PBI-Mexico accompanied People’s Front marks the 2nd anniversary of the death of Samir Flores

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 action 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 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 defence 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-kilometre 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.

The FPDTA-MPT has stated: “Lopez Obrador [supporting the PIM] betrays the peasant and the promise of change of his government, to favour transnational corporations [including] Canadian miners like Alamos Gold, among others.”

Last year, Toronto-based Alamos Gold reactivated work on their Esperanza open-pit gold mine near the community of Tetlama (about 60 kilometres due west of Huexca). Mines can be energy-intensive and could use electricity generated by the plant.

#SamirFloresVive