Source: Radio Mundo Real
In Veracruz, to the South of Mexico, there are plans to build 112 dams and 6 hydroelectric power plants without authorization by communities, who in the past weeks have mobilized in different municipalities of La Antigua River basin and managed the government to intervene in the inspection to Odebrecht construction company, whose works could cause flooding in several territories.
In addition to not having an authorization by the National Water Commission (CONAGUA), La Antigua dam will be built in an area where there is a seismic fault and therefore it would be a time bomb for the communities living by La Antigua River and other tributaries.
The inhabitants of the region had access four years ago to documents expressing the intention of building this dam by the Brazilian multinational construction company, although they did not obtain information from official sources.
Even today, with the company established in the area and carrying out exploration activities, which have already accumulated materials by the riverbed, risking the population of Jalcomulco, Apazapan, La Antigua, Paso de Ovejas, Emiliano Zapata, Teocelo, Xico and Ixhuacán de los Reyes, totaling 1.2 million people, the Evironment and Natural Resources Secretariat (SEMARNAT) of the Mexican Union stated that “there is no project” since there isn´t a request for an environmental impact assessment.
However, on January 20 the communities started blocking roads to call the attention of authorities.
This is what Emilio Rodriguez, of the Veracruz Assembly of Initiatives and Environmental Defense (LAVIDA) said in an interview with Monica Montalvo, member of Hijxs de la Tierra group and our correspondent in Mexico.
The economy of coastal communities of La Antigua is mainly agriculture, fisheries and eco-tourism with a diversity of crops and an abundance of water that provides them a good quality of life, according to some of the members of the resistance consulted. “I would give my life for the river”, said another of the participants of the resistance.
“For the basin communities there won´t be any benefits. Only a small group of people will be benefited, the political system. And the company. If it came all the way from Brazil, it is because there is a business here”, said one of the participants of the blockings that prevented Odebrecht from accessing the works.
The road blocking was implemented because 80 days have passed without Odebrecht carrying out the impact assessment studies in the field known as Tamarindo, And also to break with the indifference by authorities. Nine hours after blocking the Jalapa-Veracruz federal road, the Veracruz state government asked to meet with the organizations.
And then the state authorities sent an inspection that certified irregularities by the construction company, while it ordered it to remove the rock of materials that appeared in the middle of the riverbed.
In addition to the eight municipal capital cities, there are 42 communities affected by the dam which Odebrecht plans to build. According to digital media from Veracruz state, the peasants-community owners of lands, according to the agrarian reform of the beginning of the 20th century in Mexico, are resisting their lands being flooded by the dam.
“They want us to respect the laws, but they don´t respect our lands. The worst thing is that they are profiting with our lands and they don´t even consulted first”, said peasant Jorge de Tlaltetela.