are connected and we believe that the presence of the army in our communities is responding to a need to control the population”, charges Ruiz, who is also a resident of the Tlacolula Valley.

Meanwhile, the communities of this region are planning an urgent assembly that will take place in the course of the week. They have made it clear in their statement that, faced with this scenario of possible dispossession and the imposition of an unknown project, they demand “the clarification of this matter from the municipal and state authorities, as well as the rejection of any complex that might affect our territory”.

Click ⇒ here for the complete statement by residents of the valley (in Spanish).

Militarization and “Shock Doctrine” Policies Abound After Earthquake in Mexico

Por
Renata Bessi y Santiago Navarro F
-

The colored tarps hung over streets and patios of homes awaiting repair have become part of the everyday landscape of the Isthmus communities in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, after the 8.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the country on September 7 causing around 100 deaths. It was the most intense earthquake to strike Mexico in a century. People are still afraid and panicked due to the destruction that the earthquake and its aftershocks have caused. The earth still hasn't settled. Since the initial quake, the Mexican National Seismological Service has estimated more than 6,000 aftershocks, in addition to the subsequent earthquake on September 19 that measured a magnitude of 7.2 and devastated Mexico City and other areas of central Mexico. Three hundred and sixty-nine deaths related to the September 19 earthquake have been accounted for as of October 4.

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, measuring 20,000 square kilometers, is the region that has been most affected by the September 7 earthquake. Official data presented by the government of Oaxaca show that the earthquake affected 120,000 people in 41 different municipalities, and around 60,600 homes. Of those residences, 20,664 were lost completely, while 39,956 sustained partial damage. Their infrastructure, drinking water and sewage systems are damaged. The local economy has taken a hit. The streets are piled with garbage. Many are concerned that a possible health crisis is at hand.

Public officials have resorted to opportunism, making humanitarian relief conditional -- delivering aid upon certain conditions and to supporters of certain political parties.

It's been more than a month since the earthquake and the communal kitchens and tents set up by neighborhoods in public spaces, through their own resources or through donations from people, have become the only option for these communities. Shelters provided for by the state are almost nonexistent. In the municipality of San Mateo del Mar, for example, where 80 percent of homes were affected, the state response was to send the Navy to set up a shelter, but this meager gesture has been surpassed by the organizing of community members, who have found ways to address their most immediate needs.

Seven civilian organizations carried out a humanitarian aid observation mission among the communities in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region. In their main conclusions, the organizations noted that "the basic, urgent needs of the people affected by the earthquake [have] not been met; and ... a lack of government coordination can be observed in the distribution of humanitarian aid". They also stated that "pre-candidates and public officials have resorted to opportunism by making humanitarian relief conditional, delivering humanitarian aid upon certain conditions to those who are in some way close to the government or to supporters of certain political parties."

The state's immediate policy in reaction to the earthquake was to demolish local homes that had been affected. In the municipality of Ixtaltepec, for example, residents reported that demolitions began hours after the earthquake. "The earthquake happened around midnight and by dawn the machines were already prepared to begin demolition, without any kind of qualified assessment or evaluation", stated a resident of the municipality who prefers to remain anonymous due to safety concerns.

Indeed, the official response to the disaster was top down and ignored the needs and capabilities of local communities, according to residents and organizers.

"This policy of destruction comes from the federal government, without any serious assessment", said engineer Gerardo de Gyves Ramirez, member of the Regional Council for the Reconstruction of Our Towns, made up of organizations and residents of the Isthmus. "Peña Nieto said it: 'I invited my friends who work in construction to come and rebuild.' Who are Peña Nieto's friends? They aren't the local construction workers or engineers. They are individuals that are connected up top. So, what these companies need is for the territory to be cleared so they can act. It means business for the major construction companies. People are scared, they're in shock, and the government is taking advantage of people's fear".

One of the demands of the Council is that there be a serious study of the residences that were affected and that their condition for reconstruction be realistically evaluated.

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec region is rich in culture and traditions, resulting from the diverse ethnic groups that live in the area -- Zapotecs, Chontales, Huaves, Zoques, Mixes, Mixtecs, Tzotziles and Chinantecs. "The home is a fundamental part of the culture of a community. We have a particular architecture that the people of the Isthmus have developed for centuries", Ramirez said.

The government's response to the housing situation has been paltry at best. For example, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced on October 2 that the government would distribute bank cards for monetary compensation. Those whose homes have suffered irreparable damage will receive $6,478; those whose homes sustained partial damage will receive $1,619. Immediately after this announcement, a line of trailers filled with construction materials made an appearance in the municipality of Juchitán, along with a sign that read, "In this establishment the compensatory card is accepted for the purchase of materials".

There is a pervasive feeling among residents of the community that the government does not value their homes or their lives.

Besides the miserly amount offered for the reconstruction of homes, compared to the homes' value, the way in which the compensation is provided presents difficulties for the diverse communities. In the communities along the coast, for example, where houses are built from palm leaves and wood, they will not be able to replace these materials by purchasing them from the construction supply stores that will accept these compensation cards.

Economic and Military Control

"Seven days after the earthquake, they came to my house and condemned it as being irreparably damaged", said Reina Gutiérrez Ruiz, a resident of the San Mateo del Mar municipality. "They simply said, 'Ma'am find somewhere else where you can stay because you can't live here anymore.' And they demolished the house. A government worker arrived and told us that it wasn't an adequate place to build a home and that the government was going to find another place to relocate our house. So, I [asked] him, how are you going to relocate us if our ancestors always lived here?"

This is a common theme among residents of the community: a pervasive feeling that the government does not value their homes or their lives.

"We can't expect blessings from the government; we're a nuisance to them", said Beatriz Gutierrez Luis, teacher of Indigenous education, member of the Coalition of Oaxacan Teachers for Indigenous Recognition and resident of San Mateo del Mar. "For them, it would have been better if the earthquake had completely done away with our villages".

The teacher's statement is supported by the fact that her village has sustained a fierce fight against mega projects that have been present in the region for at least 15 years. "The government has an interest in the community leaving their land", she said. "Our lands are sought after. Even though we rejected the mega project through a town hall meeting, the government wants to install a wind turbine park on our lands. In the Isthmus there are 1,916 wind turbines already installed, and the government plans a second installment phase. We also know there are mining deals but we won't permit that".

Just as in San Mateo del Mar, historically, the entire Isthmus of Tehuantepec is sought after due to its natural resources. "The ransacking of wood, oil, water, minerals and energy has gone uninterrupted", Luis said.

Additionally, the southern border of Mexico is a high traffic corridor between Central and North America, both for goods and for migrants. For this reason, the region is being considered for neoliberal development plans like the Mesoamerican Integration and Development Project. This is an economic integration project which began in 1999 with policy advice and funding from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It includes all seven Central American countries in the construction of wind turbine parks, highways, oil and gas pipelines, and power lines.

More recently, the Mexican government has established Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the region. SEZs have specific conditions attached that make them highly attractive to potential investors.

The economic control of the region works in conjunction with the Mexican government's plans for population control, such as the Programa Frontera Sur. With the support of the United States, this plan was designed to regulate the travel of migrants en route toward the United States. With the pretense of fighting drug trafficking, it maintains the presence of several different security forces that facilitate large-scale military control of this strategic zone.

Since the earthquake, these communities are being militarized even further. "There is a clear intent to militarize as much as possible to have control over territory, as well as physical and psychological spaces -- all of it being disguised as humanitarian aid. It's brutal", Luis points out.

According to Jehú Pinacho of the Autonomous Investigation Group, the military -- in addition to providing a means of state control over the territory -- is also complicit with the wind turbine companies.

"An example would be the case of Unión Hidalgo, where members of the community informed [us] that Marine Corps members were hoarding the shipments of donated goods sent by civil society to later allow the wind turbine company EDF to label the goods as their own. Afterwards, EDF was accompanied by the Marine Corps to distribute the goods in the streets of the community",

COMMENTED PINACHO.

The Special Economic Zones

Mexico's government has been expressing interest in the construction of a special economic zone precisely in the Isthmus, and the zone in question encompasses the area affected by the earthquake. Two days after the earthquake, the head of the Federal Authority for the Development of Special Economic Zones, Gerardo Candiani accelerated the process of construction of the SEZ in the region, supposedly to reactivate the economic activity of areas affected by the devastation left by the earthquake.

The truth of the matter is that this construction establishes a zone in which enormous privileges are bestowed upon investors, who, in addition to tax exemptions, will have control of movement and security in the region. The design and plan of the SEZ is led by private consultants with the counsel of the IDB. According to the nonprofit Project on Organization, Development, Education and Research (PODER), this new federal government policy represents solidification of the extractivist model and a step toward the privatization of Mexican territory.

The government's response calls to mind Naomi Klein's concept of the "shock doctrine". In The Shock Doctrine, Klein held that while the economic policies of Nobel laureate Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics have had important impacts on countries with free-market models, it is not because they were popular, but rather because the influence of disasters on social psychology creates commotion and confusion which permits the adoption of unpopular reforms.

"It's a very difficult context for us because the government is using the shock doctrine in our region and taking advantage of the devastation", said Carlos Manso, resident of Unión Hidalgo and author of the book Communality, Indigenous Resistance and Neocolonialism. "People are afraid and more worried about meeting their most immediate needs. While in the midst of surviving this catastrophe and forming bonds amongst ourselves, we also have to find a way to mobilize against the government's larger strategy -- to displace us".

Disaster Opportunism

The context of the disaster has been an opportunity for politicians and business people. On September 29, days after Candiani's declaration, the federal government, without first establishing a protocol that would meet the basic needs of the affected communities in Oaxaca and Chiapas, officially announced the declaration of three Special Economic Zones: the Port of Chiapas, Chiapas; Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz; and Lázaro Cárdenas-La Unión, in the states of Michoacán and Guerrero.

Even though the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has not been declared a SEZ during this first stage, Candiani stated that the project has achieved 90 percent of the prerequisites, like territory acquisitions, for it to be declared an SEZ and that this declaration will be made in the coming months.

Oaxaca is a rural and Indigenous state in which communal land comprises 76 percent of the territory, surpassing the total of private property. This is the principal challenge to implementing the SEZs -- the difficulty of privatizing lands, since they are already in the hands of Indigenous people and rural farmers.

In April, 2017, the municipal council of Salina Cruz, a city that will fall within the SEZ, signed an agreement with the Urban Land Tenure Regulation Commission for the State of Oaxaca, with the aim to "regulate" land tenure in areas designated by the government as "irregular human settlements", transforming these lands into private property, state or municipal assets under the argument that it is "the best response to society's demands".

In May, 2017, one month after signing this agreement and several months before the earthquake, Candiani announced that there were 1,230 hectares of land available as concessions to investors.

US and China Will Benefit

The US and China have powerful interests in the Special Economic Zones. In 2009, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) presented a report titled, "Wind Energy Export Potential from Mexico to the US". This document states that Mexico figures as a potential exporter of wind energy to the states of California and Texas. The two most important wind-generating regions in Mexico are the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and Baja California.

China has also shown investment interest in the SEZs, specifically in the areas of administration, construction, development, management and maintenance. China's interests in the steel, metal, agriculture and information technology industries also make the SEZs particularly attractive for investment.

However, amid the accelerating push for development, resistance persists. Indigenous communities are standing their ground against the SEZs. On August 22, just days before the earthquake, representatives of social organizations from 23 municipalities of the Isthmus region gathered for the national forum, "Extractivism or Life" and agreed to reject the SEZs. In their final agreements, they upheld their opposition to extractivism and to SEZs as industrial models that destroy nature and communal property, while directly affecting the local work force, heirloom seeds like corn, and life sources, such as water and energy.

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