Oaxaca: New harassment and threats over construction of wind-energy park denounced

(@La Voz del Anahuac)

The Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ) has denounced that, on 9 February, a group of masked persons, some of them carrying handguns, impeded passage to several neighbors from Juchitán who were traveling to the parcel of land on which is located the Guela Be’ñe’ temple, where local indigenous persons often go to worship. The masked persons were indicated as being construction workers from the Bii Hioxho wind-energy park, which pertains to the the multinational energy firm Fenosa Natural Gas.

In this way was denounced the work of topographical measurement being carried out on what are claimed as communal lands on which are being built the wind-energy park.

On 10 February, the APPJ indicated also that workers from Fenosa Natural Gas had threatened the members and spokespeople of their organization Mariano López Gómez and María Isabel Jiménez Salinas by phone.

Given all this, the APPJ demands the cancellation of the Bii Hioxho wind-energy park, punishment of the Fenosa Natural Gas and Constructoral firms (the latter being a Mexican company which is engaged in the construction works), and it holds the Oaxaca state government responsible for the death-threats and rights violations that the firms have been committing against the APPJ and the indigenous territory of Juchitán.

For more information (in Spanish):

APPJ: Gas Natural Fenosa se apropia de sitios de pesca de indígenas zapotecas y amenaza a defensores comunitarios (Kaos en la Red, 11 de febrero de 2014)

Rechazamos actos de intimidación hacia la APPJ (Código DH, 11 de febrero de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: A year of resistance is celebrated in the Álvaro Obregón community (13 February 2014)

Oaxaca: Closing off of communal paths and police operation over construction of wind-energy park (9 December 2013)

Oaxaca: New threats of displacement from Playa Vicente (25 October 2013)

Oaxaca: Death by gunfire of opponent to wind-energy projected promoted by multinational Fenosa Natural Gas (20 August 2013)

Oaxaca: “The Isthmus at the Crossroads” Seminar (20 August 2013)

Oaxaca: Attacks on those opposed to the wind-energy park in the Tehuantepec Isthmus (4 August 2013)

Oaxaca: judge concedes motion against wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (21 December 2012)