Mexican Dam-Affected Communities Have Their Day in Court

By: 
Monti Aguirre
An offering of food at the opening of events in Temaca
An offering of food at the opening of events in Temaca
Photo by Claudia Campero

An offering of Oaxacan blue corn tortillas, fruits and candles set the stage for the Pre-Hearing on “Dams, Rights of Peoples and Impunity” organized by the Permanent Peoples Tribunal in Temacapulin, Municipality of Cañadas de Obregón, Jalisco State in Mexico.

For two days (Nov 5-6) the judges: Miloon Kothari, Ex-Special Rapporteur for Housing Rights of the UN; Maude Barlow, President of the Council of Canadians; Patricia Avila, researcher at the Laboratory on Political Ecology and Society of the Ecosystems Research Center of the National Autonomous University of Mexico; Francisco Lopez Barcenas, indigenous Mixtec lawyer and expert on indigenous rights; Carlos Vainer, a sociologist and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; Luis Daniel Vasquez de Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) and myself, heard the moving and compassionate testimonies from dam-affected peoples that came from all over Mexico to Temacapulin.

At the opening presentation we heard that there are 4,500 dams in Mexico, 700 of which are large dams. 80% of reservoirs are polluted with industrial, agricultural and residential waste and many are high in sediment accumulation. Close to 180,000 people have been displaced by dams in Mexico. The numbers of dam-affected peoples is much more difficult to calculate. Downstream communities and those who do not live next to the areas that would be flooded but that depend on the network of markets, family connections, roads, bridges and more, for example, have generally not been taken into account.

The judges panel
The judges panel and organizers of the TPP
Photo by Claudia Campero

The social problems associated with dam building in Mexico were first reported at the first meeting of indigenous peoples displaced and affected by dams, organized by the Council of Nahuatl Peoples in 1996 in Sinaloa. 37 communities attended. The Huites Declaration signed at that meeting revealed that construction of dams was one of the main reason for indigenous peoples' migrations.

For two days we heard testimonies, saw short videos and received documentation from communities from Paso de la Reina, La Parota, Las Cruces, El Naranjo, Arcediano, El Zapotillo, La Yesca, Veracruz, El Cajon, Cerro de Oro and the project associated with its expansion. Unfortunately communities from Chiapas where many dam projects are proposed were unable to attend.

An offering of mescal was poured to Mother Earth before communities that would be affected by Paso de la Reina Dam spoke: “The Rio Verde is the blood that flows through the lives of our people. From the river we receive our nourishment, our food,” said a spokeswoman.

Si a la vida, no a la Presa Paso de la Reyna
Si a la vida, no a la Presa Paso de la Reyna
Photo by Claudia Campero

Participants gave innumerable and impressionable accounts of the violation of human rights and indigenous peoples rights violations, and disrespect or lack of compliance with judges’ rulings.

Guadalupe Lara, a woman that stood alone in the fight against construction of Arcediano Dam, is still seeking justice and reparations. Guadalupe presented several legal actions at the local courts, never receiving appropriate answers to her demands for information and consultation on the project. The dam was approved with a faulty EIA, lack of information and consultation, and through intimidations to the population. Houses were demolished, a historical bridge blown up, and inadequate compensation given to some people.

Guadalupe stayed and for days watched dogs that people left behind waiting by the ruins of their owners' houses. “The cats came to live with me,” she said. Guadalupe was the last one to leave when her house fell to ruins. She is still fighting for reparations and demanding the right to go back to the town of Arcediano. After everything, the dam was cancelled due to technical inviability, but politicians insist the project will be back on the table in the future.

The sacred lands and the San Pedro River of the Coras and Huicholes people in Nayarit are threatened by the Las Cruces Hydroelectric Project, the first dam to be built on the San Pedro-Acaponeta River Basin. 12 projects have been planned with a hydropower potential of 1,560 MW. But indigenous leader Julian Lopez has an extraordinarily different vision of the river. “We can now cross the river, we have free access and so do our cattle. We live in harmony and the river does not divide us up,” he said. “We have sacred sites on the river and without it our spirituality is not complete.”

Photo by Claudia Campero

As we have heard many times during these two days, the Cora’s rights have not been respected, they have not been informed about the project and there has not been any meaningful consultation. Lopez said they signed papers not knowing that with those signatures they were authorizing studies to be conducted on their lands.

The judges are now working on the elaboration of the final document. Friday we give a press conference in Guadalajara and begin to share the results of our investigations.