“One
thing is clear: this was a political hit. Bernardo was murdered because he
dared to speak out.”
(Dawn Paley)
BLOOD FOR SILVER, BLOOD FOR GOLD – THE ASSASSINATION OF BERNARDO VASQUEZ: At Fortuna Silver's mine in Oaxaca, Mexico (Article and photos by Jonathan Treat, March 18, 2012)
Why
all the bloodshed in
this small Zapotec community? The common thread connecting the victims
of
the recent violence is that — together with a coalition of people from
other nearby communities — they were all actively opposing the presence
of
the Canadian company, Fortuna Silver Inc.’s
“Trinidad/Cuzcatlán” silver and gold mine in their community in the
Ocotlán valley, about 45 minutes outside of Oaxaca City.
BLOOD FOR SILVER, BLOOD FOR GOLD – THE ASSASSINATION OF BERNARDO VASQUEZ: At Fortuna Silver's mine in Oaxaca, Mexico (Article and photos by Jonathan Treat, March 18, 2012)
(At
the gravesite of
Bernardo Vasquez, “Stop the Assassinations”)
In the
dry and dusty town
of San José del Pacifico, south of Oaxaca, Mexico, a funeral was held on
March
17 for Bernardo Vasquez, a slain community leader who actively opposed a
Canadian silver and gold mining project in his community. During the
somber event, attended by roughly 300 members of this Zapotec community,
the
collective grief, solidarity and resistance was palpable. Fear also
hung
in the air; some people held placards proclaiming their resistance in
front of
their faces to avoid being photographed.
(Bernardo’s
mother
and family grieving their loss)
The
fear is
understandable — Bernardo Vásquez was the second anti-mining activist to
be shot dead in the past two months. Three others at the scene of the
assassination of Vasquez were also shot and remain in serious condition.
WHY
THE VIOLENCE?
Why
all the bloodshed in
this small Zapotec community? The common thread connecting the victims
of
the recent violence is that — together with a coalition of people from
other nearby communities — they were all actively opposing the presence
of
the Canadian company, Fortuna Silver Inc.’s
“Trinidad/Cuzcatlán” silver and gold mine in their community in the
Ocotlán valley, about 45 minutes outside of Oaxaca City.
(“Berna,
We Will
Always Rembember You. You Fought for Us”)
Bernardo
Vásquez was
killed on March 16 when he and two passengers were ambushed at an
intersection
near his community. His brother Andrés and friend Rosalinda Canseco
remain hospitalized in serious condition. In an interview at the
hospital,
Rosalinda’s father said doctors are concerned they may have to amputate
her leg.
PREVIOUS
KILLING OF
BERNARDO MENDEZ
Two
months ago, the now
dead Bernardo Vásquez was denouncing the murder of Bernardo Mendez, a
friend
and colleague also opposed to the Trinidad/Cuzcatán mine. During a
press
conference on January 23, as spokesperson for a local coalition of
people
opposed to Fortuna Silver’s mine, Vásquez denounced the shooting death
of
Méndez that had occurred several days earlier. That murder happened
when
a group of people confronted a work crew constructing a water pipeline
in San José. The people
suspected the project would divert the arid community’s scarce water
resources to the mine. An argument ensued and municipal police arrived
on
the scene and opened fire into the crowd. Bernardo Méndez later died of
7
gunshot wounds. Abigail Vásquez, sister of Bernardo Vázquez (killed
March
16), was seriously wounded in the January killing.
During
the press
conference, Vázquez and the Coalition of People United in the Ocotlán
Valley
(COPOVU) held the Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver and it’s local
Trinidad/Cuzcatlán mining activities directly responsible for the murder
and
other related violence, and called for the suspension and removal of all
the
mining company’s activities in San
José. The anti-mining group also called for the
cancellation and removal of the mining project.
FORTUNA
SILVER DENIES ANY
LINKS TO ITS ACTIVITIES AND THE VIOLENCE
Mining
officials
dismissed allegations that the mine was diverting water from the
community, and
denied any links between the recent violence and their mining operation
in San
José del Progreso. In response to COPOVU’s accusations that the
mine is responsible for the violence in San
José, CEO Jorge Ganoza called the allegations
“misinformation”.
“We,
as a company,
and our team in Oaxaca, are saddened by these senseless and continued
acts of
violence in the town of San José, related to a long-standing political
struggle
for local power”, he said in statement published by Canadian media.
“It is in no way related to our activities or involves company
personnel…”. Several Oaxaca
state government officials in press releases repeat this version of
events, but
critics point out to a long history
of violence in local communities since Fortuna Silver first arrived on
the
scene in 2006.
HISTORY
OF MINE-RELATED
VIOLENCE
In
2009, roughly three
hundred opponents to Fortuna Silver’s mining operation participated in a
blockade of the entrance to the Trinidad/Cuzcatlán. After 40 days, the
blockade was brutally broken when some 700 police stormed into the
community in
full anti-riot gear, with automatic weapons, tear gas, attack dogs and a
helicopter. People were beaten and more than 23 people were arrested;
some
were detained for three months.
In
2010, the mayor of San José, along with
another municipal official, was killed in a confrontation between
residents
supporting and those opposing the mine. A local priest supporting
anti-mining activists was brutally beaten and detained.
The
ongoing violence has
divided and created a tense, fearful atmosphere in the once peaceful
community. One local activist who has been involved in resistance to
the
mine from the beginning estimated that the vast majority of residents
were
opposed to the mine when it started originally arrived to break ground
in the
community. The ongoing repression and intimidation — coupled with
bribes to prominent members of the community — has reduced the number of
residents who actively resist the mine. Nonetheless, he estimated that
roughly half of the community is opposed to the mine, and many others
are
against the mine but fearful of openly resisting the mining project.
WHY
THE OPPOSITION TO THE
MINE?
In the
arid Ocotlán valley of Oaxaca, as in many parts of the state,
water is a scarce and precious commodity. Residents opposed to the mine
argue that processing silver and gold is water-intensive puts their
local
aquifers at risk.
Their
argument has strong
precedent. Another Oaxacan community with years of painful experience
with mining operations, Calpulálpam, had its water supply devastated by
the
Canadian “Continuum” mine there. Aquifers were disrupted and
local resident report that 13 local streams completely dried up due to
mining
in their community. Local springs were also so polluted by chemicals
used
to process ore that livestock were dying from the contamination. The
devastation was so flagrant that the Mexican Federal Environmental
Protection
Agency eventually ordered the mine to suspend all activities.
Thus
the violent
confrontation in January between the group of local residents and
workers
installing a water pipeline is understandable. The actual motives behind
the
project remain unclear; transparency about public works in San José is
sorely lacking. While
Fortuna Silver continues to flatly deny any link between purported
municipal
potable water project and mining activities, many local residentS remain
unconvinced. And Mexico’s three leading national newspapers,
including the respected daily La Jornada, all reported that the disputed
water
pipeline was indeed related to the mining operation and all linked the
violence
to tensions in the community around the mine’s activities there.
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND CIVIL
SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS SPEAK OUT
In a
recent statement by
the Oaxacan Collective in Defense of Territories, an umbrella
organization made
up of prominent human rights and civil society organization, issued a
statement
on March 16, the day following the ambush of Vázquez and his two
companions. The declaration points out that Vázquez had repeatedly
alerted state and federal authorities — since 2008 — of the risk of
violent confrontations due to the initiation of mining operations by
Fortuna
Silver without the consent of the community, as legally required by
international accords signed by Mexico. The statement says that the
members of the anti-mining coalition COPUVO repeatedly complained that
the
mining company was financing armed groups in the community with the
endorsement
of the municipal president of San José del Progreso, Alberto Mauro
Sánchez. The collective’s statement says argues that the lack of
justice and application of law by government officials has created a
dangerous
atmosphere of impunity in San José.
The statement closes with a demand for the immediate departure of the
Trinidad/Cuzcatlán mine.
EULOGY
FOR BERNARDO
VÁSQUEZ
In a
eulogy for Bernardo
Vásquez, Dawn Paley, an independent Canadian journalist, wrote:
“Bernardo
Vasquez was a clear spoken Zapotec activist,
a brother, son, and cousin, who dared to stand up against a mining
project in
the territory of his people. He was
well aware that a paramilitary group was operating in San José Progreso,
Oaxaca, and that it was organized to snuff out opposition
to a gold mine , owned by Vancouver
based Fortuna
Silver. … One thing is clear: this was a political hit.
Bernardo was murdered because he
dared to speak out,
ignoring the climate of fear imposed upon his people.” (http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/another-activist-murdered-organizing-against-canadian-mine/10243)
THE
STAKES ARE HIGH, BUT
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
Fortuna
Silver’s
$55 million Trinidad/Cuzcatlán mine began its production in September
last year
and projected to produce 1.7 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounce
of gold
in 2012. Future conflicts are likely as the mine expands its operations
in its 58,000 hectares holdings just south of Oaxaca
City in coming years, particularly in
light of the ongoing impunity enjoyed by local officials and hired guns
in San José.
During
the funeral, many
residents expressed their concerns that the lack of justice for those
responsible for the recent shootings has created an atmosphere of
impunity that
is likely to foster more bloodshed.
(The
Funeral Procession)
But in
spite of the fear and
intimidation, the March 17 funeral clearly illustrated that anti-mining
activists from San José
together with other surrounding communities affected by the mine, will
continue
on in their resistance. Indignation and defiance hung in the air. Just
before Vasquez’s coffin was lowered into the ground, a friend said:
“They can cut a flower, but they cannot stop the Spring.”
(Jonathan
Treat is a journalist, professor, activist and founding
member of the non-profit organization SURCO (University Services and
Knowledge
Networks of Oaxaca), www.surcooaxaca.org.
He works with SURCO as Academic Director and Coordinator of Delegations
looking
at issues related to the defense of indigenous territories in Oaxaca
and Chiapas.
Jonathan: jonathantreat2002@yahoo.com)