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Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 15:03:52 -0500 (CDT)
From: SIPAZ WEBADMIN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: En;[SIPAZ] New Alert At La Parota (Guerrero,May 2007
New Alert At La Parota (Guerrero, May 2007)
The hydroelectric dam project, La Parota, was developed by the Mexican
government more than 30 years ago. The dam would affect 21 communities,
including 17 communal ejido lands and 3 common lands (bienes comunales), and
becoming one of the largest in the entire world. It would flood 17,300
hectares of productive lands. More than 100,000 people would be affected by
the dam. According to the Human Rights Center Montaña Tlachinollán, more than
25,000 people would be displaced as their lands would be flooded (the Federal
Commission of Electricity, CFE, only recognizes that there would be 3,000
people directly affected.) Furthermore, the redirecting of the river would
deprive 75,000 people of their water, including rural workers that need it for
their crops (the Federal Commission of Electricity, CFE, didn't plan any
compensation for those indirectly affected.)(1)
According to the Center for Economic and Political Research and Community
Action (CIEPAC), the objective of the dam project is to provide energy to the
maquiladoras, to the large tourist centers, to the cities (primarily Acapulco)
and the mining industry, among others, and not to promote development and
attend the needs of the rural sector. It would also supply electricity to
the South of the United States and connect to the national and Central
American electric grid.
In recent years, the division and polarization that have arisen because of the
project have provoked a number of deaths, grave injuries and detentions.
Confrontations during assemblies have also provoked a number of injuries.
The Legal Battle since 2005
In 2005 various assemblies in communal ejido lands were carried out to
determine whether or not to permit the project from being carried out.
Nevertheless, in 4 communities where the rural workers had supposedly agreed
to the expropriation of their lands - Cacahuatepec, Los Huajes, La Palma and
Dos Arroyos - the decision was later challenged. The resolutions of 3 of them
are still pending, but the assembly in Cacahuatepec of March 27th 2007 was
recognized to be illegal. In a hurried manner, a new assembly was called in
Cacahuatepec on May 6th 2007, which SIPAZ attended as part of an observation
mission.
The activists of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposing La Parota
(CECOP) are demanding that a consultation process be carried out that includes
all of those affected by the project, and not only the ones that appear on the
voting rolls of the community assemblies, but also those in neighboring
communities and landholdings, and that they be provided with exact and
impartial information regarding the impact of the dam and that all of those
affected be compensated. In the framework of the demands to nullify the 4
supposedly irregular assemblies, various resolutions were enacted in favor of
CECOP in September of 2006, preventing the CFE and any other state or federal
authority from entering the lands of those 4 communities to carry out any work
relating to the hydroelectric project as long as the respective legal
processes have not been finalized. In spite of this, the first highways are
being constructed in the zones where the possible dam construction !
is foreseen.
Various actors strongly criticized the ejido assemblies founded by the state
and federal governments, denouncing that it amounted to a mechanism for the
imposition of the hydroelectric project and not a true mechanism of
consultation in violation of the Agrarian Law.
Reactions by International Organizations
In March of 2006, the CECOP presented their case before the Latin American
Water Tribunal (TLA), which judged against the construction of the dam project
and recommended its suspension. Various instances of the United Nations have
demonstrated their preoccupation and have denounced irregularities in the
project. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, the Special Rapporteur for the Situation of
Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties of Indigenous People, denounced the
"abuses and violations of the indigenous rural workers in the state of
Guerrero opposed to the construction of the dam La Parota in their
territories, which the State insists and carrying out without the free will of
the population."
In May of 2006, the Committee for the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of
the United Nations, declared their preoccupation before the lack of
consultation of the indigenous communities, as well as the environmental
deterioration that would result from the project. In the beginning of March,
Mexico's representative to the United Nations High Commission of Human Rights,
Amerigo Incalcaterra, visited the territories of La Parota to meet with the
affected population in the communities of Garrapatas and Tasajeras, affirming
the lack of information and transparent consultation in this project.
Since 2004, Amnesty International has been documenting the violence surrounded
in the La Parota dam project, particularly the homicides of three people and
the injuries and death threats of a local activist. The organization does not
have any knowledge that any progress has been made in official investigations
about these incidents.
On May 2nd 2007, Amnesty International declared that they "feared for the
security" of the members of the CECOP, and that their lives "may be in danger"
because of their resistance to the dam project promoted by the government. It
questions in advance the consultation that was just realized in Cacahuatepec
on May 6th and foresees violent actions towards those opposing the project.
Talchinollán
^^^TOP
Press Release from the Civil Observation Mission
to the Assembly on La Parota, May 6th, 2007-05-12
ANTECEDENTS
The Civil Observation Mission to "La Parota", a collective made up of 36
people from 16 organizations, national and international networks, was present
in the zone affected by the construction of the "La Parota" dam on the 5th
and 6th of May and wishes to express publicly observations from the assembly:
According to the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposing "La Parota"
(CECOP), the agrarian assembly convened for this May 6th in San Juan Grande, in
the Municipality of Acapulco, had the objective of legitimizing the
expropriation of communal lands in order to begin construction of the
hydroelectric 'mega-project' "La Parota". This assembly was another attempt of
that which was carried out in San Marcos on August 23, 2005, which was
recently annulled (March 27, 2007) by the United Agrarian Tribunal in favor of
the opposition.
Before this assembly and the possible repression or provocation by the
authorities, we are carrying out this civil observation mission in order to
verify the proceedings of this agrarian assembly. The mission comes as an
answer to the national and international alerts put out by the CECOP and was
set in motion by 47 organizations from civil society, national and
international networks.
OBSERVATIONS
The civil mission observed the following:
1.- To begin, it should be pointed out that this is an assembly whose
convening is irregular for the following reasons:
First, through various testimonies from different communal authorities, we
were informed that the call for the assembly was not posted in the most
visible places of the common lands (bienes comunales) as demanded by article
25 of the Agrarian Law.
Second, that the assembly was convened in a different place than that
recognized by the traditional laws (usos y costumbres) of the inhabitants of
communal lands. These are traditionally carried out in the municipal seat of
the common lands of Cacahuatepec.
2.- As far as the assembly itself we state the following:
The table was not set up because the Commissioner did not bring the official
rolls containing the names of inhabitants of communal lands, contrary to the
indications of the Agrarian Law.
Nevertheless the agrarian authority asked that the registration begin and only
two people signed in without any identification or document accrediting them
as inhabitants of communal lands.
Immediately after, the Commissioner, without having passed the roll, suspended
the Assembly saying that there was not sufficient quorum, with only 543
inhabitants of communal lands - a number impossible to corroborate since the
rolls were never passed.
Fifteen minutes after having arrived, the officials left, and on their way out
signed and posted a call for a second assembly, apparently planned beforehand.
The proof lies in the fact that in the call for the second assembly, the
annulment of the first assembly is justified by the "violent events". Here it
is important to point out that, in the entire process, there was not any
violence nor attempted physical aggression by the present groups, as shown in
the photographs, videos and testimonies collected by the Civil Observation
Mission. That represents a contradiction with the arguments of the
Commissioner to nullify the assembly.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The mission considers that assemblies of this nature do not constitute an
adequate mechanism of consultation as determined by agreement 169 of the
OIT, since according to the information we have there are 43,000
inhabitants of the common lands of Cacahuatepec, and the lists only
register 7,280; because of this it is clear that these assemblies exclude
the majority of the affected population.
It is stated that the assembly was irregular for the aforementioned
reasons.
The Civil Observation Mission expresses its concern that the assembly was
not organized in good spirit and that it could have the objective of
tiring the movement opposing the dam, criminalize it and in this form
justify the possible use of violence and repression. Furthermore, with
this, the presence of public forces is justified in future assemblies in
order to impose the project.
It worries us that with the annulment of the communal assembly, the
ensuing assemblies will require a lower quorum in order to be valid,
something that could be used as a strategy by the authorities to
facilitate the imposition of the project.
We restate that there was no violence by any participating party, and
that the opposition movement has continued its peaceful and legal
struggle to defend their rights as people.
We view with concern that behind the false claims of violence by the
opposition that harassment, threats and repression could be justified by
the authorities.
We ask all of the communities affected by the construction of the
hydroelectric dam project "La Parota" be guaranteed complete, exact and
impartial information about the project and the available compensations,
and that the opposition not suffer threats and intimidation as well as
carry out legitimate protests against the construction of the dam.
Also the fulfillment of the international treaties and agreements on
human rights signed and ratified by Mexico.
We recommend that the upcoming assemblies be public, as laid out in the
Agrarian Law, allowing national and international civil society to
observe the proceedings.
The observation mission is concerned that communal assemblies carried out
in this manner may be a factor leading to intercommunal violence and
confrontations in the upcoming assemblies between the opposition and
those in favor.
The civil mission commits to continue with this project for the next
assembly on May 20th, and makes a strong call to public opinion and civil
society more generally to remain alert and aware of the situation arising
from the imposition of the hydroelectric project "La Parota".
Civil Observation Mission: Espacio por los derechos Económicos, Sociales y
Culturales, Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz (SERAPAZ), Amnistía Internacional
– Sección Canada, Servicio Internacional para la Paz (SIPAZ), Red de
organismos civiles de Derechos humanos “Todos los derechos para Todos y
Todas”, Liga Mexicana de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (LIMEDDH),
Centro Ollin Mexica, Centro de Estudios Sociales y Culturales Antonio de
Montesinos (CAM), ADHEM, Food First International Action network ofna. México
(FIAN), RADAR, Red Género y Comercio (REDGE), Calpulli Tlatoani, Unión Popular
Revolucionaria Emiliano Zapata (UPREZ), Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos
Desaparecidos y Victimas de Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos en México
(AFADEM), Hijas de la Caridad de San Vicente de Paul, Álvaro Urreta (comunero
de Tlanepantla, Morelos), Paulina Fernández (Investigadora y académica de la
UNAM).
^^^TOP
(© LA JORNADA - Javier Verdín)
SIPAZ.ORG - CR SIPAZ 1995 / 2007
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<style type"text/css"> </style> <style type"text/css"> </style>
New Alert At La Parota (Guerrero, May 2007)
The hydroelectric dam project, La Parota, was developed by the Mexican
government more than 30 years ago. The dam would affect 21 communities,
including 17 communal ejido lands and 3 common lands (bienes comunales), and
becoming one of the largest in the entire world. It would flood 17,300
hectares of productive lands. More than 100,000 people would be affected by
the dam. According to the Human Rights Center Montaña Tlachinollán, more than
25,000 people would be displaced as their lands would be flooded (the Federal
Commission of Electricity, CFE, only recognizes that there would be 3,000
people directly affected.) Furthermore, the redirecting of the river would
deprive 75,000 people of their water, including rural workers that need it for
their crops (the Federal Commission of Electricity, CFE, didn't plan any
compensation for those indirectly affected.)(1) (#1)
According to the Center for Economic and Political Research and Community
Action (CIEPAC), the objective of the dam project is to provide energy to the
maquiladoras, to the large tourist centers, to the cities (primarily Acapulco)
and the mining industry, among others, and not to promote development and
attend the needs of the rural sector. It would also supply electricity to the
South of the United States and connect to the national and Central American
electric grid.
In recent years, the division and polarization that have arisen because of the
project have provoked a number of deaths, grave injuries and detentions.
Confrontations during assemblies have also provoked a number of injuries.
The Legal Battle since 2005
In 2005 various assemblies in communal ejido lands were carried out to
determine whether or not to permit the project from being carried out.
Nevertheless, in 4 communities where the rural workers had supposedly agreed to
the expropriation of their lands - Cacahuatepec, Los Huajes, La Palma and Dos
Arroyos - the decision was later challenged. The resolutions of 3 of them are
still pending, but the assembly in Cacahuatepec of March 27th 2007 was
recognized to be illegal. In a hurried manner, a new assembly was called in
Cacahuatepec on May 6th 2007, which SIPAZ attended as part of an observation
mission (#boletin) .
The activists of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposing La Parota
(CECOP) are demanding that a consultation process be carried out that includes
all of those affected by the project, and not only the ones that appear on the
voting rolls of the community assemblies, but also those in neighboring
communities and landholdings, and that they be provided with exact and
impartial information regarding the impact of the dam and that all of those
affected be compensated. In the framework of the demands to nullify the 4
supposedly irregular assemblies, various resolutions were enacted in favor of
CECOP in September of 2006, preventing the CFE and any other state or federal
authority from entering the lands of those 4 communities to carry out any work
relating to the hydroelectric project as long as the respective legal processes
have not been finalized. In spite of this, the first highways are being
constructed in the zones where the possible dam construction is foreseen.
Various actors strongly criticized the ejido assemblies founded by the state
and federal governments, denouncing that it amounted to a mechanism for the
imposition of the hydroelectric project and not a true mechanism of
consultation in violation of the Agrarian Law.
Reactions by International Organizations
In March of 2006, the CECOP presented their case before the Latin American
Water Tribunal (TLA), which judged against the construction of the dam project
and recommended its suspension. Various instances of the United Nations have
demonstrated their preoccupation and have denounced irregularities in the
project. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, the Special Rapporteur for the Situation of
Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties of Indigenous People, denounced the
"abuses and violations of the indigenous rural workers in the state of Guerrero
opposed to the construction of the dam La Parota in their territories, which
the State insists and carrying out without the free will of the population."
In May of 2006, the Committee for the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of
the United Nations, declared their preoccupation before the lack of
consultation of the indigenous communities, as well as the environmental
deterioration that would result from the project. In the beginning of March,
Mexico's representative to the United Nations High Commission of Human Rights,
Amerigo Incalcaterra, visited the territories of La Parota to meet with the
affected population in the communities of Garrapatas and Tasajeras, affirming
the lack of information and transparent consultation in this project.
Since 2004, Amnesty International has been documenting the violence surrounded
in the La Parota dam project, particularly the homicides of three people and
the injuries and death threats of a local activist. The organization does not
have any knowledge that any progress has been made in official investigations
about these incidents.
On May 2nd 2007, Amnesty International declared that they "feared for the
security" of the members of the CECOP, and that their lives "may be in danger"
because of their resistance to the dam project promoted by the government. It
questions in advance the consultation that was just realized in Cacahuatepec on
May 6th and foresees violent actions towards those opposing the project.
1 Talchinollán (#V1)
^^^TOP (#ARRIBA)
Press Release from the Civil Observation Mission
to the Assembly on La Parota, May 6th, 2007-05-12
ANTECEDENTS
The Civil Observation Mission to "La Parota", a collective made up of 36 people
from 16 organizations, national and international networks, was present in the
zone affected by the construction of the "La Parota" dam on the 5th and 6th of
May and wishes to express publicly observations from the assembly:
According to the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposing "La Parota"
(CECOP), the agrarian assembly convened for this May 6th in San Juan Grande, in
the Municipality of Acapulco, had the objective of legitimizing the
expropriation of communal lands in order to begin construction of the
hydroelectric 'mega-project' "La Parota". This assembly was another attempt of
that which was carried out in San Marcos on August 23, 2005, which was recently
annulled (March 27, 2007) by the United Agrarian Tribunal in favor of the
opposition.
Before this assembly and the possible repression or provocation by the
authorities, we are carrying out this civil observation mission in order to
verify the proceedings of this agrarian assembly. The mission comes as an
answer to the national and international alerts put out by the CECOP and was
set in motion by 47 organizations from civil society, national and
international networks.
OBSERVATIONS
The civil mission observed the following:
1.- To begin, it should be pointed out that this is an assembly whose convening
is irregular for the following reasons:
First, through various testimonies from different communal authorities, we were
informed that the call for the assembly was not posted in the most visible
places of the common lands (bienes comunales) as demanded by article 25 of the
Agrarian Law.
Second, that the assembly was convened in a different place than that
recognized by the traditional laws (usos y costumbres) of the inhabitants of
communal lands. These are traditionally carried out in the municipal seat of
the common lands of Cacahuatepec.
2.- As far as the assembly itself we state the following:
The table was not set up because the Commissioner did not bring the official
rolls containing the names of inhabitants of communal lands, contrary to the
indications of the Agrarian Law.
Nevertheless the agrarian authority asked that the registration begin and only
two people signed in without any identification or document accrediting them as
inhabitants of communal lands.
Immediately after, the Commissioner, without having passed the roll, suspended
the Assembly saying that there was not sufficient quorum, with only 543
inhabitants of communal lands - a number impossible to corroborate since the
rolls were never passed.
Fifteen minutes after having arrived, the officials left, and on their way out
signed and posted a call for a second assembly, apparently planned beforehand.
The proof lies in the fact that in the call for the second assembly, the
annulment of the first assembly is justified by the "violent events". Here it
is important to point out that, in the entire process, there was not any
violence nor attempted physical aggression by the present groups, as shown in
the photographs, videos and testimonies collected by the Civil Observation
Mission. That represents a contradiction with the arguments of the
Commissioner to nullify the assembly.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
* .1 The mission considers that assemblies of this nature do not constitute an
adequate mechanism of consultation as determined by agreement 169 of the OIT,
since according to the information we have there are 43,000 inhabitants of the
common lands of Cacahuatepec, and the lists only register 7,280; because of
this it is clear that these assemblies exclude the majority of the affected
population.
* .2 It is stated that the assembly was irregular for the aforementioned
reasons.
* .3 The Civil Observation Mission expresses its concern that the assembly was
not organized in good spirit and that it could have the objective of tiring the
movement opposing the dam, criminalize it and in this form justify the possible
use of violence and repression. Furthermore, with this, the presence of public
forces is justified in future assemblies in order to impose the project.
* .4 It worries us that with the annulment of the communal assembly, the
ensuing assemblies will require a lower quorum in order to be valid, something
that could be used as a strategy by the authorities to facilitate the
imposition of the project.
* .5 We restate that there was no violence by any participating party, and
that the opposition movement has continued its peaceful and legal struggle to
defend their rights as people.
* .6 We view with concern that behind the false claims of violence by the
opposition that harassment, threats and repression could be justified by the
authorities.
* .7 We ask all of the communities affected by the construction of the
hydroelectric dam project "La Parota" be guaranteed complete, exact and
impartial information about the project and the available compensations, and
that the opposition not suffer threats and intimidation as well as carry out
legitimate protests against the construction of the dam. Also the fulfillment
of the international treaties and agreements on human rights signed and
ratified by Mexico.
* .8 We recommend that the upcoming assemblies be public, as laid out in the
Agrarian Law, allowing national and international civil society to observe the
proceedings.
* .9 The observation mission is concerned that communal assemblies carried out
in this manner may be a factor leading to intercommunal violence and
confrontations in the upcoming assemblies between the opposition and those in
favor.
* .10 The civil mission commits to continue with this project for the next
assembly on May 20th, and makes a strong call to public opinion and civil
society more generally to remain alert and aware of the situation arising from
the imposition of the hydroelectric project "La Parota".
Civil Observation Mission: Espacio por los derechos Económicos, Sociales y
Culturales, Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz (SERAPAZ), Amnistía Internacional
– Sección Canada, Servicio Internacional para la Paz (SIPAZ), Red de
organismos civiles de Derechos humanos “Todos los derechos para Todos y
Todas”, Liga Mexicana de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (LIMEDDH),
Centro Ollin Mexica, Centro de Estudios Sociales y Culturales Antonio de
Montesinos (CAM), ADHEM, Food First International Action network ofna. México
(FIAN), RADAR, Red Género y Comercio (REDGE), Calpulli Tlatoani, Unión Popular
Revolucionaria Emiliano Zapata (UPREZ), Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos
Desaparecidos y Victimas de Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos en México
(AFADEM), Hijas de la Caridad de San Vicente de Paul, Álvaro Urreta (comunero
de Tlanepantla, Morelos), Paulina Fernández (Investigadora y académica de la
UNAM).
^^^TOP (#ARRIBA)
(© LA JORNADA - Javier Verdín)
SIPAZ.ORG (http://www.sipaz.org) - CR SIPAZ 1995/ 2007
------_NextPart_149431401613678195041998--
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