Photo: PBI-Mexico accompanied the National Meeting of Struggles against Gas Pipelines and Death Projects, January 2022.
As noted in this statement signed by multiple organizations, the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA-PMT) has endorsed the call for a Continental Meeting building an alliance against gas pipelines and other megaprojects in defence of the territories of Indigenous peoples.
The statement highlights: “Since 2001 we have maintained an intense mobilization to contain the impacts of the construction and modernization works of thermoelectric plants, wind farms, gas pipelines, high-voltage power lines, highways, landfills, railways and industrial parks. Large American, Canadian, Italian, Danish, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese and Taiwanese corporations are directly involved in these projects.”
The objectives of the Continental Meeting include to “create meeting spaces between organizations from Mexico, Canada, and the United States, which allow us to exchange information about our struggles and share experiences on the defense of our territories” and to “strengthen the resistance of the peoples of North America, South America and Mesoamerica to the projects of death.”
It is likely that the pipelines being constructed by Canadian transnational corporations will be discussed. The statement notes: “From Tuxpan, Transcanadian Corporation is currently building the Puerta al Sureste gas pipeline, which seeks to transport gas to the ports of Veracruz and Coatzacoalcos.”
The TC Energy Southeast Gateway (aka Puerta al Sureste) pipeline has been controversial. In February 2023, La Jornada Veracruz reported that campesina, Indigenous peoples and environmental groups protested in Sierra de Santa Marta against this pipeline “to demand an end to the criminalization and persecution of their leaders. …The activists [also expressed concern that] a great campaign has been deployed to militarize the towns that are within the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT).”
The Continental Meeting will take place Thursday October 10 to Saturday October 12 on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico.
For more on this, please see CONVOCATORIA AL ENCUENTRO CONTINENTAL CONSTRUYENDO UNA ALIANZA CONTRA GASODUCTOS Y OTROS MEGAPROYECTOS EN DEFENSA DE LOS TERRITORIOS DE PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS (El Congreso Nacional Indígena, July 26, 2024).
