"If energy production is in the hands of companies that see nothing but profit, there will be no clean energy"
- Bettina Cruz Velázquez, from Oaxaca, Mexico, is a human rights defender. He is a member of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec for Earth and Territory. In its fight against the wind megaprojects in its place of residence, it has denounced the destructive practices of multinational companies, including Iberdrola. He has also been threatened with death by his activity.
At the beginning of the century, the Mexican government reached agreements with foreign companies committed to the fight against climate change, so 28 wind farms have been built in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It says it's a new form of colonization.
Yes, because most companies are foreign, many Spanish. They take over our lands again. Gold, however, is electrical energy.
The previous government declared several areas of Oaxaca as a Special Economic Zone, with the new government changing the context.
The president of the Government, Enrique Peña Nieto, presented the region as a Special Economic Zone. However, the new government has already said that these economic zones no longer existed. In these areas a number of projects are being carried out which, although not declared Special Economic Zones, the Government is acting in the same way: it makes it easier for companies to settle in them. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is intended to build an interoceanic multimodal corridor that would connect the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic. The main idea is to bring together the major economies of the world. In addition, the hallway includes other projects.
What are they?
In addition to the interoceanic corridor, the construction of a gas pipeline between Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz and two new ports is planned. The gas pipeline is intended to be used to drive natural gas and is being exploited by fracking. In addition, there are several mining basins. On the other hand, we have 28 wind farms that produce 3,000 megawatts per hour. Private companies use the transmission lines of the Federal Electricity Commission, but these lines cannot transmit more than is currently transmitted. In this way, the construction of a new line is planned to produce at least 3,000 megawatts more per hour. This line would run from Ixtepec to Yautepec, coinciding with the Integral Project Morelos. Its members are fighting this project. Samir Flores Soberanes was killed in this battle.
There's also a wall, isn't it?
Yes, it is also intended to build a wall in Tehualtepec to prevent the members of Central America from extravasating at the border. All this is being done with consultations of this kind.
Consultations with
Supposedly with the people, but actually it's not. They act according to the law, they call the people to consult. But those who agree with the government’s intentions, the people who are from the parties that have made the pact, or those who have signed a contract … are endorsing with few people the expropriation of land.
For the rulers, companies are valuable, not us; we are only a hindrance in carrying out their approach. They do not think that, as an indigenous people, we have the right to live peacefully in our land and with dignity in our world perspective. We are second- or third-graders. In your eyes, we are not valuable, but what we have: a territory rich in natural resources.
The attitude of resistance to the expropriation of land, on the other hand, puts you at risk.
Yes, the fight against these companies means risking one’s own life. We once had to flee from there to prevent them from killing us.
Wind companies and organised criminals are friends. They act as business support. This has led to confrontation in the community between confrontation, violence and different perspectives.
The damage caused by it will be noticed in the community.
There are those who value what the government and companies say, in exchange for a little money. And those of us who are against, those who defend, threaten us. For example, if a project has to stop for something we have done for a while, those who have signed contracts say: “We don’t give them money for what they’re doing.” This destroys our social fabric, the most important thing that we indigenous peoples have in order to continue to exist.
He says that companies have come to fool people. How has fraud been committed?
They've come with an offer, as all companies do everywhere. They have offered work, development… but in fact they have taken advantage of the poverty of the Mexican people and the countryside. They've fooled people. Because there's no job. The creation of a wind farm has a maximum duration of one year, when there will be work for the locals as peones. Once the park is finished, there will be no more jobs for them. From here [from Europe] they bring people to work there [in Mexico].
We could also call fraud the tendency of these companies to be environmentally friendly in the name of renewable energy, right?
Yeah, there's green capitalism. Renewable energy is not good in itself. If we look at what is behind an aerogenerator, we will find mining or oil, as well as the exploitation of the workforce of the workers. Wind farms, in themselves, pollute the countryside, the land and the water. The turbines contain oil, which reaches both land and water, and deforestes the building area of a park causing collateral damage to the ecosystem.
If energy production is in the hands of companies that see no more than profits, there will be no clean energy.
have made the debate on renewable energy come up, it is an achievement; at the moment there are people and organizations that take it into account. Looking back wasn't that way. At first they asked us how we dared to question wind energy, why we were opposed to it, they told us it was a good thing. But no, it's not a good thing in itself, it's not a good thing in the hands of transnational corporations. It would be good if they were in the hands of the community, if they could use and produce organized users. In this case, renewable energy would be good.”
The Centre Tricontinental has described the historical resistance of the Congolese in the dossier The Congolese Fight for Their Own Wealth (the Congolese people struggle for their wealth) (July 2024, No. 77). During the colonialism, the panic among the peasants by the Force... [+]
Ghana, 1823. The first war begins between the Ashanti Empire and the British. In total, there were four wars that lasted until 1901. Previously, Europeans controlled the country’s Gold Coast. But the abolition of slavery in 1807 led to the decline of the coastal business and... [+]
The Internet is a territory under debate. These debates affect the future of our democracies and our paths to climate and social and environmental justice. In these struggles, for us to do our job, we need to know the dynamics of the Internet. To better understand a territory, a... [+]
Mali (2020), Guinea (2021), Burkina Faso (2022) Niger (2023) and now Christmas. Each State has its own socio-political reality, and the Western view cannot make generalities. Every coup has its peculiarities and reasons, because Africa is vast and each people has its own... [+]
Since the twentieth century we have come out with a grave fear of words. We did not go further into naming things, everything is circumvolution, metaphor and euphemism as if we tried to alleviate the harsh reality: Elkano did not share the dream of the king of Portugal and from... [+]
