A nonviolent protest on March 15 at Fortuna Silver´s Trinidad/Cuzcatlán mine in San José del Progreso turned tense, when pro-mine groups surrounded and fired shots toward local community activists, national and international human rights observers and journalists in this small Zapotec town in Oaxaca, Mexico.
More than 500 people from 12 countries traveled the sinuous mountain road from Oaxaca, México to the small Zapotec community of Capulálpam de Méndez to attend the “Yes to Life, No to Mining” Forum of Mesoamerican Peoples. Community activists and indigenous leaders shared experiences of resistance, and developed strategies for defending their territories against the onslaught of ongoing and planned mega-mining projects that threaten their communities.
On the evening of June 16, a red Dodge Ram pickup truck drove by spraying two anti-mining activists with bullets. They survived but two leaders of the Coalition of United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley (CPUVO), which opposes the Canadian Fortuna Silver mine in Oaxaca, were killed in similar incidents. Why the mounting violence?
[ printer-friendly PDF version ] Rhetoric indicates growing awareness of grassroots resistance Regional Leaders Gather in Merida to Advance PPP by Jonathan Treat | July 24, 2002 When the presidents of the seven Central American countries and Mexico met June 28 and 29 to discuss concrete ways that their Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP) can further Meso-America’s [...]
[ printer-friendly PDF version ] Power companies confront power of the people. Baja Energy and Environment Update by Jonathan Treat | May 2, 2002 Several large power companies looking to profit from the growing demand for energy in California and northwest Mexico are vying to build natural gas facilities and electric plants in Baja California. [...]
[ printer-friendly PDF version ] NAFTA commission findings confirm border toxic waste a threat but offers no remedies. Update on Metales y Derivados by Jonathan Treat | May 2, 2002 After years of protests, pleas and litigation over tons of toxic waste lying abandoned in Tijuana, Mexico at the Metales y Derivados lead smelting plant, [...]
[ printer-friendly PDF version ] c o m m e n t a r y A New, Improved U.S.-Mexican Border? ‘Smart Border’ to ‘Weed Out’ Terrorists, Offers Frequent-Crosser Plan Among the binational accords announced by the U.S. and Mexican presidents at their most recent summit March 22, the “Smart Border” plan represents the only scrap [...]
