National: AMLO – We Won’t Build Dams at El Paso de la Reina, Boca del Cerro or La Parota

Photo @ HydroReview

On January 20th, having been questioned in his morning press conference about a complaint of burglary and harassment in recent days by elements of the Navy against Marco Antonio Suastegui, one of the leaders of the opposition to La Parota dam in Guerrero, the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected that it is among his plans to reactivate the La Parota project.

“No work can be done against the will of the people. La Parota is opposed and that dam is not going to be built. As we are not going to build other dams, I would tell you that we are not going to build the Paso de la Reina dam in Oaxaca and the Boca del Cerro dam in the Usumacinta in Chiapas. The only one that we are going to finish because its expansion has already begun, is that of Chicoasen (…) no new dam will be started, but we will seek to modernize the existing ones. ”

Regarding the issue, the senator of On January 20, after being questioned in his morning conference about a complaint of raid and harassment in recent days by elements of the Navy to Marco Antonio Suastegui, one of the leaders of the opposition to La Parota dam in Guerrero, the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador rejected that it is among his plans to reactivate the La Parota project.

“No work can be done against the will of the people. La Parota is opposed and that dam is not going to be built. As we are not going to build other dams, I would tell you that we are not going to build the Paso de la Reina dam in Oaxaca and the Boca del Cerro dam in the Usumacinta in Chiapas. The only one that we are going to finish because its expansion has already begun, is that of Chicoasén (…) said that no new dam will be started, but it will seek to modernize the existing ones”, the president said.

Regarding the issue, the MORENA senator, Ricardo Monreal, announced on the same day that he decided not to present an initiative to reform the Constitution and the Federal Injunction Law “to prevent the protection of public works that benefit the community” . According to Proceso magazine, “the MORENA member considers that the current federal government has promoted important projects from the beginning, which have been stopped by suspensions granted through injunctions, causing damage to economic and social progress.”

Through his Twitter account, the senator announced that “he had prepared initiatives to reform the Injunction Law, which were reviewed in the past by other means; After talking with groups and specialists, I decided not to present them, to look for a consensus project on the subject. You must listen and accept changes.” 

For more information in Spanish:

Morena en el Senado va por reforma para evitar que amparos frenen proyectos de AMLO (El Proceso, 19 de enero de 2020)

Monreal desiste de sus reformas al amparo para blindar los proyectos de AMLO (Expansión Política, 20 de enero de 2020)

López Obrador descarta retomar proyecto de presa La Parota, en Guerrero (El Proceso, 20 de enero de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Vocero del CECOP presenta queja contra policías estatales que pretendían detenerlo (December 17, 2019)

Chiapas: “La Voz del Pueblo” informa que el Ayuntamiento de Huehuetán no otorga ningún tipo de autorización a las empresas para la construcción de hidroeléctricas en el municipio (July 16, 2019)

Nacional/Internacional: “Gobierno debe frenar abusos de empresas públicas y privadas”: Grupo Focal de la Sociedad Civil sobre Empresas y DDHH (July 5, 2019)

Guerrero: 16 CRAC PC and CECOP Prisoners Released (June 17, 2019)

Celebrará Dia Internacional de Acción Contra las Presas y a Favor de los Ríos, el Agua y la Vida, Y otras formas de resistencia (March 12, 2019)

Guerrero: 16 CRAC PC and CECOP Prisoners Released

@Red Noticias

On June 7th, the 16 members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym) and the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Community Police (CRAC-PC in its Spanish acronym) were declared innocent. They had been arrested on January 7th, 2018, following violence in La Concepcion, in the rural area of ​​Acapulco, where six civilians and five community policemen were killed, The first thirteen were released on the same day, including the spokesman and leader of the CECOP, Marco Antonio Suastegui Muñoz. It is expected that the others will leave in the coming days.

In an interview with reporters, the lawyer of La Montaña, Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of, Vidulfo Rosales Sierra said that the judges ruled in favor, since the Public Prosecutor’s Office could not verify the full responsibility of the detainees. He stressed that the court expressed “its concerns about these extremely inadequate investigations, where there was torture, evidence was extracted illegally, where they were also in the Office of the Prosecutor for many days and the defense was not allowed to enter to speak with them, and in all that time, illegal evidence was obtained.”

Given the risk of fresh confrontation between the inhabitants of La Concepcion and the people who will be released, Vidulfo Rosales called for a reconciliation and pacification path that “is not only of the parties, but must also come from the State”, recognizing that there are many old grievances and disputes that exist in the area.

On the same day, in Chilpancingo, members of the Movement for the Liberation of the Political Prisoners of Guerrero were evicted by riot police when they blocked the Sol highway between Mexico and Acapulco precisely to demand the release of the prisoners who were innocent.

For more information in Spanish:

Liberan a comunitarios y miembros del Cecop (La Jornada, 7 de junio de 2019)

Liberaron a 16 defensores del agua en Guerrero (Regeneración, 7 de junio de 2019)

Dictan libertad absolutoria a los 16 detenidos de la CRAC-PC y CECOP (Quadratin, 7 e de junio de 2019)


Excarcelan a 13 opositores a La Parota (La Jornada, 8 de junio de 2019)

Policías desalojan a manifestantes de la Autopista del Sol (Proceso, 7 de junio de 2019)

Bloquea Movimiento por Libertad de Presos Políticos la Autopista del Sol (Quadratin, 7 de junio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Urgent Action “No Dam, No Prisoners”, Demands Release of 16 Indigenous CECOP Members (March 14, 2019)

Guerrero/International: MEPs and International Organizations Express Concern over Criminalization of CECOP Members (February 13, 2019)

Guerrero: national and international organizations visit prisoners of the CECOP and the CRAC-PC (October 10, 2018)

Guerrero: Urgent Action “No Dam, No Prisoners”, Demands Release of 16 Indigenous CECOP Members

On March 8th, more than 2,000 people had already demanded “the immediate release of the 16 indigenous members of the Council of Ejidos and Opposition Communities to the Presa la Parota (CECOP), whose crime was to defend their lands and natural assets against the La Parota Dam”, through the Avaaz petition website. This is due to the multiple violations of due process, torture and the arbitrary and illegal circumstances of the arrests, which “demonstrate that there are political and economic interests against the communities that oppose the dam.” They also requested that harassment and arbitrary arrests of the inhabitants of the community of Cacahuatepec, municipality of Acapulco, stop.

In the same case, on March 5th, members of CECOP, the Movement for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of the State of Guerrero (MOLPPEG in its Spanish acronym) and the Montaña Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights held a meeting with the Governor of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo Flores, to follow up on the tables established to review the cases of these same prisoners, as well as to demand the cessation of harassment against the members of CECOP. The MOLPPEG reported that, “it filed a complaint with the State Human Rights Commission (CODDEHUM in its Spanish acronym), to intervene and no longer continue to pressurize the comrades of the communal property of Cacahuatepec, in the municipality of Acapulco, as well as the Zapata Vive collective.” He explained that the State and Ministerial police have been raiding computers to identify comrades who have an arrest warrant.

For his part, the Tlachinollan lawyer, Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, reported that through this meeting he was following up a dialogue path begun in December, with a view to solving the problem of political prisoners in the state, mainly those of CECOP. He stated that the government authorities have said that it will be resolved according to law and that the legal route will be that which is privileged.

A day earlier, Tlachinollan listed 8 reasons why it considers that the 16 CECOP prisoners should be granted freedom:

“• They were arbitrarily detained on January 7th, 2018 in a violent operation where the police murdered three CECOP campesinos.

• On the way to the Prosecutor’s Office they were tortured and given cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment to force them to plead guilty. • During their detention, they were held incommunicado for more than 48 hours, preventing their relatives and lawyers from being interviewed.
• During their solitary confinement, the Public Ministry obtained evidence in an unlawful manner to indict them for homicide.
• The weapons allegedly obtained by the police were obtained from illegal searches carried out at the houses of the CECOP community members.
• The CECOP detainees were not at the scene when the confrontation took place between those who were killed on both sides. They were arrested in the place when they went to the Sunday Assembly of the CECOP.
• There is an onslaught to dismantle the CECOP and the resistance against the La Parota hydroelectric project.
• Gravel workers who irrationally exploit the gravel and sand of the Papagayo River have organized the villagers to confront CECOP.

For more information in Spanish:

Acción Urgente en línea “Ni presa ni presos” (marzo de 2019)

Se reúne ONG con Héctor Astudillo para pedir la libertad de 16 miembros del Cecop (La Jornada de Guerrero, 6 de marzo de 2019)

Denuncian en Guerrero acoso de policías contra opositores a La Parota (LA Jornada, 5 de marzo de 2019)

Se reúne Astudillo con Tlachinollan, Cecop y Molppeg (Quadratin, 5 de marzo de 2019)
8 Razones para la libertad de los presos políticos del CECOP (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan, 4 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Liberan bajo fianza a dos integrantes de la CECOP (28 de febrero de 2019)

Guerrero/Internacional : Europarlamentarios y organizaciones internacionales expresan su preocupación por criminalización de integrantes de CECOP; marchan en Acapulco a favor de la liberación de sus presos (7 de febrero de 2019)

Guerrero : Siguen exigiendo la libertad de 19 presos detenidos por oponerse a la construcción de la Presa La Parota (1ero de febrero de 2019)

Guerrero: Piden la liberación de 19 presos políticos (10 de enero de 2019)

Guerrero: organizaciones nacionales e internacionales visitan a presos del CECOP y la CRAC-PC (6 de octubre de 2018)

Guerrero: 50 órdenes de aprehensión contra comuneros del CECOP (17 de septiembre de 2018)

National: Map of over 800 Environmental Conflicts Caused by Megaprojects in 12 Years

(@Heinrich Böll Foundation)

On February 27th, the academics Gisela Zaremberg (FLACSO Mexico) and Valeria Guarneros-Meza (De Montfort University), as members of the project “Speaking with Goliath: Participation, Mobilization y Repression Regarding Neo-extractivists and Environmental Conflicts”, presented a map of 879 conflicts that resulted from the implementation of 304 megaprojects, during the administrations of presidents Felipe Calderon Hinojosa (2006-2012) and Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018). The 304 works identified were related to mining, wind, hydroelectric, oil and gas pipeline infrastructure industries.

Their main findings, based on journalistic notes, reveal that the states with the most violent acts associated with mining are Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Zacatecas, Puebla, Coahuila, Sonora, Durango and Michoacan; while oil fields have caused conflicts in Tabasco, Chiapas and Veracruz. Regarding gas pipelines, the sections with the most reported violent events are Puebla-Tlaxcala-Morelos, Sonora-Sinaloa and Chihuahua-Sinaloa. Hydroelectric installations generated violence in Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Guerrero; and wind projects, in Oaxaca and Yucatan.

Gisela Zaremberg explained that in “absolute terms”, the data analyzed show that mining is the activity that causes the greatest number of conflicts, followed by the extraction of hydrocarbons (oil fields and gas pipelines), hydroelectric projects and finally wind.

The data collected show that, contrary to what is usually thought, the communities that oppose a megaproject resort mainly to “institutionalized” action (such as injunction and law suits). However, those that combine this type of actions with other “non-institutionalized” ones (taking over facilities, public offices or companies, retention of officials) are the communities that seek to negotiate benefits. For their part, government players, in combination with companies, are those that are most frequently mentioned in relation to informal and illegal actions.

The journalistic notes compiled in the database were written by a total of 373 journalists. 18% of them have received threats or attacks. However, it is not possible to establish if the threats had to do with their coverage of socio-environmental conflicts or other matters. The main states where threats or aggressions were reported to communicators in the investigation were Puebla, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Mexico City, Chiapas and Veracruz.

For more information in Spanish:

Minería y energía detonan 879 conflictos en México; los ligan al crimen, empresas y gobiernos (Sin Embargo, 2 de marzo de 2019)

Oaxaca, entre los estados con más violencia por conflictos medioambientales (El Universal, 2 de marzo de 2019)

Más de 800 conflictos socioambientales por megaproyectos mineros y energéticos (Contralínea, 27 de febrero de 2019)

Identifican más de 800 conflictos socioambientales generados por proyectos mineros y energéticos en los últimos 12 años (Fundación Heinrich Böll, 27 de febrero de 2019)

Presentación Powerpoint (FLACSO México, 27 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Verdict of the Popular Community Trial against the Mexican State and the mining companies (January 4th, 2019)

Guerrero/National: 13th Meeting of MAPDER in Cacahuatepec (December 12th, 2018)

National/International: Global Witness Publishes “At What Price? Irresponsible Business and the Murder of Land and Environment Defenders 2017”
(August 6th, 2018)

National: CEMDA 2017 Report Shows Increase in Vulnerability of Environmental Defenders (March 26th, 2018)

 

Guerrero/International: MEPs and International Organizations Express Concern over Criminalization of CECOP Members

On February 6th, MEPs expressed their deep concern over “the situation of the defenders of land and territory in Mexico, particularly the incessant criminalization of members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to “La Parota” Dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym) in the State of Guerrero”, in a letter sent among others to the Governor of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo.

They believe that the CECOP members “continue to be criminalized and stigmatized for defending their right to the territory of their communities opposing the construction of “La Parota” hydroelectric dam”, and that, “additionally, the lawyers and members of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights group were the target of defamations in the media and social networks when assuming legal representation.” They stressed that to date there are “no investigative acts that indicate any progress in clarifying the responsibility for the alleged extrajudicial executions and acts of torture. In addition, we have received with concern information on several violations of due process and the right to an adequate defense, as well as on the probable fabrication of evidence and the non-individual character of the evidence presented by the Public Ministry for the formulation of imputation and connection in the trial of the 17 defenders who are indicted. “

Similarly, 13 international human rights organizations stated their positions on the same case denouncing that, “the justice system was used in bad faith to detain these people, already in custody for another crime that had no legal or factual basis. In all cases, there was ill-treatment and, in at least eight of them, torture. Additionally, the lawyers and members of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center were publicly defamed for assuming their legal representation.” They expressed their concern at the fact that “the circumstances in which these human rights violations occurred are related to the work of defending the rights of the indigenous peoples of the CECOP and the CRAC-PC, as the umpteenth form of reprisal particularly for their work of defense of the rights related to the land and the territory opposing a hydroelectric project that threatens the means of subsistence and the security of the communities.”

At the same time, relatives of the prisoners and social organizations close to the CECOP carried out a blockade against the Viaducto Diamante, in Acapulco, to demand the government release political prisoners and in support of the members of the CECOP, who have been in jail since January 7th, 2018. On the same day, February 6th, a hearing was scheduled for the Criminal Control and Prosecution Court in the same area of ​​Acapulco to decide whether the evidence obtained under torture and other evidence that has also been discredited by the defense will be permitted.

For more information in Spanish:

Pronunciamiento | Carta de 15 euro parlamentarios a favor de los presos del CECOP (Europarlamentarios, 6 de febrero e 2019)

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA CONJUNTO : La criminalización de los integrantes del CECOP debe cesar (OSC internacionales, 6 de febrero de 2019)

Con bloqueo, exigen liberación de 19 comuneros en Acapulco (La Jornada, 6 de febrero de 2019)

Bloquean organizaciones el Viaducto Diamante en apoyo a comuneros del Cecop presos (El Sur de Acapulco, 7 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero : Siguen exigiendo la libertad de 19 presos detenidos por oponerse a la construcción de la Presa La Parota (1ero de febrero de 2019)

Guerrero: Piden la liberación de 19 presos políticos (10 de enero de 2019)

Guerrero: organizaciones nacionales e internacionales visitan a presos del CECOP y la CRAC-PC (6 de octubre de 2018)

Guerrero: 50 órdenes de aprehensión contra comuneros del CECOP (17 de septiembre de 2018)

Guerrero : Detienen a otro integrante del Consejo de Ejidos y Comunidades Opositoras a La Parota (CECOP) en medio de presiones de fuerzas civiles armadas (5 de septiembre de 2018)

Guerrero : Liberan a 9 de los 25 detenidos por enfrentamiento en La Concepción en enero (1ero de septiembre de 2018)

Guerrero/Nacional : Nestora Salgado anuncia campaña por la libertad de los presos políticos (31 de agosto de 2018)

Guerrero : Cancelación definitiva de la Parota y libertad de presos, pide CECOP en su 15 aniversario (31 de julio de 2018)

Guerrero: Release of 19 Political Prisoners Requested

Photo @ Sur de Acapulco

On January 8th, the Governor of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo Flores, received relatives of the alleged victims of the confrontation that occurred on January 7th, 2018 in La Concepcion, municipality of Acapulco, to review the investigative files of “the 19 political prisoners in Guerrero members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota Dam – CECOP and the Community Police of the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities – CRAC-PC.” The relatives were accompanied by lawyers from La Montaña Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights, the Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon Regional Center for Human Rights (Centro Morelos) and the Movement for the Freedom of Political Prisoners. They demanded that the state government release the prisoners but according to Sur de Acapulco the Governor of Guerrero responded that “the FGE, the TSJ, the lawyers and the defense are doing their job and they have to wait.”

After the meeting at a press conference, former prisoner Arturo Campos warned that they also demanded the freedom of the displaced person from Laguna, prisoner in Coyuca de Catalan, Gildardo Diaz Perez.

The meeting was a follow-up to a negotiating table, which took place on December 29th, between a commission of wives of the political prisoners of the CECOP, social organizations, Tlachinollan and the Governor in Casa Guerrero, Chilpancingo. The meeting had initially been scheduled the previous day, December 28th, when social organizations, community police of the CRAC-PC, students and the CECOP, blocked the Sol highway to demand the release of political prisoners detained in January 2017.

The Mexican Movement of Affected by Dams and in Defense of the Rivers (MAPDER in its Spanish acronym), also expressed in an open letter its concern about the current situation of the “19 political prisoners (…) who have not been released as publicly promised Federal government.”

For more information in Spanish:

CARTA ABIERTA | MAPDER DEMANDA LA LIBERTAD DE PRESOS OPOSITORES A LA PRESA LA PAROTA (MAPDER, 28 de diciembre de 2018)

Familiares de presos del Cecop se reúnen con el gobernador y le piden su libertad (El Sur de Acapulco, 9 de enero de 2019)

Demandan la liberación de 19 presos políticos de Guerrero (La Jornada, 28 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca/Guerrero/National: Political Prisoners, Teachers and Activists Freed. Others Awaiting Rulings on their Cases (January 14th, 2019)

Guerrero / National: Nestora Salgado announces campaign for the freedom of political prisoners  (September 16th, 2018)

 

 

Guerrero/National: 13th Meeting of MAPDER in Cacahuatepec

13th Meeting of MAPDER, Guerrero (@Mario Marlo)

The 13th Meeting of the Mexican Movement of People Affected by Dams and in Defense of the Rivers (MAPDER in its Spanish acronym) was held in the community of Salsipuesdes, in the Communal Property of Cacahuatepec, near Acapulco, in the state of Guerrero, from November 16th to 18th, within the framework of its 15 years of resistance. The objective of the meeting was “to share experiences and knowledge from the different resistance movements, affected and organizations that compose MAPDER, analyze MAPDER’s political proposal for the next political scenario, strengthen and provide solidarity to members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota Dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym).” Social organizations and defenders from Colombia and Brazil were also present at the event.

They recalled that hydroelectric projects have displaced people and caused environmental devastation in the name of progress. They also denounced “the deepening of the neoliberal model with a project to facilitate the control of territory by big capital, as are the special economic zones that the new government intends to continue promoting.”

They told the new government that they will not accept “the imposition of dams and hydroelectric projects as well as other extractive models that have led to confrontation, repression and criminalization of those who for many years have defended our lands, the rights of peoples and territories.” They said that “the so-called Agrarian Development Law which aims to abrogate the Agrarian Law, goes in that same direction, it is the law left pending by the Peña government and gives continuity to the Salinist reform of Article 27, which opened the Mexican countryside to national, foreign private capital, and if they intend this to be change, they will soon come up against the people who elected them.”

In particular, they called for an end to harassment against CECOP members, immediate release of 19 of its members and all political prisoners in the country, as well as the departure of the state police from the territory of Cacahuatepec. In addition to justice for the murder of the defenders of territory in the northern mountains of Puebla and the presentation alive of the defender Sergio Rivera; as well as the definitive cancellation of the projects of the dams, La Parota in Guerrero, Las Cruces in Nayarit, the Purgatory in Jalisco, Paso de la Reyna Oaxaca, the Naranjal in Veracruz, Milpillas in Zacatecas; and the immediate dismantling of the El Zapotillo dam in Jalisco and an audit of the restoration project of the Rio Verde basin.

For more information in Spanish:

No aceptarán la imposición de presas en el gobierno de AMLO, dicen ambientalistas (El Sur, 19 de noviembre de 2018)

Llaman activistas a mantener la lucha contra construcción de presas (La Jornada de Guerrero, 18 de noviembre de 2018)

Activistas de 3 países piden a pueblos seguir su lucha contra proyectos hidroeléctricos (La Jornada, 18 de noviembre de 2018)

Movimiento Mexicano de Afectados por las Presas prepara encuentro en Salsipuedes, Guerrero (Somos el medio, 15 de noviembre de 2018)

CONVOCATORIA AL 13° ENCUENTRO NACIONAL DEL MAPDER (MAPDER, octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: XI National Meeting of the Mexican Movement of Those Affected by Dams and in Defense of Rivers (MAPDER) in Olintla, Puebla (September 15th, 2014)

Guerrero: national and international organizations visit prisoners of the CECOP and the CRAC-PC (October 10th, 2018)

Guerrero: 50 arrest warrants against members of CECOP (September 24th, 2018)

Guerrero : Detienen a otro integrante del Consejo de Ejidos y Comunidades Opositoras a La Parota (CECOP) en medio de presiones de fuerzas civiles armadas (September 5th, 2018)

Guerrero: Nine of 25 Detainees from Confrontation in La Concepción in January Released
(September 17th, 2018)

Guerrero / National: Nestora Salgado announces campaign for the freedom of political prisoners  (September 16th, 2018)

Guerrero : Cancelación definitiva de la Parota y libertad de presos, pide CECOP en su 15 aniversario (31 de julio de 2018)

Guerrero: Extrajudicial Executions and Arrests of Community Police and Members of CECOP  (January 22nd, 2018)