April 11, 2006
Call for Cancellation of La Parota Hydroelectric Project in Mexico
On March 20, the Latin American Tribunal on Water (LAT) of the World Commission on Water called for the cancellation of the La Parota hydroelectric project in the state of Guerrero in Mexico. The Social Justice Committee invites you to contact the Mexican government requesting that it respect the Tribunal’s verdict and abandon plans for the dam.
The Consejo de Ejidos y Comunidades Opositores a la Presa la Parota (CECOP) brought their case before the LAT on Friday, March 17th. The Tribunal decided in favour of the communities, stating its support for the cancellation of the project and citing “no demonstrated benefits for the local population, nor any contribution to regional development or protection for the environment or natural resources.”
Background
The proposed dam would pool the waters of the Papagayo River, creating a huge reservoir intended to quench the thirst of nearby Acapulco. The dam would also provide part of the energy infrastructure to foreign and nationally-owned industries anxious to move into the area under the auspices of the Plan Puebla Panama. These development designs are in direct conflict with the expressed interest of the Indigenous people who would be dispossessed of their ancestral lands, or deprived of their livelihood on the Papagayo. Approximately 25 000 campesinos across thirteen communities are expected to be displaced by the waters retained by the 162m-high dam.
The project is already flooded with allegations of human rights violations, and construction hasn't even yet begun. Although the Federal Electricity Commission claims that communities have given a green light to the project, opponents in the communities of La Palma, Dos Arroyos, and Los Huajes, claim that they were denied entry to community assemblies, where the so-called consultations took place. Activist Marco Antonio Suastegui, who led the protests in Mexico City last week, was arrested and held for interrogation for 11 days in 2004 because of his anti-dam activities. Dam opponents Tomas Cruz Zamora, Miguel Angel Mesino and Eduardo Maya were assassinated; Tomas, on September 18th, 2005, after leaving a meeting of an anti-dam organizers in Agua Caliente, and Eduardo on January 29th, 2006. Miguel Angel was murdered by a group of men bearing AK-47's in downtown Atoyac in 2005. Other opponents have received death threats related to their stance against the project.
The Council of Ejidos and Communities in Opposition to the La Parota Dam (CECOP) has vowed that the roads to their communities "will remain closed" to any agents of the Federal Electricity Commission. We will defend our lands to the death", say the communities of southern Mexico who are fighting a proposed dam.
Plan Puebla Panama (PPP)
First introduced by President Vicente Fox of Mexico in 2001 and later joined by all Central American presidents, the PPP is a $10 billion, 10 to 25 year regional integration project to create and interconnect transportation routes, industrial corridors and a variety of infrastructure projects throughout southern Mexico and Central America. Multilateral banks, private industry and the Central American public are providing the capital, loans and resources to fund this project. Due to popular opposition, proponents of the PPP are much more circumspect in public referring to it; however the plan still exists.
Actions Requested
Write to the Mexican ambassador asking her to:
- Suspend plans to build the dam as per the recommendations of the Latin American Tribunal on Water;
- Investigate the murders of Tomas Cruz Zamora, Miguel Angel Mesino, and Eduardo Maya, and to bring to justice the assassins and the intellectual authors of the crimes,
- Investigate the charges of harassment and intimidation suffered by opponents of the La Parota dam, and bring to justice the perpetrators of these crimes,
- express your desire to see Canada lend its support for a fair and just resolution of the dispute around La Parota,
- ask that Canada abstain from supporting, in any manner, whether financial or diplomatic, any projects that are in violation of international human rights statutes, such as the UDHR or the ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous Peoples.
The Honourable Peter MacKay
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2
Ma. Teresa Garcia Segovia de Madero,
Mexican Ambassador to Canada,
45 O’Connor St., Suite 1000,
Ottawa, ON K1P 1A4