Article by PBI-Canada

On November 23, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project expressed concern about the eviction carried out by the National Guard of the Apatlaco blockade/camp that had been in place in opposition to the Morelos Integral Project (PIM).

The PIM (Proyecto Integral Morelos) is an energy megaproject that includes a gas and steam generating plant in Huexca, Morelos, a 171-kilometre gas pipeline that crosses three states (Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala), and a 12-kilometre long aqueduct.

The Apatlaco blockade had been set up four years ago to stop the aqueduct from being able to divert water from the Cuautla River.

Following that eviction, the People’s Front in Defense of Water and Land – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala posted: “[Mexican President] Lopez Obrador betrays the peasant and the promise of change of his government, to favour transnational corporations [including] Canadian miners like Alamos Gold, among others.”

Alamos Gold is a Toronto-based mining company.

Earlier this year, La Silla Rota reported that Alamos Gold had reactivated work on their Esperanza open-pit gold mine.

That mine is located near the communities of Tetlama and Cuentepec in the state of Morelos. It is also just 1.5 kilometres from the archaeological monuments zone of Xochicalco, which is considered a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

This past weekend, PBI-Mexico accompanied the People’s Front in Defense of Water and Land – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala at a march in opposition to the PIM.

Indigenous Náhuatl land defender Samir Flores Soberanes was a long-time opponent of the PIM and a member of the People’s Front in Defense of the Land and Water. We remember that he was killed on February 20, 2019 in the town of Amilcingo in Morelos.

The People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water (FPDTA) has described his murder as “a political crime for the human rights defense that Samir and the FPDTA carried out against the [project] and for people’s autonomy and self-determination.”

PBI-Mexico has noted that it is closely monitoring the situation with the PIM and keeping various national and international authorities informed.