PBI-Mexico accompanied lawyer María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz interviewed by El Pais, speaks about avocados and mining

Published by Brent Patterson on October 25, 2024October 25, 2024

Photo: “María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz, indigenous Purépecha activist from Michoacán, in Madrid Río on 26 September.” Photo by Mario Bermudo.

María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz is an Indigenous Purhépecha lawyer and member of the Human Rights Solidarity Network (Red Solidaria DH), an organization accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project.

El Pais reports: “The indigenous peoples [in the state] of Michoacán have faced collusion between companies, organized crime and the government, according to the organization Peace Brigades International (PBI), organizer of the meeting in Madrid in which this defender participated.”

Avocados

Gabriel told El Pais: “[Drug traffickers] brought drugs into the community and opened the spaces, at that time, to the cutting of forests, to traffic wood. At the same time, the territories were being occupied with the planting of avocados. …We began to make this problem visible, and when they saw that we were touching their interests, they went against us.”

The article continues: “Gabriel estimates that 50% of the territory of [the town/locality of] Comachuén is in the hands of avocado growers, and a large part of these orchards are not registered. She calls the fruit the green gold or avocado of blood, because of the violence that has been brewing around it.”

El Pais also notes: “Mexico provides four out of every five avocados consumed in the United States — most of them come from [the states of] Michoacán and Jalisco — according to a report by Climate Rights International published in 2023.”

Just prior to the Canadian Produce Market Association (CPMA) show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in April 2022, the marketing organization Avocados From Mexico (AFM), whose “parent organizations” are the Association of Avocado Exporting Producers and Packers of Mexico (APEAM) and the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association (MHAIA), highlighted that: “With 95% of the market share, Canada is the second market in terms of export for Avocados From Mexico, after the US.”

Mining

El Pais further reports: “Mexico has become the fourth most dangerous country for the defense of land and territory, according to a report published a month ago by Global Witness. And Michoacán has become the deadliest Mexican territory, with eight murders recorded in 2023. Most of the victims were fighting against mining.” The article then highlights: “14.61% of the state’s surface is exploited by 12 national and six foreign mining companies, according to official figures from 2018.”

That official report (on pages 24-25) lists addresses in Canada for five of the six foreign mining companies operating in Michoacán: Catalyst Cooper Corp., Terra Nova Gold Corp., Fischer Watt Gold Company Inc., Rome Resources LTD-IMMSA and Candente Gold Corp., all of which are identified in the report as companies based in Canada. The sixth foreign company listed, Silver Shield  Resources Corp, is also Canadian.

Gabriel says: “All the benefits they have in the Global North are produced on the misfortune of indigenous communities. All the violence, the blood that is generated, the dispossession and displacement are part of a global strategy. [The dispute over the looting, dispossession and control of territory is a] continuation of the invasion of 500 years ago.”

The full article can be read at “Me odiaron por ser mujer y decidir”: María Eugenia Gabriel, la indígena que lideró la libre determinación de su pueblo y se enfrentó al poder (by El Pais, October 24, 2024).