With Plan Sonora and Nearshoring in Mexico, the United States Seeks to Counter Chinese Industry

Por

5 April, 2024

^{Cover image: Accompanied by the United States Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, and another 100 diplomats, the then Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, shows off Puerto Peñasco, the largest solar farm in Latin America, part of Plan Sonora. February 2023.}

In spite of the official statement saying that the construction and operation of energy, transportation, and industry infrastructure being pushed in the southeast and northeast of Mexico responds to questions of national sovereignty, a study carried out by the collective GeoComunes shows that these projects strengthen a logic of territorial subordination to foreign capital, principally of the United States.

According to the report, this is the logic of nearshoring—a policy that seeks to move extractive and manufacturing industries that require extensive natural resources, energy, and labor to the US-Mexico border region.

In northeast Mexico, including the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, the researchers highlight the so-called Plan Sonora is a “new link in Mexico’s energy subordination.”

The report explains that one of the principle objectives of the plan is to strengthen certain sectors of the US economy in order to combat its current disadvantage in relation to Chinese industry. Two strategic sectors demanding developed infrastructure stand out: the fabrication of microprocessors and electric car factories.

Key United States Industries

“The Plan Sonora is a project that in spite of being presented as serving sovereign interests, clearly includes neoliberal commitments to US policy: the T-MEC (US, Mexico, Canada Free Trade Agreement), the Chips and Science Act, and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. These three recent policies seek to incentivize the consumption of electric cars,” says members of GeoComunes during the presentation of their report.

In their analysis, GeoComunes emphasize that the United States seeks to attract two of the three most profitable stages in the production of microprocessors, in an international competition with China to slow down its presence in this sector. This means infrastructure development in northeast Mexico that “worsens the extractivist and dependent character of the border region.”

In the transformation of the energy grid for the automotive industry, GeoComunes emphasizes that “Plan Sonora adds projects that continue the agreements of the T-MEC, like committing the lithium in Mexican subsoil to supply the US automotive production lines.”

As such, the Mexican government and its infrastructure projects serve the production of US electric cars. And due to the relevance of minerals for the production of these cars, the GeoComunes collective stresses the role of the state company, LitioMx, through which Mexico will regulate private investment in lithium extraction.

“Sonora has the most extensive lithium deposits in the country, which in September of 2023, ceased to be under the control of the Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium. This happened as a result of the government canceling the company’s concession, being the only reserve the Mexican Geological Survey had decreed for the exploitation of this mineral in the country,” emphasizes the report.

Mining, Environmental Risks, and Opacity

In the analysis of the energy reconfiguration and production lines, GeoComunes highlights that lithium isn’t the only mineral needed for the production of electric cars.

“We must pay attention to the expansion of steel, aluminum, and copper production lines, mining that already has an important presence and socioenvironmental footprint in the northeast region,” contextualized the collective during the presentation of the report.

For the investigators, the Plan Sonora promotes mining extraction in the region, an industry which has already proven to be a risk to the environment and natural resources.

Suffice it is to say that, on August 6, 2014, there was a spill of 40 million liters of acidulated copper sulfate in the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers. The ecocide, which affected more than 22,000 people, was the fault of Grupo Mexico, one of the largest mining companies in the country which to this day has not complied in remediating the environmental damages.

^{Ecocide in the Sonora Rivera, which took place in 2014, following a spill by Grupo Mexico.}

For GeoComunes, it is alarming that the renewed impulse in mining for the components of batteries and electric systems for electric cars is being presented beneath the “false argument that it is necessary extraction to fight climate change.”

Compared to a conventional gas-powered car, the production of an electric car requires six times the amount of metal, principally copper, graphite, and nickel. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that it could duplicate the copper demand between 2020 and 2040.

It is also worrying that Plan Sonora has been unveiled “little by little,” through informal declarations and without a guiding plan that clarifies its territorial scope, its different components, and the possible effects it might have on the environment.

Militarization

According to the researchers, there is a common factor in the different projects of territorial reorganization being pushed by the current administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). That is, “the presence of armed forces as administrators, builders, and security forces of infrastructure projects.”

GeoComunes explains this situation to be controversial and worrisome, because of the very little transparency and information of the plans of the federal government “in relation to this project and the militarization of the region.”

One of the many strategic projects of Plan Sonora that are in the hands of the armed forces is the expansion of transportation infrastructure, like the makeover of the Guaymas Port. This project began in 2022 and seeks to convert the port into a “modernized center of distribution that can move 3 million containers, competing with the US port of Long Beach, California.”

With this modernization, an administrative change was also made. The Guaymas Port will now be managed by a decentralized company of the Secretariat of the Navy, who also will manage the airports of Obregón and Guaymas, both in Sonora.

“The only information on the matter is what was given in the press conferences of the president of the nation and the government of Sonora, the heads of the Secretariat of the Economy and Foreign Affairs during their tours of the region, and mentions from the US government, which more often than not are ambiguous, brief, and even contradictory,” explains the analysis.

In addition to energy, mining, lithium, and electromobility, the Plan Sonora includes human capital and state of the art infrastructure, “the latter, being the construction of six scientific parks.” In other words, the idea is to strengthen the industrial corridors that “imply risks in industrial, environmental, and economic security” for Mexico.

Baja California, a US Energy Colony

If the northeast region, according to GeoComunes, represents the energy subordination of Mexico to the United States, the territories and natural assets of Baja California stand out, where projects have been expanded that constitute a North American “energy colony.”

The researchers point out that Baja California currently generates 1,281 megawatts dedicated to the exportation of electricity. Furthermore, infrastructure is being built to provide an additional capacity of 310 megawatts. This is relevant because 90.5% of the electricity exports are generated in this region.

GeoComunes contextualizes that in its totality the electricity generation for exportation is the property of private companies that are directly linked to electricity border crossings. “According to data from CEC (California Energy Commission), as a whole, in 2022 these export plants sent 4,209 GWh to the state of California,” the report details.

This exportation of energy, especially from renewable sources, is expected to increase in the coming years, with California recently approving a law establishing that for 2045, they will only consume electric energy from renewable sources, “which may support the installation of more projects to import energy classified as “clean” from Baja California and Sonora,” the report states.

In the northeast they are also projecting to install energy storage systems composed of battery farms to compensate for the intermittency of renewable energies, such as the battery farm promoted by the company Sempra in Mexicali, Baja California.

The Role of Sempra

The Plan Sonora is linked to the predominance exercised by the North American company, Sempra, whose investments are spread out in different sectors of energy generation. During the last two decades, Sempra has expanded widely in Mexico, particularly in the border region, “together with the energy infrastructure in a magnitude that, in the particular case of Baja California, has arrived to determine a great portion of the local energy metabolism,” sustain the researchers.

^{Sempra possesses infrastructure for electricity generation via fossil fuel combustion and renewable sources. The wind energy park, Energía Sierra Juárez, in the mountains close to Tecate, Baja California (IEnova)}

To dimension the role of Sempra in Mexico, the researchers detail that the company is the owner of seventeen gas pipelines—with more than 2,900 kilometers of pipeline operating and 200 km currently in construction. They also own oil and liquefied natural gas storage terminals, residential methane gas distribution networks, as well as combined cycle, solar, and wind power plants, which together represent annual earnings of nearly $400 million dollars.

Sempra is one of the companies that benefited the most from the opening up of the energy sector to private investment, which took place during the 1990’s principally in methane gas, which quadrupled its assets after the energy reform of 2013.

Currently, in spite of Sempra having only 5% of the electricity generation capacity connected to the Baja California Electric System (SEBC), it maintains control of 74% of the electricity exportation capacity, and 100% of the gas pipelines.

^{Protest against the results issued by the Ensenada City Council regarding the neighborhood consultation to determine the expansion for the Regasification terminal, Sempra, Energía Costa Azul.}

It should be stressed that Sempra also controls 100% of the land and maritime border importation points through which methane gas is imported to Baja California. 81% of the generation capacity connected to the SEBC and 80% of the capacity for electricity exports that are not connected to the local grid depend on those importation points. This confirms Sempra’s predominance in the sector.

Altepee Collective Makes Wooden String Instruments to Resist the Interoceanic Corridor

Por

Santiago Navarro F

1 April, 2024

^{Cover image: Youth from Acayucan, Veracruz, during a workshop organized by the Altepee collective. Photo: Santiago Navarro F}

The memory of another time is kept between the fine lines of its grain, the whisper of the forest, the harmony and song of the birds that once perched on its leafy crown. Today, the cedar tree has been cut down and lies mutilated. Parts of the trunk will beautify a floor or be converted into expensive furniture, and perhaps nobody will take account of the memory it holds. But a piece of the trunk, a very small piece, was rescued. The intention isn’t modest. It is to convert the wood into an instrument that moves the body and memory.

Sael Blanco remembers that more than a decade ago he was given a piece of wood in a workshop he attended in a community in Veracruz, Mexico. “I was only a spectator of what was taking place and they gave it to me,” he shares letting off a smile.

^{Sael working in the Altepee collective’s workshop.}

The Veracruz native had attended a workshop to learn to make jaranas jarochas (small guitar-like instrument) made with cedar wood. There he built his instrument of struggle, the jarana made of cedar. This is one of the instruments providing life and rhythm to the festivity known as fandango or huapango, which is celebrated principally in the states of Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Tabasco, in the south-southeast of Mexico.

^{Members of the Altepee collective in their workshop making various string instruments. Photos: Santiago Navarro F}

The fandango is a magnificent party with singing in verse, replicated by the attendees. The heels of those who take the stage make hearts beat with the sound of the jaranas. “Today it is music that is played in different parts of the world. But 12 or 15 year ago, this music was underappreciated, and only played by older people in their 70’s and 80’s,” shares Blanco.

Among the turns and stomps that mark the music’s rhythm, there was a moment when together those who brought joy to different festivities in the neighboring communities, they decided to create the Altepee collective. “This collective emerged from the need to preserve this music, which is of campesino origin. Amongst friends we began giving workshops to share this knowledge,” says the jaranero to the Avispa Midia team.

The idea of rescuing this combination of sounds was something that vibrated with members of the group. Then a question arose: “What are saving the music from? In reality the music had continued existing and always had a very large importance in these territories. It wasn’t necessarily being lost, we just didn’t approach the communities as young people who lived in the city,” shares Gemaly Padua Uscanga, an afro-descendant woman, also a co-founder of Altepee.

Fourteen years have passed since these young people, now adults with children, began workshops to share and learn from the music. Above all, that is what fandango means. “We realized it was more complicated than just playing the instruments. A campesino has to work his land, he has to eat and cover his basic necessities. And for those from urban spaces, to be campesino is synonymous with poverty. Nobody wants to be a campesino, much less the youth. So, we turned our gaze to the rural sector,” relates Blanco.

^{Youth of Acayucan, Veracruz participate in workshops given by the Altepee collective. Photos: Renata Bessi}

Not only is it the music that makes up a fandango, there is an entire organizational process which includes organizing the food for dozens of people, creating the conditions for coexistence, as well caring for the community. “The musicians not only play the jarana. It is part of the entertainment, but it is also a service they offer to their communities. In addition, they have to grow their food, take care of the forest, water, and animals. The knowledge is linked to the territory, to its care and defense,” shares Padua with the Avispa Midia team.

The Defense of Memory and Territory

Beyond the music, the collective has maintained a process of constant learning and training in Acayucan, Veracruz, where they are located. Alongside the music and festivities, members began organizing independent media activities using online radio, making video-documentaries, silk-screening, and drawing. They have immersed themselves in exploring traditional medicine and other activities, like the defense of memory and territory.

“Because the fandango and the festivities have the power to convoke us, to gather and organize us, to propose possible solutions to a problem. It is not the same to convoke a meeting where nobody shows up. Rather, music has the power to convoke. The fandango can’t take place without people,” says Padua.

Among the materials they have documented are elders in the community who made music, and participated in the fandango. “Some of these older folks have already passed away. Their memory is recorded so we can continue sharing it,” says the singer with joy.

^{Gema, as she is known in the Altepee collective, during an interview. Photo: Aldo Santiago}

They also shared that they have a historical registry from 11 years back, when Veracruz was taken over by military forces, organized crime, and different companies arriving to the region.

“We were watching a video we made 11 years ago and we noticed that in a certain way we had documented the militarization of Veracruz,” says Padua. At a time when “there was a drastic upsurge of security forces which obviously elevated the acts of violence which are now currently normalized.”

Security and the Interoceanic Corridor

According to a report from the first half of 2023, the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) deployed around 1,296 soldiers for security operations in Veracruz. This was in addition to the security forces already required for projects related to the Interoceanic Corridor which crosses through both Veracruz and Oaxaca. At least 1,950 uniformed personal were distributed in 19 detachments and 3 naval stations, to daily cover the 2,600 kilometers of the Interoceanic Corridor.

Blanco explains that things began to change very rapidly a decade ago with the arrival of organized crime and militarization, when they announced that in the region they were going to create a special economic zone, which now they are calling the Interoceanic Corridor. “They began a large four lane freeway, they began to take the water. They were talking about a fiberoptic network, from the port of Coatzacoalcos. Many businesses and projects began to establish themselves here,” says Blanco.

^{Armed forces surveil the lines of Ferrosur in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz (Cuartoscuro).}

A member of the project guided the Avispa team through the region of Acayucan, Minatitlán, and Coatzacalcos, part of the route of the Interoceanic Corridor in Veracruz, in order to show us that the massive industrial and economic complex—the Industrial Corridor and the Maya Train connecting with the port of Coatzacoalcos—isn’t new, but has gradually been built.

Before the arrival of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, extensive oil palm plantations (also known as African palm) had been planted in the region, a crop that requires immense quantities of water and the use of agrochemicals like glyphosate. Along with these plantations arrived the industrial palm oil processor Oleofinos, S.a. de C.V.

^{Palm oil processor owned by Oleofinos. Photo: Aldo Santiago}

Next to this palm oil processing plant are the multinational corporations Harinera de Veracruz, S.A. de C.V. (MASECA), Campi Alimentos S.A. de C.V. (BACHOCO), among other companies, that have arrived to the region even receiving fiscal benefits. The state built them their own pipeline to feed them gas from the para-state company Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), through the company Igasamex Bajío, S. de R. L. de C. V. The train lines pass right next to where these industries are established.

Just a few kilometers from these companies, there is also an open pit silica sand mine, where the company Materias Primas Monterrey operates, who in 2017 formed part of the Covia Materias Primas group, an affiliate of the United States Covia Holdings LLC. According to the Secretariat of the Economy, as of 2022, they processed more than 2,000 tons daily of this material.

^{Open pit mining activity of the Covia Materias Primas group. Photo: Aldo Santiago}

This region is very rich in biodiversity and culture “because the people have cared for the region and because their forms of life have allowed it. However, now there is the exploitation of oil deposits, they are opening more freeways around the train and a new gas pipeline,” explains Blanco.

The companies are circling like cultures, with hunger for carrion, explains the musician. In the first phase, the best portions of land of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, both in Veracruz and Oaxaca, will be offered to the highest bidders, where at least ten industrial parks, also called development poles, will be built.

In July 2023, at a press conference, the governor of Oaxaca, Salomón Jara Cruz, and the governor of Veracruz, Cuitláhuac García Jiménez, affirmed that “there is a demand for each pole (industrial park) of more than 30 businessmen,” of which five parks have already been destined to three companies. These development poles are: Coatzacoalcos I, Coatzacoalcos II, Salina Cruz, San Juan Evangelista and Texistepec.

The Altepee collective is extremely concerned, not only about preserving the music, festivities, and traditions, but also about preserving life itself. “While these projects advance, the devastation also advances. We know that without water, a cedar tree can’t grow and you can’t make a jarana. Without water, we cannot live. That is the problem. Nobody talks about the immense quantities of water they are going to need for these industries. Nor do they talk about the waste they will generate,” shares Blanco with concern.

One of the young people who participates in the collective, Ángel Chávez, shows a very special interest, particularly amongst those his age and the other children. “The promise is that there is going to be progress and that the families are going to have an income. For me, as a young person, it is complicated, the same for the rest of the youth. The universities only teach us how to be workers for these industries. Many young people are accepting this discourse, but with that they are going to lose a lot of wealth, not monetary wealth, but cultural wealth and biodiversity. The memory will be lost,” says the musician Chavez, while sanding the wood for the new jarana.

^{Ángel playing music. Photo: Santiago Navarro F}

This collective is aware that beneath the asphalt, beneath the industries, next to the gas and oil pipelines, there is a memory that could possibly be buried, together with forms of life that accompany it. “When we speak of the work that we do, it has to do with passing on knowledge so that there are also young folks who are interested in these issues,” says Blanco.

The Generational Change

While the musicians sand and put strings on the new jaranas, with a certain nostalgia they share that it is the elders who have cared for and preserved the music and territory. “You go to the assemblies and the majority of the people are in their 60’s or 70s, the youngest are in their 50’s. We are concerned because there is no new generation to care for mother earth, and for life,” Blanco remarks.

Furthermore, the elders are being pressured to sell their lands, which further undermines the possibility of handing them down to the next generation.

For example, in February, Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz hosted the so-called Territorial Planning Program of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Region (POT-RIT), where they invited municipal presidents and community representatives of 33 entities located in the pathway of the Interoceanic Corridor (part of Veracruz). The objective is to create the legal framework to cede the lands to private capital, as the majority of this territory is currently registered for collective or common use.

This event was promoted by the federal government via the Secretariat for Agrarian, Land and Urban Development (SEDATU) and organized by the government of Veracruz in collaboration with academia and civil society.

^{Event of the Territorial Planning Program of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Region.}

For these territories, the plan is to create the conditions needed for the industrial parks. In addition to water, sewer, electricity, and trash services, they also require sleeping spaces for the workers, hospitals, and schools, which will mean the privatization of the communal and ejidal lands.

The musicians sense that if the land is converted into private property, there will be no reason for the existence of the comuneros. Therefore, the assembly as maximum authority of a community will also disappear. “So, the youth will lose the opportunity to make decisions in assembly. That is a major blow to our communities,” adds Blanco.

^{Gema and Sael share their music. Photo: Santiago Navarro F.}

The musician emphasizes that this is why working with young people is so important. “Part of what we do is organize with the boys and girls,” he adds.

“Its no use if its only us organizing amongst ourselves, we have to organize with more people and raise the consciousness about what we are living through. Because these problems don’t only affect us, it is at the planetary level,” says the jaranero adding that, “something that is currently happening is the dehumanization, our sensitivity has been lost, we don’t care about where our water comes from, there is no interest in the forests, in the animals. We need to gather ourselves.”

Blanco is emphatic in pinpointing the issue of climate change. “It is important for the people to understand that the heat of more than 50 degrees Celsius has to do with the way we are living, and it’s our responsibility. We cannot think that the next generation is going to fix it, because the next generation will have nothing to fix. In the end it’s a call to action. If you don’t know what to do, there are people doing things. Reach out to them.”

The jaranero insists that we have to look beyond our own spaces, “although it seems like a lot of work, we have to do it. Think about the communities that are being devastated by mining, where they are cutting down forests, constructing dams. These are issues that concern humanity as a whole,” adds the musician.

Jarana and art, concludes another member of the collective, Ángel Escudero, are the tools with which they continue the struggle. “The memory is stored there and all it takes is a jolt to make us remember, and that’s what jarana does,” he reaffirms.

Police and Military Attack Community Resisting Mining in Ecuador

Por

Sare Frabes

27 March, 2024

^{Cover image: Residents of Palo Quemado who for years have resisted the La Plata mining project.}

On Tuesday, March 26, elements of the National Police of Ecuador and the Armed Forces violently entered the community of Palo Quemado, in the province of Cotopaxi, in the central sierra region of Ecuador. There, residents have maintained resistance against the La Plata mining project owned by the Canadian company, Atico Mining, which seeks to extract gold, copper, silver, and zinc.

Members of the community shared images denouncing the entry of the military into the region. The military arrived just one day after a judge ordered a provisional suspension of the environmental consultation in the parish of Palo Quemado.

^{Ecuadorian military violently enters a community resisting mining.}

According to residents, the process is taking place within a context of militarization and violence, with the consent of the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition, in order to push forward with the process of permitting for mining extraction.

With this, the mayor of Sigchos, solicited the removal of the security forces due to their presence causing conflict with campesinos who reject mining extraction in their territories.

With the entrance of the security forces this morning, the National Antimining Front denounced this new attack by the military against campesinos in the community of Palo Quemado.

^{Repression carried out by the police and military who shot tear gas canisters and injured campesinos who tried to repel the violent invasion by security forces.}

“The military and police have received orders to attack the people of Palo Quemado and Las Pampas in retaliation for the suspension of the environmental consultation. The fields are filled with smoke and blood, and the organized people rescue the wounded campesinos,” they denounce.

Resounding Rejection

The community of Palo Quemado barely exceeds 1,000 residents and the majority have taken a stand against the La Plata mining project which would also affect the neighboring communities of Las Pampas and Alluriquín; the latter belonging to the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas.

The area of the concession for the La Plata project is 2,222 hectares and according to the Canadian company Atico Mining, the area destined for extraction includes 143 hectares belonging to the community of Palo Quemado. There, residents will decide whether to approve or reject the mining project via an environmental consultation.

^{With an elevated police and military presence, an informative assembly was carried out on March 20 in Palo Quemado.}

According to the company, they have invested more than 16 million dollars for the preparation of the mining extraction. They foresee that, for the polymetallic mining development necessary in the region, they will need 100 million dollars.

It is important to mention that at the beginning of March, the President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, headed a series of strategic meetings during the World’s Premier Mineral Exploration and Mining Convention (PDAC 2024), in collaboration with the Bank of Montreal (BMO), where investments of up to 4.8 million dollars were promised for mining projects in Ecuador.

The investment commitments were made through featured projects in the mining industry, among them is the La Plata mining project of Atico Mining.

^{The Ecuador Minister of Energy and Mines, Andres Arroba, in Toronto, Canada.}

For their part, on Monday, March 25, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the National Antimining Front, and the Indigenous and Campesino Movement of Cotopaxi, through a communique, celebrated the judicial ruling which suspends the environmental consultation and, therefore, the legal permitting process for the mining operation.

However, the organizations warned to not let down the guard, and maintain the resistance in light of the violent attack on Tuesday, March 26.

Next Tuesday, April 2, a court hearing will be held to define the suspension of the environmental consultation which is now keeping the mining extraction on hold.

Mobilizations

After the violent attack, numerous organizations and communities in Ecuador have shown their support with the antimining resistance in the province of Cotopaxi, announcing that they will join the national mobilizations planned for Wednesday, March 27.

Among the demonstrations announced, CONAEI and the Antimining Front will set up an encampment in the capital city of Ecuador, Quito, starting this afternoon to take a stand against mining exploration in Palo Quemado and Las Pampas.

Restructuring of Energy Sector in Mexico Will Cause More Dependence on the United States

Por

Renata Bessi

19 March, 2024

^{Cover image: The president of Mexico, military figures, and businessmen during the inauguration of Line Z of the Interoceanic Train. In the same event an agreement was announced for the construction of a green hydrogen plant by the Danish company Helax Istmo. Salina Cruz, Oaxaca. December 2023.}

The south-southeast of Mexico is being reconfigured territorially with a wave of transportation megaprojects—the Interoceanic Train and the Maya Train—whose corridors are connected to energy projects, industrialization, real estate development, tourism, and urbanization. To sustain these projects, another wave of projects is advancing full steam ahead, yet with less visibility compared to the major energy projects.

In an in-depth investigation, the collective GeoComunes mapped out and presented the restructuring of the energy sector currently taking place in Mexico, specifically during the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to sustain the primary megaprojects being pushed by his administration.

“The projects being developed in the two most isolated regions of the country are related to territorial planning that, in spite of the discourse of change and radicalism, seeks to strengthen the economic sectors that during the entire wave of neoliberalism were deployed in these regions: tourism, agriculture, mining, and commercial transportation,” sustains the report.

Furthermore, the regional reorganization is linked to the “development agenda led by the United States, associated with militarization, policies of migrant contention, and territorial reorganization to accommodate nearshoring and the use of Mexican territory as a platform for the exportation of US natural gas,” they report.

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One of the pivotal energy projects is the Puerta al Sureste underwater 715-kilometer-long gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, considered in the investigation to be the pipeline which “articulates together the territorial reorganization in the south-southeast.”

The project is being pushed by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and by TC Energy (previously known as TransCanada). They seek to transport 1,390 million cubic feet of natural gas daily from Tuxpan to Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz, and then to Dos Bocas in Tabasco. This gas pipeline is the extension of another underwater pipeline that is already built and functioning, with which natural gas is imported from Texas to Tuxpan in Veracruz.

*^{The TC Energy natural gas compression station is just 500 meters from a body of fresh water, and just one kilometer from the ocean. Photo: Aldo Santiago}*

The natural gas to be transported in this pipeline will provide for the ten planned industrial parks, the planned fossil-fuel power plants, and also the liquified natural gas terminals that will be used to export gas to Europe, Asia, and South America. “It also seeks to expand the capacity to export energy and gas coming from the United States toward other parts of the world. That is, convert the south-southeast region not only into a manufacturing platform, but also one of exportation for US gas,” the report sustains.

Green Hydrogen

Helax Istmo, a subsidiary of the Danish company, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, signed an agreement with the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and with the Mexican Navy to install a plant that will develop renewable energies via green hydrogen and green maritime fuels, “contributing to Mexico’s objectives of sustainable development, as well as the decarbonization of the worldwide shipping industry,” the company tells the media.

^{Signing of the memorandum of understanding with the Danish company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to develop Helax Istmo, a project destined to produce green hydrogen and green maritime fuels in the isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca.}

The plant should be built in one of the ten industrial parks planned along the Interoceanic Corridor in Ixtepec.

In spite of the recent restructuring, GeoComunes emphasizes that, since the signing of the Free Trade Agreement in 1992, and throughout the structural reforms in the last three decades, the energy policy has maintained the same: “opening up this strategic sector to private capital, and making the energy infrastructure adequate in the country to conform to the interests of fossil fuel capital and, particularly, fossil fuel capital from the United States.”

You might be interested in- Mexican officials announce bids for Interoceanic Corridor industrial zones

The investigation done by GeoComunes also covers the energy restructuring in the Yucatan Peninsula and the northeast of the country. Topics that we will address in future texts.

Guatemala: Chiquibul Seeks to Certify its Oil Palm Crops while Using Violence Against Indigenous Peoples

Por

Renata Bessi

18 March, 2024

^{Cover image: Maya Q’eqchi’ residents of Santa Elena, in the department of Petén, are criminalized by the oil palm company Industria Chiquibul. Photo: Luis Hub/ Prensa Comunitaria}

Santa Elena is an Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ community in the municipality of Sayaxché, in the department of Petén, located in the north of Guatemala, near Río Salinas. In this region the heat is intense. In the past, water flowed abundantly with lush landscapes and rainforest. Today the rainforest lies in ashes under the immense oil palm plantations.

The community has been cornered in by the oil palm plantations. On the scarce land they still have left, they plant corn, beans, chili, and yucca. Some families raise livestock. Daily survival is complicated more by the polluting of the rivers and springs, a consequence of the monoculture crop.

With scarce land and without work, a part of the population, principally men, migrate to the United States with the hope of bettering their living conditions. Others are forced to submit to degrading work on the oil palm plantation.

Industria Chiquibul, an affiliate of the company Unisource Holding, is an exporter of different agricultural commodities like sesame seed, crude palm oil, and cardamom. They are also involved in the importation, commercialization, and distribution of fertilizers in Latin American markets. Today they possess around 70 caballerias (Over 7400 acres) of oil palm plantations surrounding this Maya community.

This crop first arrived to this region in 2012, when they began buying up lands of the Maya Q’eqchi’ families. “They told us that our lands were going to be flooded because they were going to build a hydroelectric dam on the Usumacinta River,” remembers the Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’, Mario Pop Tux, one of the community leaders, during an interview with Avispa Midia.

This industrial crop also arrived with a military detachment that was constructed near the community. Now there is a presence of soldiers, National Civil Police (PNC), and armed company security. “They carry out patrols during the day with their faces covered, as if they are criminals,” comments Pop Tux. The patrols are also done from the air. The community members report drone flyovers, principally at night.

The arrest warrants are a constant threat. According to the Maya Q’eqchi’, there are five arrest warrants against community members of Santa Elena, ex-workers of the company who have struggled for their labor rights. “We are aware that they could do the same as they have done in the past. They could invade the community, causing terror amongst the women, children, and elders, beneath the justification that they are looking for our criminalized compañeros,” he said.

In a community assembly—the maximum authority in the community—in February of this year, local authorities, elders, and community members wrote out an act documenting the different “incidents” in the last two months which have marked the intensification of violence against Santa Elena.

One of these incidents was the private company security intimidating a member of the community, on January 31, at a security checkpoint.

Afterwards, on February 2, seven armed men in a plate-less truck were surveilling the house of another community member. They then went to the community lands. They approached the president of the Community Development Council (COCODE) of Santa Elena, José Caal Pop, questioning him and refusing to identify themselves.

Persecution for Demanding Rights

The persecution of residents of Santa Elena is not something new. After Chiquibul bought lands, they began to contract workers from different communities to cut down trees and plant oil palm. The working conditions offered by the company were described as “modern slavery” by the lawyer of the Bufete para los Pueblos Indígenes, Juan Castro. They worked more than 12 hours a day for $4.40 dollars.

*^{Workers for the company Industria Chiquibul in the municipality of Raxruhá, have organized since 2016 demanding better working conditions from the oil palm company. Photo: Aldo Santiago}*

The situation became unsustainable for the Indigenous people, coming to a head in 2019. The company contracted 300 people, yet when they finished their one-year contract, Chiquibul didn’t pay them the agreed upon amount. The worker’s committee, which was created in 2016, visited the Ministry of Labor and calculated that each worker should receive—adding severance, salary, bonus—$12000 quetzales (US $1500), but the company only paid the $4800 quetzales (US $615 dollars). That is to say, less than half the amount.

Then a worker’s general strike broke out. The Indigenous people of Santa Elena and the community carried out a series of actions denouncing the company. Even so, the company didn’t pay the workers. On the contrary, the company began a process of criminalization against members of the community.

The company denounced leaders of the workers in the courts, which resulted in six arrest warrants against community members. In November 2022, four indigenous people were captured and detained, including Mario Pop Tux, accused of kidnapping, extortion, aggravated usurpation, and illegal detention. “We were in prison for 73 days,” says Pop Tux.

^{During the actions carried out by the workers demanding better working conditions from the palm oil company, hundreds of police were deployed to repress the movement in 2020.}

In February 2021, the courts dictated a condemnatory sentence against four community members of Santa Elena. “With this sentence, we see how the state is accomplice to these forms of modern exploitation. They do not understand the context of land grabbing and Indigenous exploitation,” said the lawyer that accompanies the workers and members of the community, Juan Castro.

The sentence was for four years, but with conditional suspension. That is to say, they have to present themselves monthly to the public prosecutor’s office in the municipal seat of Sayaxché to sign documents. “The Indigenous peoples are considered responsible and not the companies that are damaging the environment and the life of many communities,” says the lawyer Juan Castro.

*^{Maya Q’eqchi’ people of Santa Elena, in the department of Petén, are criminalized by the palm oil company Industria Chiquibul. Photo: Prensa Comunitaria}*

There was an expectation that after the condemnatory sentence of the Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ and the end of the strikes—since then the company has brought in workers from outside the region—that the persecution of Santa Elena would stop. But that’s not what has happened. “They’ve continued to harass us up until today. They continue to scare us, surveil us, control us. They don’t stop terrorizing us,” explains Pop Tux.

Certify the Crops Using Indigenous People

At 7:00am on January 25, 2024, Carlos Cú, representative of Chiquibul, accompanied by two others, came looking for the President of the Community Development Council (COCODE) of Santa Elena, José Caal Pop, at his house. He was not there because he had gone to work on his land. The representatives of the company decided to leave. At around 12:00pm, Caal Pop returned home. Shortly after, the three men returned looking for him.

They presented him a document asking that he, as the president of COCODE, sign it. “They were summoning me to a meeting related to the certification of the company. That’s what they told me. And they wanted me to sign the document for the meeting.”

According to Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’, the workers of Chiquibul wanted to minimize the conflicts between the company and the community. “Carlos Cú (one of the signers of the document) said to me: we’ve come to speak to you directly. We want you to give us that opportunity. We know that there is no problem (with the community). We want you to sign this document for us. So that there is no problem.”

Caal Pop didn’t remain silent. “I told them, how is there no problem? If we are being surveilled all the time. They didn’t like what I said and they left,” explains the Maya Q’eqchi’.

*^{Oil palm plantations property of Industria Chiquibul. Photo: Aldo Santiago}*

In July of 2023, the company began the process for the certification of their oil palm plantations by the worlds leading palm certifier, the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). The objective is to obtain certification this year 2024.

The certification will allow the company to expand its sales in North American and European markets. The palm oil of Chiquibul is already part of the supply chain of European companies like Dreyfus Company (LDC), Nestle S.A., Upfield Holdings B.V., Henkel AG & Co., KGaA, PepsiCo Inc., Vandemoortele. These chains were tracked by the German organization, Christian Initiative Romero (CIR), and recently published in the report Im Schatten der Ölpalme.

The Spanish company Lipsa, the British company Unilever, the German company Basf, the Dutch companies Lowis Dreyfus and Marie Olie, and the French company ADM-SIO also were traced as buyers of Chiquibul oil products, in a still unpublished investigation done by the Dutch project, SOMO The Counter, commissioned by the CIR.

Guatemala in the World

The majority of the palm oil consumed worldwide comes from Indonesia and Malaysia. However, the CIR report argues that there are more and more oil palm plantations in Latin America to satisfy the world demand. Guatemala and Colombia are already fourth and fifth on the list of national exporters.

The largest buyer of Guatemalan palm oil is the Netherlands, with 32% of the total volume, according to the report. In the case of Germany, Guatemala has become the second most important provider, after Malaysia. Given that 43% of the palm oil resold by the Netherlands goes to Germany, it is likely that the total share of palm oil from Guatemala that goes to Germany is still greater, emphasized the German organization.

According to a report from Industria Chiquibul, the process of certification is already happening. “A group of external advisors visited our plantations and together, with our sustainability team, have established a plan of action which will be centered on people, planet, and prosperity to achieve our sustainability,” says the company in their document.

One of the obligatory points for certification is a consultation with the communities affected by the palm plantations, that began on February 14.

The document presented to Caal Pop for his signature, of which the Avispa Midia team has access, explained that it is a process of “free, prior, and informed consent (COP)”, that seeks to “establish a relation of confidence between the company and communities, where the communities can get to know the company, be clear about their rights, and can express their concerns and worries related to the operation of the company.”

In their explication, they do not mention Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization which states that the communities have the right to say “no” to projects in their territories. In real terms, it is a process that is ignored, because they have already deforested and are currently cultivating grand extensions of oil palm. “We did not participate in the meeting and we are not going to participate in the following ones. What they want is our signature for the certification, and they aren’t going to get it, because the consultation doesn’t exist,” said Mario Pop Tux.

^{Oil palm monoculture owned by Industria Chiquibul expands around the Sierra de Chinajá, a region adjacent to the Petén lowlands where the company plants and processes the fruit. Photo: Aldo Santiago}

According to the Pop Tux, around 18 villages are impacted by Chiquibul’s palm plantations in the region. Beyond Santa Elena, there are at least another 10 villages that do not agree with the presence of the company, where the company implemented the same shady mechanisms. “For this first meeting, they invited all of the communities, many didn’t go. They also suffer persecution and arrest warrants,” he said.

The company will also have to carry out two other processes. The High Conservation Value Assessment “to identify the social and environment values both within the areas where the company carries out its operations, but also in its areas of influence,” says the document. In reality, they are going to map the forests that they couldn’t deforest, including forests that are not on their lands, to establish conservation programs, which are pivotal to obtaining the certification they are looking for.

*^{Oil palm plantations owned by Industria Chiquibul. Photo: Renata Bessi}*

In addition, they must also carry out a Social Impact Report with which they will identify “the social and environmental impacts that the company could be generating, and at the same time organize a management plan to control, mitigate, and compensate these impacts,” according to the document of Chiquibul.

Bio Terra Consultores Ambientales will be the company responsible for carrying out these studies. They were contracted by Chiquibul.

Meanwhile, the RSPO certifier has been criticized throughout the world for certifying companies that have generated socio-environmental conflicts. By labeling palm oil “sustainable,” palm oil’s image is rehabilitated giving the impression that the industrial cultivation of oil palm is compatible with principles of ecology and human rights, and that it offers a long-term sustainable solution for the use of the land. “However, that is not the case,” says CIR.

According to the German organization, the RSPO allows, for example, the partial use of pesticides that appear on the Pesticide Action Network’s list of highly hazardous pesticides. Furthermore, inspectors for the certification process are contracted by the companies themselves, as is the case of Bio Terra Consultores Ambientales, “which can lead to conflicts of interests in practice. There is a great risk of corruption.”

*^{Fertilizer and agrochemical residue used in the plantations of Industria Chiquibul}*

The Community of Santa Elena reiterated in an assembly their rejection of the certification. “These certifications we profoundly reject for the violations of our human rights. Threats, intimidation, environmental contamination, deforestation, exploitation of the rivers where the community gets its drinking water.”

Disappearing the Certified Document

The president of COCODE also denounced the public prosecutor for having disappeared the community certified document of Santa Elena. This document is very important for a Maya Q’eqchi’ community. In it we capture the agreements, the norms, the commitments of the community, the results of the assemblies. These types of documents are very important for each one of the communities of our Q’eqchi’ people,” explains Caal Pop to Avispa Midia.

Mario Pop Tux explains that on May 6, 2021, the local authorities were summoned—the auxiliary mayor and the representative of COCODE of Santa Elena—by the Municipal government. On May 7, they went to the municipal offices. The mayor was not there, but a prosecutor from the public prosecutor’s office was. “This prosecutor disappeared the certified document without explanation,” he sustains.

According to the president of COCODE, the municipal government’s commitment was recorded, from an assembly in the community, that they would recover seven caballerias, today in possession of Chiquibul, for the families of Santa Elena.

“We believe that this agreement was the reason for which they disappeared the document. The value of the work that is in the document, it is very valuable to us. We demand that they return it to us peacefully. And that the municipal authority complies with it,” said Caal Pop.

Petition

The Movement of Communities in Defense of Water, Qana’ Ch’och, the Coordination of NGOs and Cooperatives (CONGCOOP), and the World Rainforest Movement (WRM), launched a petition demanding the authorities of Guatemala to take urgent measures against the harassment and violation of human rights enacted by Industria Chiquibul against the community Santa Elena.

According to the organizations, this pattern of violence is intrinsic to the palm oil industry. In the last decade, they sustain, the company Industria Chiquibul has accumulated a trail of violations of the rights of Indigenous and campesino communities, including the illegal appropriation of community lands in the village of Carolina, contamination of the San Román river, criminalization via arrest warrants, and detentions orchestrated by the company, labor violations, and deforestation.

They demand “an end to the arrest warrants against community members which are based on false accusations, and an end to the process of certification of Industria Chiquibul before the RSPO.”

Oil Palm in Petén

In the department of Petén, where the municipality of Sayaxché and the community of Santa Elena are located, oil palm cultivation has increased exponentially. According to the report from 2021, Dinamicas productivas entorno al cambio de uso del suelo y sus repercusiones en la Reserva de Biosfera Maya (RBM), done by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), in 2000 there were 320 hectares and by 2022 there were 78,921 hectares, 46% of the nation’s total.

The growth at the national level between 2005 and 2010 was 20%, in Petén it was 192.4%

The production of palm in the municipality of Sayaxché represents 87% of the production in the department of Petén, according to data from 2018-2019 generated by the Gremial de Palma.

Indonesia, India, China, and the European Union are the countries that consume the most palm oil, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, with statistics from July of 2023. The worldwide consumption has increased more than 80% in the last 15 years.

“As a result, the cultivation in Central America is expanding, with negative consequences for the local communities and the environment,” summarizes the CIR.

RSPO Response

In a communique updated on March 15, 2024, the RSPO reported that it is aware of the CIR report. The organization assures that it has taken the necessary steps to review the allegations in the report and that it is working closely with the companies implicated to get a complete understanding of the situation.

The RSPO maintains that it continues to monitor this case with the objective of ensuring that the palm oil products “are being produced in a responsible and sustainable manner in accordance with RSPO standards.”

...

The RSPO reports that Industria Chiquibul “is not a member of RSPO and therefore is not in the process of RSPO certification.” However, in the company’s sustainability bulletins and statements, Chiquibul says that it is “working” towards certification.

Text updated March 18, 2024, and August 20, 2024.

Mexico: Communal Government of Santa María Ostula Repels Organized Crime from their Territory

Por

Ñaní Pinto

12 March, 2024

Organizations from different states of Mexico recently published a communique recognizing the labor of the Indigenous Communal Government of Santa Maria Ostula, in the municipality of Aquila, Michoacán, in defense of the collective rights of the Indigenous Nahua people, and for ensuring security in their territory.

The Indigenous Nahua community of Santa María Ostula is located in the coastal-sierra region of the state of Michoacán, a region rich in natural resources, minerals and forests. However, it is one of the most violent zones in Mexico. The dispute between different organized crime groups for control over the territory and its resources has resulted in hundreds of assassinations and disappearances.

In this context, inhabitants of the Indigenous Nahua community of Santa Maria Ostula, “have understood that only though unity, community work, strengthening their internal forms of organization, and care for mother earth, can they generate a dignified alternative of life in their territory,” says the communique.

According to decisions made in general assemblies, the maximum authority of government in the community, they have strengthened the Indigenous governing institutions, grounded in their agrarian authorities, communal council, community representative, security, and communal guard.

In this sense, the Indigenous Communal Government of Santa Maria Ostula, “guarantees the legitimacy and capacity of its own institutions, to generate better conditions of life in their territory, which is one of the most secure places in the country, in spite of being located in one of the most violent zones,” explains the organizations.

Given the lack of capacity on part of the state to provide security, the organized crime groups maintain control over extensive territory in the coastal-sierra region of Michoacán and have tried to enter Ostula’s communal territory generating violence and tension.

Despite this, through organization, the community has been able to repel the attacks and has sought dialogue to strengthen alliances with the federal government to address the situation of violence in the region.

According to the organizations, the recent history “has taught us that only with the participation and control, legal and legitimate, of the Indigenous Communal Government of Santa María Ostula, has it been possible to achieve peace and security, which are two of the most sensitive issues we face as Mexican people.”

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