Article by PBI-Canada

PBI-Mexico has posted: “Two years after the murder of human rights defender Samir Flores Soberanes, the Frente De Pueblos Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala calls for actions for life, against the mega projects and for Samir.”

Those actions include: “Friday, February 19: Demonstration at Calvary, Cuernavaca, 11 am; Saturday, February 20: Commemoration in the community of Amilcingo and dislocated actions in all geographies; and Sunday, February 21: National and International Meeting for Life, Water Defense, Coronavirus and Mega Projects in Huexca.”

Indigenous Náhuatl land and water defender Samir Flores Soberanes was a vocal opponent of the Integral Project for Morelos (Proyecto Integral Morelos).

On February 20, 2019, Flores was shot in his home in Amilcingo, Morelos and died later that day in the hospital. He was 30 years old.

Flores was a member of the People’s Front in Defence of the Land and Water of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA-MPT), which is now accompanied by PBI-Mexico.

The FPDTA-MPT described his murder as “a political crime for the human rights defense that Samir and the FPDTA carried out against the [Integral Project for Morelos] and for people’s autonomy and self-determination.”

The PIM megaproject consists of a 171-kilometre gas pipeline across the states of Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Morelos; a gas-fuelled thermoelectric plant in the town of Huexca, Morelos; and a 12-kilometer aqueduct to divert water from the Cuautla River to cool the turbines at the thermoelectric plant.

The megaproject being built by Italian and Spanish companies (including Seville, Spain-based Abengoa) could be operational by the end of this year.

Some have asked that the thermoelectric plant be converted into a solar panel factory.

#SamirFloresVive