Saturday, April 1, 2023
198 Mexico News
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • MEXICO USA TRADE NEWS
    • MEXICO EU NEWS
    • MEXICO UK NEWS
    • MEXICO BRAZIL NEWS
    • MEXICO INDIA NEWS
    • MEXICO GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • MEXICO CHINA NEWS
    • MEXICO EGYPT NEWS
    • MEXICO AFRICA NEWS
    • MEXICO NIGERIA NEWS
    • MEXICO THAILAND NEWS
  • POLITICAL NEWS
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CRYPTO
  • AGRICULTURE
  • MORE NEWS
    • MEXICO IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • MEXICO SCHOLARSHIP NEWS
    • MEXICO VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • MEXICO EDUCATION NEWS
    • MEXICO BUSINESS HELP
    • MEXICO PARTNESHIPS
    • MEXICO MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • MEXICO UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • MEXICO JOINT VENTURE NEWS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT
198 Mexico News
  • Home
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • MEXICO USA TRADE NEWS
    • MEXICO EU NEWS
    • MEXICO UK NEWS
    • MEXICO BRAZIL NEWS
    • MEXICO INDIA NEWS
    • MEXICO GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • MEXICO CHINA NEWS
    • MEXICO EGYPT NEWS
    • MEXICO AFRICA NEWS
    • MEXICO NIGERIA NEWS
    • MEXICO THAILAND NEWS
  • POLITICAL NEWS
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CRYPTO
  • AGRICULTURE
  • MORE NEWS
    • MEXICO IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • MEXICO SCHOLARSHIP NEWS
    • MEXICO VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • MEXICO EDUCATION NEWS
    • MEXICO BUSINESS HELP
    • MEXICO PARTNESHIPS
    • MEXICO MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • MEXICO UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • MEXICO JOINT VENTURE NEWS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
198 Mexico News
No Result
View All Result

‘We are fearful’: Indigenous Mexicans dread new military buildup on ancestral land | Global development

by 198 Mexico News
October 4, 2021
in MEXICO AFRICA NEWS
Reading Time: 11 mins read
A A
0
Home MEXICO AFRICA NEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

[ad_1]

Micaela* always stops to kiss a cross at the base of three hills, a lush swath of land in the indigenous ejido of San Sebastián Bachajón, Chiapas. Her ejido, meaning communal land, is shared among more than 5,000 Tzeltal inhabitants. But soon, they will also have to share it with Mexico’s national guard.

The national guard has built 165 barracks in Mexico since it was created only two years ago by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to replace the federal police, which he said was corrupt. Micaela’s community is leading the first lawsuit against one of 500 or so barracks planned across the country.

“In August 2020 we heard rumours that a plot of land was sold, and that the municipal president donated the land to the national guard,” Micaela says. “They worked night and day to finish the barracks. It went up very quickly.”

According to the land’s shareholders, neither the local government nor the national guard consulted the community.

Mexico is legally bound to the International Labour Organization’s convention 169, which recognises the right of indigenous peoples to prior consultation regarding any activity affecting their lives or lands.

With no federal mechanism to regulate this process, indigenous consultations are designed by state authorities, an ambiguous exercise that often undervalues indigenous land rights. In San Sebastián Bachajón, community leaders say a consultation was held only for a select group of shareholders.

“The community never agreed to the barracks,” says Micaela. “We don’t want the national guard here because this is our territory.”

The walls around one of some 500 national guard barracks planned around Mexico.
One of 165 national guard barracks built in Mexico. Locals in San Sebastián Bachajón say they were not consulted, even though it is on indigenous land. Photograph: Caitlin Cooper

Constitutionally recognised as a civilian force under civilian leadership when it was created in 2019, the guard has been criticised since then for its similarity to the country’s armed forces. A recent proposal by López Obrador to make the guard a permanent part of the army has only fuelled these concerns. The widespread construction of barracks is part of an important debate about whether the deployment of the national guard confirms what critics see as the de facto militarisation of Mexico.

Ivette Galván, a lawyer with the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (Centro Prodh), says: “This is the first [injunction] presented by an indigenous community against these barracks on the infringement of their collective rights.” The injunction to suspend construction of the barracks, represented by Centro Prodh, was presented last December in the capital of Chiapas state, Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

In the past, deployment of the military has had negative impacts, particularly for women and girls

Cata Hernández, Conami

According to lawyers acting for the community, the judiciary rejected the move to halt construction, arguing that the barracks were ordered by the defence ministry (Sedena). “The legal basis for its denial effectively argues that the barracks respond to the needs of national security,” says Galván, “affirming the scale of the guard’s coordination with the military.”

In 2021, the national guard deployed about 100,000 troops, of whom 60,000 were previously under the defence ministry. Responsible for public security, the guard also oversees immigration and combating organised crime but also reforesting the country, a far-reaching deployment seen by some as confusing.

Cata Hernández, representative in Chiapas for the National Coordinating Committee of Indigenous Women (Conami), says they are still unsure about what the implications will be of the national guard’s presence in their community, but adds: “What we know is that in the past, the deployment of the military has had a negative impact, particularly for women and girls.”

After resisting the presence of military forces for decades, Chiapas is littered with the remains of former police and military bases. After the Zapatista uprising in 1994, the San Andrés Accords demanded self-determination, access to justice and autonomy for Chiapas’s indigenous groups, requests that remain unfulfilled. The rape of three Tzeltal women at a military checkpoint in 1994 has gone unpunished.

“When they [soldiers] were here years ago, they impregnated women, abandoned children, entered our meeting space without permission, and cut down our trees. We are fearful,” Micaela says.

San Sebastián Bachajón was moved to take legal action against the barracks in October 2020 when, during a peaceful protest, three civilians were arbitrarily detained and at least 13 were wounded by state and municipal police.

Victórico Galvéz, of the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center, said the national guard’s failure to intervene was negligent. Galvéz said the police charging two indigenous protesters with rioting was “a way of telling the communities not to act, threatening that the same will happen to them”.

Juan Jiménez García, a community spokesman, says there is no need for the national guard to be in his community. “The landowners go to their cornfields, their coffee fields, why do they want to keep watch on us?” he asks.

A sign in Chiapas protesting against militarisation of the region, the national guard barracks, and the planned highway.
A sign in Chiapas protesting against militarisation of the region, the national guard barracks, and the planned highway. It also says: ‘Preserve life, water, health and land. Zapata lives. The struggle continues’. Photograph: Caitlin Cooper

For the Tzeltal inhabitants of Chiapas, the barracks also raise concerns about their sovereignty in the face of development. At stake in the region are at least 40 infrastructure projects, including the Mayan Train, a controversial plan for a 1,000-mile (1,600km) railway connecting Palenque in Chiapas with other tourist sites in the Yucatán peninsula, and a 400-mile highway connecting Pijijiapan with Palenque. The community in San Sebastián Bachajón is opposed to the highway project.

You might also like

World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency; Puerto Vallarta with most cases in Mexico

Xwells’ Palacios mixing it up in Mexico

Copa Airlines to Launch Flights to Mexico City’s New Airport – English Version

“One of the greatest threats of militarisation is the repression of social movements and protest, especially for a region with a long history of organisation,” says Gustavo Castro, founder of the local organisation Otros Mundos Chiapas. The human rights defender also pointed to the experiences of activists in Nicaragua and Honduras, where the security forces, as well as criminal gangs and paramilitaries, have violently silenced environmentalists to protect foreign investment.

“We already know, with any small problem the government sends thousands of guards, and we can’t do anything because there are more soldiers than shareholders,” says Micaela. “Whatever happens, we won’t be able to defend our land.”

Mexico’s lower chamber of congress recently approved a new federal bill on consulting indigenous and African-Mexican peoples. The bill, however, withholds the right to consultation on matters of national security. “Bringing these concepts closer to the Tzeltal worldview is a pending obligation,” says Galván.

* Her name has been changed to protect her identity

[ad_2]

Source link

Tags: AncestralbuildupdevelopmentdreadfearfulGlobalIndigenouslandMexicansmilitary
Share30Tweet19
Previous Post

Cartels control these 8 Mexican states. Kidnapping migrants is part of their business.

Next Post

NHL will look at Mexico as next phase of expanding Latino fan base

Recommended For You

World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency; Puerto Vallarta with most cases in Mexico

by 198 Mexico News
July 23, 2022
0
World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency; Puerto Vallarta with most cases in Mexico

The World Health Organization ( WHO ) declared monkeypox a global health emergency. The classification is the highest alert the WHO can issue and follows a global uptick...

Read more

Xwells’ Palacios mixing it up in Mexico

by 198 Mexico News
July 22, 2022
0
Xwells’ Palacios mixing it up in Mexico

Pol Palacios, co-founder and chief executive of subsea technology company Xwells, is an avid backer of Mexico as a place for doing business but, like many before him,...

Read more

Copa Airlines to Launch Flights to Mexico City’s New Airport – English Version

by 198 Mexico News
July 9, 2022
0
Copa Airlines to Launch Flights to Mexico City’s New Airport – English Version

Copa Airlines will become the Felipe Ángeles’ second international airline. The Panamanian carrier Copa Airlines has announced it will operate direct flights between Panama City Tocumen International Airport...

Read more

NFE sets out Apollo venture, Mexico export hub plan

by 198 Mexico News
July 5, 2022
0
NFE sets out Apollo venture, Mexico export hub plan

New Fortress Energy (NFE) has set out a plan to sell down its stakes in 11 LNG vessels and two deals in Mexico. NFE said it would create...

Read more

Stinky seaweed threatens Mexico’s post-pandemic tourism boom

by 198 Mexico News
July 4, 2022
0
Stinky seaweed threatens Mexico’s post-pandemic tourism boom

MEXICO CITY, July 4 (Reuters) - Millions of tons of stinky brown seaweed washing up along Mexico's beaches threaten a post-COVID tourism rebound as international tourists plan summer...

Read more
Next Post
NHL will look at Mexico as next phase of expanding Latino fan base

NHL will look at Mexico as next phase of expanding Latino fan base

Mexico’s internally displaced are an unrecognized migration crisis

Mexico's internally displaced are an unrecognized migration crisis

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Unprecedented price hikes put the squeeze on Iranian tenants | Economy News

Unprecedented price hikes put the squeeze on Iranian tenants | Economy News

July 26, 2022
U.S. is sidelined in critical minerals push

U.S. is sidelined in critical minerals push

July 26, 2022
China, Russia Dominate Nuclear Reactor Construction, IEA Says

China, Russia Dominate Nuclear Reactor Construction, IEA Says

July 26, 2022
Credentials for cosmetic surgery centers in Tijuana to be scrutinized

Credentials for cosmetic surgery centers in Tijuana to be scrutinized

July 25, 2022
New group of 2,000 migrants sets off in southern Mexico

New group of 2,000 migrants sets off in southern Mexico

July 25, 2022
New group of 2,000 migrants sets off in southern Mexico :: WRAL.com

New group of 2,000 migrants sets off in southern Mexico :: WRAL.com

July 25, 2022
Ethereum Weekly Exchange Net Flow Points To Growing Accumulation Trend

Ethereum Weekly Exchange Net Flow Points To Growing Accumulation Trend

July 25, 2022
San Diego’s wastewater shows COVID-19 cases about to spike

San Diego’s wastewater shows COVID-19 cases about to spike

July 25, 2022
198 Mexico News

198 Mexico News will provide the latest news update as the government facing a growing challenging in preventing Mexico from breaking apart along ethnic and religious lines.

198massmedia Group. USA. 3821 Dominion Drive, Dumfries, USA. 22026.

Toll Free 1 888 642 8433.
Contact: info@198mexiconews.com

LATEST UPDATES

Unprecedented price hikes put the squeeze on Iranian tenants | Economy News

U.S. is sidelined in critical minerals push

China, Russia Dominate Nuclear Reactor Construction, IEA Says

Credentials for cosmetic surgery centers in Tijuana to be scrutinized

New group of 2,000 migrants sets off in southern Mexico

New group of 2,000 migrants sets off in southern Mexico :: WRAL.com

Ethereum Weekly Exchange Net Flow Points To Growing Accumulation Trend

San Diego’s wastewater shows COVID-19 cases about to spike

RECOMMENDED

No Content Available
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact us

Copyright © 2022 - 198 Mexico News.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • MEXICO USA TRADE NEWS
    • MEXICO EU NEWS
    • MEXICO UK NEWS
    • MEXICO BRAZIL NEWS
    • MEXICO INDIA NEWS
    • MEXICO GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • MEXICO CHINA NEWS
    • MEXICO EGYPT NEWS
    • MEXICO AFRICA NEWS
    • MEXICO NIGERIA NEWS
    • MEXICO THAILAND NEWS
  • POLITICAL NEWS
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CRYPTO
  • AGRICULTURE
  • MORE NEWS
    • MEXICO IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • MEXICO SCHOLARSHIP NEWS
    • MEXICO VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • MEXICO EDUCATION NEWS
    • MEXICO BUSINESS HELP
    • MEXICO PARTNESHIPS
    • MEXICO MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • MEXICO UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • MEXICO JOINT VENTURE NEWS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT

Copyright © 2022 - 198 Mexico News.

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?