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PBI-Honduras visits Museum Against Forgetting/Oblivion in Amarateca used as torture centre in the 1980s

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Honduras has posted: “Yesterday [June 5] we visited the Museum Against Forgetting in Amarateca, located in a property used as a torture center during the National Security Doctrine in the 1980s, redefining it as a space for memory and reflection. From PBI, we highlight the work of the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras [COFADEH] to reclaim the memory of the victims of human rights violations, especially the crimes of torture and forced disappearance.”

On December 9, 2023, Defensoresenlinea.com posted: “The opening of the first phase of the Museum Against Oblivion, in the Amarateca Valley, Francisco Morazán, by the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), constitutes a space for reflection, analysis and learning of the historical memory of the disappeared and murdered political detainees of the decade of the 80s.”

That article further notes: “One of the survivors of persecution and torture during the time of state terrorism in Honduras was the leader of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) of the municipal directorate and General Coordinator of the Honduran Communal Movement, Jesús Chávez. Chávez described the opening of the Museum Against Oblivion as an extraordinary action and of great recognition to the heroes and martyrs fallen, kidnapped and tortured by the Honduran Armed Forces (FFAA) and by the 3-16 battalion.”

At the opening of the Museum, COFADEH general coordinator Berta Oliva commented: “This is a place of memory, it is a meeting place, a place of life. Memory is not a word, memory is resistance, memory is teaching, memory is continuity.”

Canada and Honduras, 1980-92

Lawyers Without Borders Canada has noted: “Honduras is sometimes forgotten when it comes to enforced disappearances, since the country was not as badly affected as other Latin American countries, such as its neighbors Guatemala and El Salvador. However, at least 184 people were victims of enforced disappearance during the implementation of the national security doctrine in the 1980s.”

During the period that the house in Amarateca was being used to torture people, Joe Clark (June 1979 to March 1980) and then Pierre Trudeau (March 1980 to June 1984), John Turner (June to September 1984) and Brian Mulroney (September 1984 to June 1993) were the prime ministers of Canada.

Toronto-based academic Tyler Shipley has written: “Between 1980 and 1992, the US spent some $1.6 billon in military and economic aid to Honduras, intended to establish the apparatus of repression, buttress the institutions of political power, and infiltrate and co-opt the civil society organizations that were best positioned to harness social unrest.”

In 1983, UPI reported: “Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau told a group of about 700 college students [in Toronto] he could not do anything about U.S. foreign policy towards Central America [including Honduras]… Trudeau said that as a major world power the United States was trying to protect its own interests.”

Global Affairs Canada has noted: “The El Mochito mine became Canada’s first formal mining interest in Honduras when purchased by a Canadian listed company, American Pacific Mining, in September 1987. Breakwater Resources, another Canadian company, acquired the company and the property in March 1990. In the early 1990s, a series of Canadian junior exploration companies, including Breakwater were able to acquire exploration licenses throughout the country.”

Amnesty International has also documented that journalist José Eduardo Lopez was forcibly disappeared in Honduras on December 24, 1984. They highlight: “In 1981 he was detained for five days and tortured. On his release he received death threats and in 1982 he fled to the United States where he applied for refugee status in Canada. In 1984 [just months before he was disappeared] the Canadian authorities rejected his application stating that José Eduardo López had not demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution.”

Photo: José Eduardo López.

In December 1987, Maclean’s magazine reported: “[Canadian Foreign Affairs minister Joe Clark] announced an additional $13 million in aid to Honduras, which has not yet dismantled its contra base camps or cut supply flights to the rebels [fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua].”

A fuller recounting of Canadian foreign policy towards Honduras during the 1980 to 1992 period is needed to preserve the political memory of that period in which the house visited by PBI-Honduras was used to torture people.

COFADEH

Lawyers Without Borders Canada has noted: “The Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH) was founded in 1982 by the relatives of victims of enforced disappearances in the 1980s and 1990s with the aim of tracing their family members and obtaining justice for these crimes.”

PBI-Honduras has a longstanding relationship with COFAEDH.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula to socialize Observatory of Extractive Industries research

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“On Saturday [May 18], #PBI accompanied the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula in activities to socialize the findings of a research work conducted in conjunction with the OIE – Observatory of Extractive Industries (OIE).

A video was projected about the impacts of antimony mining exploitation in the Los Manantiales Quarry, the historical struggle of the Ch’orti’ people against it and the irregularities in the granting of the license. 

Afterwards, they took a walk through one of the communal lands.”

The Observatory of Extractive Industries (OIE) is a research platform dedicated to providing data on mining companies and other extractive industries in Guatemala.

PBI-Guatemala has previously highlighted: “The communities of Olopa are confronting the company American Minerals S.A., which was granted a 25-year antimony extraction license in 2012, without prior consultation with the communities. In 2016, when mining activities began, the communities became aware of the negative impacts of these activities on water and the environment, and demanded the closure of the project.”

The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) has also highlighted: “A study conducted by the Observatorio de Industrias Extractivas [Extractive Industries Observatory / OIE] in the Maya Ch’orti Indigenous territory revealed that extractive activities have exacerbated the precarious socioeconomic conditions and vulnerability of the La Prensa, El Amatillo, El Carrizal, El Cerrón, La Cumbre and El Paternito communities in Olopa municipality, Chiquimula department, near the Cantera Los Manantiales mine. There has been a perceived increase in disease, social division, community violence, shortages of water, reduced agricultural production and further environmental degradation.”

Page 53 of that OIE report notes: “As explained by Birn et al. (2018) in their case study on Canadian mining-related ill-health in Latin America, it was found that while a few people were employed by the mine, the vast majority experienced increased poverty. The mine provided very few jobs few jobs, with only a few people from the nearest communities gained temporary employment, usually as guards.”

PBI-Guatemala has noted that the Indigenous [Maya Ch’orti’] Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque is also resisting Minerales Sierra Pacifico S.A. (a subsidiary of Vancouver, Canada-based Gold Group Management Inc.), a company has five exploration licenses for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc.

The community of San Francisco, Quezaltepeque is situated about 20 kilometres south-west of Olopa, Chiquimula.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula since June 2021.

PBI-Guatemala seeks new field volunteers, deadline to apply is June 28

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Mayan Indigenous Council Ch’orti’ of Olopa Chiquimula in activities to socialize the findings of a research work carried out in conjunction with the Observatory of Extractive Industries (OIE).

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project is seeking new field volunteers.

Key dates in this process include:

June 28 – deadline to apply

November 17-23 – face-to-face training in Spain

Further information about the application process can be found on the PBI-Guatemala website here.

Social media image for volunteer call-out.

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has also extended its call-out for applications to June 9 (from the previous deadline of June 3). For more information on that application process, click here.

PBI-Canada: Canada exported military goods and technology to countries where 232 HRDs were killed in 2023/24

By
Brent Patterson
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On May 31, Global Affairs Canada released its 2023 Exports of Military goods and technology report.

If one looks at the list on pages 22-24 of that report of the non-US countries that Canada exported these goods and technology to and then compares that with the list of countries where Front Line Defenders documented the killing of human rights defenders (HRDs), one would find that Canada exported these goods and technology to 10 countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Thailand and Ukraine) where 232 HRDs were killed in 2023/24.

Furthermore, the Global Affairs Canada report notes that $30,641,495.83 in military goods and technology was exported to Israel. Front Line Defenders notes that 9 HRDs were killed in Palestine highlighting: “The impact on HRDs [in Gaza], as on the population at large, has been devastating. Those defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”

Additionally, if one were also to cross-reference the Global Affairs Canada list with the recent report by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) on attacks against HRDs challenging corporate harm, one would find that Canada exported to 9 of those countries with the highest rates of attacks against HRDs (Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, United Kingdom and United States).

Deeper research is needed to determine if any of “the military goods and technology” exported by Canada was used by the police, armed forces or security forces implicated in these attacks against human rights defenders.

In May 2018, journalist David Pugliese reported in the National Post: “The Canadian Commercial Corporation [the Ottawa-based Crown corporation that helps Canadian exporters get contracts with foreign governments] acknowledges it conducts no follow-up to ensure exported Canadian-built equipment isn’t being used to abuse human rights.”

When concerns were raised in June 2021 about the potential use of Canadian-made military equipment against the national strike protests in Colombia, Radio Canada International reported: “When asked about allegations regarding the use of Canadian military materiel in repressive acts against civilians in Colombia, [Global Affairs Canada spokesperson] Jason Jung told us that at the beginning of the unrest in that country, Canada’s Ministry of Global Affairs contacted the responsible Colombian authorities, who confirmed that Colombian law enforcement ‘is not using Canadian armored vehicles’ to intervene in that context.”

At that time, Jung also told Radio Canada International: “Canada is monitoring developments in Colombia and will take appropriate action if credible evidence of the inappropriate use of any controlled Canadian product or technology is identified, including to perpetrate or facilitate serious violations of international human rights law.”

In December 2023, Alex Cosh of The Maple reported: “Documents obtained by Amnesty International Canada through an access to information (ATIP) request and shared with The Maple show that Global Affairs Canada (GAC) authorized new exports of military goods to Peru valued at $960,000 for a three-year period starting on February 6 this year. At that time, Peruvian security forces were engaged in a particularly violent period of crackdowns against protesters, who were demonstrating against the government of President Dina Boluarte and calling for new elections. The crackdown prompted Amnesty International to call for Canada to suspend military exports to Peru.”

The just-released Global Affairs Canada report shows that Canada exported $1,844,576.86 in military goods and technology to Peru in 2023.

The majority ($1,837,676.86) of those exports are reportedly in the Export Control List (ECL) category 2-14 which refers to: “Specialised equipment for military training or for simulating military scenarios, simulators specially designed for training in the use of any firearm or weapon specified by 2-1 [Smooth-bore weapons with a calibre of less than 20 mm, other arms and automatic weapons with a calibre of 12.7 mm (calibre 0.50 inches) or less and accessories, and specially designed components therefor] or 2-2 [Smooth-bore weapons with a calibre of 20 mm or more, other weapons or armament with a calibre greater than 12.7 mm (calibre 0.50 inches), projectors and accessories, and specially designed components therefor], and specially designed components and accessories therefor.”

Given the seeming onus on organizations, defenders and communities to provide “credible evidence” of violations committed using Canadian-made military goods and technology, PBI-Canada remains attentive to these concerns, particularly in Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico given the PBI field projects that support human rights defenders.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Chinautla and Retalhuleu communities at anti-Monsanto Law food festival

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“Yesterday [May 29] #PBIacompanies the Multisectoral of Chinautla and the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) in a gastronomic festival for the second anniversary of the delivery of the initiative 6086 (law of Biodiversity and Ancestral Knowledge) and against the so-called Monsanto law, all celebrated at the door of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala.

The first article of the initiative states: the objective of this law is to guarantee the respect, recognition, conversation and protection of indigenous and peasant ancestral knowledge and practices, as well as the biological diversity in their territories, their ecological balance and convenience with the people, peoples, indigenous and peasant communities.

This festival brought together ancestral authorities and organizations from most of the country, with the REDSAG [the National Network for the Defense of Food Sovereignty in Guatemala] with the objective of exhibiting different typical dishes of the national geography, made free of pesticides, chemicals and GMOs [genetically modified organisms].”

The Ministry of Agriculture in Guatemala (MAGA) approved field trials for genetically modified (GMO) crops in 2004. In 2006, MAGA approved commercial production for export purposes. The Monsanto Law was approved in June 2014 but repealed in September 2014 after ten days of widespread street protests. In September 2023, EFE reported: “Dozens of Guatemalan small farmers protested on Wednesday against the possible approval of a bill they call the ‘Monsanto Law’, an initiative that, according to them, threatens the ‘ancestral heritage of indigenous seeds, corn and other foods.’”

In October 2022, Shado Magazine reported:

“REDSAG’s most recent initiative to defend their biodiversity, as well their ancestral knowledge, is through proposing a new law at a national level called the ‘Initiative 6086, the Biodiversity and Ancestral Knowledge Law. 

As stated in REDSAG’s communique: The proposed law seeks to defend biodiversity and ancestral knowledge from the extractive model, looting, plundering by companies and corrupt politicians; it also states that the use of ancestral knowledge should be for the benefit of indigenous peoples and humanity.

David Paredes, a member of the National Network in Defence of Food Sovereignty in Guatemala (REDSAG), asserts that the approving of this law would not be the end of the struggle but it would definitely be a huge step in the right direction – and would set a precedent for the entire continent. On the 31st May 2022, it was officially handed in to the National Congress of Guatemala and continues to be in process.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Multisectoral of Chinautla since December 2018 and the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) since April 2020.

PBI-Colombia accompanies Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation at ceremony returning body of Silvio Tulio Romo to his family

By
Brent Patterson
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On May 17, PBI-Colombia posted: “After 32 years of #enforceddisappearance, we accompany @nydia_erika [the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation] in Villavicencio in the handover of victim Silvio Tulio Romo to his family.”

In 2018, Verdad Abierta reported:

“Carmen Mora, since she was a child, learned to defend herself. She left home at the age of eight due to abuse.

In her adolescence, during a party, she met Silvio Tulio Romo, a tractor driver, with whom she moved in after a few years: four children are the fruits of their love. “We were happy, he was a very good husband and father”, writes Carmen in her memory notebook.

They settled for a few years in Aguas Claras, Meta. She remembers the moments of happiness they lived as a family during some holidays.

Silvio lived in several places before arriving in Bogotá, where his tragedy began. On November 5, 1991, while he was spending time with some friends near the 20 de Julio neighborhood, Silvio was taken against his will by armed men identified as members of the B2 Group (Military Intelligence Unit), who said they would take him to the police inspectorate. Carmen went to look for him, but never found him.

After several months, a publication in Vea magazine was the impetus for Carmen to continue her search.In the cover photo she thought she recognized her husband, lying in the middle of several lifeless bodies. The news was related to a massacre that occurred in Bojacá, Cundinamarca, the same day Silvio disappeared.

She immediately traveled more than five hours to that municipality. Arriving at the cemetery, a woman who was also searching for a relative warned her that they should leave as soon as possible because she was being persecuted. Carmen was filled with fear and left in the first car she found. Despite having been intimidated, the intrigue forced Carmen to return eight months later.

“I went to the police inspection, there they had photos of all the bodies, I recognized Silvio. They sold me the photos where he appeared. They had been buried in a common grave since according to the gravedigger nobody had come to claim them and they were declared NN. To dig them up I would have to pay three million pesos,” she recalls.

Carmen searched by her own means for the coroner’s certificate, without success. She was given a death certificate of Silvio, without full recognition, DNA tests or exhumation. She took a long time to file the complaint, since she said she had no knowledge of what to do: she did not know what a Prosecutor’s Office was. An official during his statement changed his version, did not involve the B2, and blamed the guerrillas for the facts. She has never felt supported by the State during this search. “The State has not even given us the exhumation, even though we know that he is buried there, thanks to the great search that I did,” she laments.

She dreams of achieving the exhumation and confirming that he is her husband. To look her children in the eyes and be able to tell them, here is their father.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation since 2007 (occasionally) and 2016 (in full).

PBI-Mexico accompanies the Forum on the Situation of Environmental Defenders on World Environment Day

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Mexico has posted:

“#WorldEnvironmentDay Today [June 5] we accompany the Forum on the Situation of Environmental Defenders: Challenges in the framework of World Environment Day together with @CEMDA [Mexican Centre for Environmental Law], @CDHZL [the “Zeferino Ladrillero” Human Rights Center] and @EspacioOSC [Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists].”

The Spanish news agency EFE reports: “A total of 102 environmental defenders have been killed during the government of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which began on December 1, 2018, and will end on September 30, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) reported Wednesday [June 5], World Environment Day.”

“In 2018 there were 21 lethal attacks, a figure that dropped to 15 by 2019; in 2020, they rose to 18, and by 2021, the upward trend continued with 25 cases, which dropped to 24 in 2022. Last year alone, a total of 123 attacks against this group were reported, 20 of which were lethal.”

That article continues: “One of the axes of the colloquium organized by the Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center (CDHZL) revolved around the consequences that the megaprojects championed by López Obrador, such as the Mayan Train or the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, have had on the environment and local communities. …he human rights manager of CEMDA, Felipe Romero, placed the majority of cases of stigmatization against environmentalists “concentrated in the southern region of the country,” where the aforementioned projects are being developed.”

The Guardian has also reported: “Almost four out of every 10 journalists covering the climate crisis and environment issues have been threatened as a result of their work, with 11% subjected to physical violence, according to groundbreaking new research.”

That article notes: “The Covering the Planet report includes in-depth interviews with 74 journalists from 31 countries about what help they need to do a better job reporting extreme weather, plastics pollution, water scarcity, and mining as global heating and unchecked corporate greed pushes the planet to its limits.”

Forbes adds: “The Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index now ranks Mexico in 128th place, among the world’s worst countries in terms of press freedom. In total, 44 journalists have been killed in Mexico during Lopez Obrador’s time in office.”

We continue to follow this.

#DíaMundialdelMedioAmbiente

Photo by Espacio OSC.

PBI-Honduras accompanies LGTBI+ march on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Honduras has posted:

“Last Friday [May 17] we accompanied the LGTBI+ march in the framework of the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia.

From PBI we show concern for the violence and discrimination that affect the day to day life of LGTBI+ people and we remember the importance of complying with the measures of the IACHR Vicky Hernandez sentence.

Likewise, we applaud the work of Somos-CDC and Asociación LGTB Arcoiris de Honduras for the defense and acquisition of the rights of LGBTI+ people in Honduras.”

The Spanish news agency EFE has reported: “According to the Honduran organization Cattrachas, around 505 members of the LGBTIQ+ community have died violently in Honduras between 2009 and so far in 2024. Of the total number of deaths, 283 were gay men, 149 trans people and 73 lesbian women, and only 123 of the cases have been prosecuted.”

Expediente Público adds: “Dany Montesinos, coordinator of the Kukulkán Association, told Expediente Público that one of the demands of the LGTBIQ+ community is that the Honduran government faithfully comply with the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) on a series of reparation measures to Honduras for the murder of trans leader Vicky Hernández. the night of the coup d’état in 2009.”

That article also notes: “The Gender Identity Law continues to be an unfulfilled promise during the government of President Xiomara Castro, according to the organizations gathered on May 17, who in posters demanded the demand for it. Grecia O’Hara, a Honduran trans woman and human rights defender, told Expediente Público that there were expectations that the law would be passed quickly, especially because of Vicky Hernández’s sentencing, but that there was ‘a lot of lack of knowledge and documentation for the state.’”

El Pulso further noted on May 17th: “The report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the situation of human rights in Honduras, published this year and delivered this week to the authorities of the State of Honduras by the IACHR Commissioner Rapporteur for Honduras, Andrea Pochak, and the Secretary General of the IACHR, Tania Reneaum, records a high rate of violence against the LGTBI+ population in the country. with a vast majority of these cases going unpunished.”

The PBI-Honduras Project has accompanied Somos-CDC since January 2022 and Arcoiris since July 2015.

#IDAHOBIT #IDAHOBIT2024

IN PHOTOS: May 29th protest against the CANSEC weapons show in Ottawa

By
Brent Patterson
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Video.

Prime Minister Trudeau speaks with Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum amidst human rights concerns

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Claudia Sheinbaum.

On Monday June 3, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Claudia Sheinbaum, the President-elect of Mexico.

The read-out from the conversation between Trudeau and Sheinbaum notes: “They underscored the importance of growing our economies and delivering fairness for every generation through the Canada-United States-Mexico [“free trade”] Agreement. They also discussed key priorities like fighting climate change, strengthening international peace and security, and promoting gender equality.”

In response to a tweet by Trudeau, Sheinbaum replied: “I thank the Prime Minister of Canada, @JustinTrudeau for his call to convey congratulations on our victory on behalf of his country. We agreed on the multiple common interests between Mexico and Canada and the great opportunities to strengthen our relationship.”

The Canadian Press adds: “Trudeau’s office said both leaders ‘expressed their desire to meet in person soon’ during their Monday call.”

Sheinbaum was elected on June 2 and will assume office on October 1.

92 human rights defenders killed during AMLO’s term

Prior to her election, the Focus Group on Business and Human Rights in Mexico together a wide range of groups including Espacio OSC called on all presidential candidates, including Sheinbaum, “to promote a robust and coherent regulatory framework that ensures responsible business behavior that respects human rights.”

The groups also called on “the aspirants to govern the country carry out actions such as strengthening protection mechanisms for human rights and environmental defenders, safeguarding labor rights in various industries, establishing sanction mechanisms for companies and financial actors that violate human rights, among others.”

This weekend, Proceso also reported: “On the eve of the largest election day in the country’s history, members of the Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations All Rights for All (Red TDT) warned about the absence of a clear proposal on human rights by the presidential candidates, nor to stop the violence that has prevailed during the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. in which 92 human rights defenders were killed.”

With respect to several key issues:

Mayan Train, Interoceanic Corridor megaprojects, gas pipelines

NACLA has reported: “Sheinbaum has emphasized the government’s plans to build out the [Mayan Train’s] cargo-carrying capacity—including proposals to eventually connect it with the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, another AMLO megaproject, that is being hailed as Mexico’s alternative to the Panama Canal.”

Earlier this month, Sheinbaum commented to Agencia Quadratín media: “There is a gas pipeline for the peninsula and two power generation plants that will power Campeche and the entire Southeast, and one of the great projects is the Mayan Train, which will not only be for passengers, but also for cargo. It’s up to us to develop it, and its link with the Interoceanic greatly enhances regional development.”

There are several pipelines that Sheinbaum could be referring to in this quote. The Interoceanic Corridor is a megaproject that has been described by a proponent as including “two deep sea ports, railroads, highways, three airports (Minatitlán, Ixtepec and Huatulco), a gas pipeline and a fiber optic network.”

That pipeline is  the Jaltipan-Salina Cruz Gas Pipeline Expansion. Calgary-based TC Energy is building the Puerta del Sureste/ Southeast Gateway pipeline that will connect to Jáltipan-Salina Cruz Gas Pipeline to transport gas across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the proposed Salina Cruz LNG export terminal.

Militarization

VOX has noted: “She has also promised to bolster the National Guard, giving it more officers and surveillance capabilities. But that could also increase the militarization of policing and fighting crime, a significant human rights concern.”

Mothers searching for the disappeared

Aljazeera highlights: “Voters like Yolanda Moran Isais, whose son Dan Jeremeel Fernandez Moran went missing in 2008, fear Sheinbaum will continue Lopez Obrador’s habit of downplaying the extent of the disappearances [that now stands at more than 114,000 people]. Moran Isais leads a group of volunteers who search for the missing in the Mexican state of Coahuila. She expressed disappointment that Sheinbaum refused to meet with a nationwide delegation of mothers leading the search effort.”

Open-pit mining and fracking

And WIRED adds: “Like the current Mexican government, [Sheinbaum’s 100-point Nation Project] expresses its position against fracking and open-pit mining concessions and proposes to evaluate whether those that are already active are accepted by the population.”

On this last point, Mongabay also notes: “AMLO reformed the mining industry by increasing profits for local and Indigenous communities and making free and prior consent a requirement for new concessions. But it was criticized for not going far enough. Sheinbaum wants to halt open-pit mining concessions altogether and ban fracking.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: Inside Mexico’s Controversial ‘Trans-Isthmus Corridor’ Megaproject (Truthdig, June 3, 2024).

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