May 8, 2009
MEXICAN GOVERNMENT SENDS TROOPS
IN SUPPORT OF CANADIAN MINING COMPANY
- FORTUNA SILVER MINES Inc.
… tear gas, police dogs, firearms, beatings, arbitrary detentions of close to two dozen community members; …
The expansion of Canadian and U.S. mining and resource extraction companies operating in Mexico goes hand-in-hand with the ratification of the NAFTA “free” trade agreement in 1994.
BELOW:

FORTUNA SILVER MINES Inc.:  #840, 355 Burrard St, Vancouver, BC Canada V6C 2G8.  http://www.fortunasilver.com / T: 604.484.4085
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UPDATE: May 6, 2009
Komala Ramachandra writes:
Early on the morning of May 6, 2009, a helicopter was spotted flying near Fortuna Silver Mines’ “Trinidad” mine, 10 to 15 meters from the ground.  Between 7 and 8:30 in the morning, approximately 150 trucks filled with between 740 and 2500 members of the police (most reports state 1500), from various branches (including the federal preventative police (PFP), state police, the federal agency of investigation (AFI), judicial police, and the bomb corps), arrived at the Trinidad mine site.
An urgent action issued by CODEP describes how the police aggressively removed the community from their occupation with the use of tear gas, police dogs, firearms, and beatings. One CODEP organizer says that a second envoy of police arrived later in the morning. An eye-witness said that there were approximately 150 people from the community at the mine when the police operation started.
The police started arbitrarily entering and searching homes, as well as confiscating personal possessions in the community of Magdalena (municipality San José del Progreso) and the communities that pertain to it. They were also arresting anyone on the streets.
During the morning operation, at least 18 and up to 28 people were arrested (23 being the number from CODEP), but there are at least two, and likely several more, that are missing. One of the missing is Agustín Ríos Cruz, according to family members.
Names of some of the detained:  Ignacio Vásquez Gómez, Hilario Vásquez, Joaquín López, Víctor Sánchez Martínez, Juan García, Elías López, Bernardo Vásquez Gómez, Silvino Vásquez Mérida, Alfonso Ruiz, Alfonso Rodrigo López, Luis Ruiz Martínez, Víctor Ruiz Martínez, Juan Carlos López, Agripina Vásquez Sánchez, Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, Víctor Ortiz Hernández, Apolinar García, Carmela González, Ubaldo González, ---  all from de San José del Progreso; and Alejandro Aquino Cosme, from Magdalena Ocotlán.
There are reports that many communities in the region are surrounded by police and that the people are not allowed to enter or leave. One resident said that they were not able to bypass the police blockade outside their community and had to sneak out via the hills.
A rally planned in the city of Oaxaca was delayed as they waited for people to arrive from the affected communities. At 5:30pm, those present at the protest in Oaxaca, approximately 300 to 400 people, blockaded the avenue “Símbolos Patrios,” a main thoroughfare between Oaxaca city and the coast, as well as to Ocotlán and to the airport. At approximately 8pm, a motor convoy from Ocotlán joined the blockade, and from there they all proceeded to the Procuraduría General de Justicia for a rally.
The primary demand of the protesters was the immediate release of the political prisoners, as well as an end to the mining projects in the Valley of Ocotlán and throughout Oaxaca state.
Negotiations around these and other demands had begun around midday between the community and government officials. During the rally, there was confirmation that seven of those arrested in the morning had been freed, but there was no further information about the others.
Further actions are planned for Thursday, May 7, 2009.
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OAXACAN COMMUNITY RESISTS CANADIAN MINING
(by Komala Ramachandra, kfiesta@gmail.com, a U.S. law student, based in Huajuapan de Leon, working with CACTUS, in the Sierra Mixteca of Oaxaca)
A large sign proclaiming “Fuera Minas Asesinas” (Out with the Killer Mines) greets those entering the “Trinidad” gold and silver mine, taken over and occupied by the community of San José del Progreso and its neighbors, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Since March 16, 2009, all operations of Cuzcatlán Mining Company, 100% owned subsidiary of Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., of Vancouver, Canada, have been shut down. Fear of environmental contamination and dwindling water resources motivate the nearly two month long permanent occupation of the mine and all its installations.  “We are struggling for our lives and we are defending our territory, the territory where we born, raised, lived and will probably die…We sometimes forget that we poor people have the right to life, that we poor people can also defend all that we have,” says one resident from the community of Magdalena, Ocotlán.
Resistance to mining in Oaxaca has been growing in the last several years, as the federal government […] has granted hundreds of mining concessions to primarily transnational companies. 
Over 13% of Oaxaca’s superficial territory had been concessioned to private companies, as of June 2008, according to the Geological Service of Mexico.[1]
Fortuna Silver Mines’ “Trinidad” mine is only the first of up to 50 that is to be built or reactivated in the Valley of Ocotlán, just south of the capital city of Oaxaca.
Aura Silver and Intrepid Mines, also Canadian mining companies, have active mining operations in the nearby municipality of San Jerónimo Taviche, where several deaths have been reported due to contact with toxic material used by the mine.
The Mexican government has significantly changed property protections and mining laws, particularly since the signing of NAFTA in 1994, to give foreign companies more incentives to start operations in Mexico.  Article 27 of the Constitution and the Agrarian Law were changed to “regularize” communally owned land and ejidos, a form a group held property created by the Constitution of 1917 as part of a land reform program, into parcels of private property.  It is much easier to sell and transfer these private parcels, unlike ejidos and communal property, which required approval by consensus through an assembly.
The government also privatized nearly all publicly held mining operations, apart for a select few related to energy production, and withdrew other competitive mining activities.
The Mining Law of 1992, amended in 2005, declares that not only are exploration and exploitation of the nation’s minerals a public utility, thus justifying government expropriation of property for this purpose, but also that these activities are “preferred over any other use or exploitation of land” (Article 6).  Companies do not have to pay any royalties under the new law and are charged a rent well below its actual value. The law permits full foreign ownership of the companies that hold mining concessions, which last for a minimum of 50 years, though it may be required to create a subsidiary domiciled in Mexico.
Fortuna Silver Mines (via its subsidiary Cuzcatlán) holds at least one concession of over 53,000 hectares, along with several others, with a projected affected area covering 160,000 hectares, in a state where the average farmer has less than 5 hectares of land.[2]
Though some in the mining industry claim that Mexico has strong environmental regulations,[3] it lacks specific rules and norms that would give teeth to its enforcement. The residents living near Fortuna Silver Mines’ “Trinidad” mine are deeply worried about its environmental effects. A young mother says, “We fear that the mine will collapse and that our lands will be swallowed, I think that in a time not far from now we won’t be able to sow, the land will be infertile.”
Independent laboratory tests confirm the presence of cyanide, mercury, arsenic, and lead contamination in regional water supplies due to the Trinidad and other local mines. This, along with reports of the deaths of at least twenty heads of cattle in the last three months, outrage the residents, who say they had no information about these consequences earlier.[4]
Many are also concerned with the mine’s massive water demands. During the first stage of exploration, the water table had already dropped noticeably. “This water is ours, it used to be on the surface but after the excavations started, it is at the bottom ,” said one farmer.
Another farmer added that “All the water that is at the bottom is water that the company moved down to be able to work at the lowest levels of the mine. Now, all the water is contaminated with different heavy metals and it’s coming up to contaminate soil on the surface. They say that they don’t contaminate, that it won’t affect us…but the truth is that it is a risk, not only for our lives but also for the environment.”
Mexico ratified Convention 169, or the Indigenous and Tribal People’s Convention, of the International Labor Organization, which requires that a government with sub-surface or mineral rights hold consultations with affected populations to ascertain the opinions of the people before granting permission for exploration or exploitation. However, the people of San José del Progreso say they were never informed, let alone consulted. One resident, pointing to a large deposit of rock and earth beside the entrance to the mine, said, “They didn’t inform us about anything. We didn’t know until we saw the mountain of dirt, that’s how the rest of us found out. Then they said it was only 300 meters deep but that wouldn’t create this much rock and dirt.” The primary tunnel is actually more than a kilometer long, perhaps several kilometers, but rising water levels inside the mine currently only permit access to 960 meters.
Seeing the effects after only two years of excavation on the mine site, purportedly in the first phase of exploration, the residents of San José del Progreso held a community assembly on March 14, 2009, where they decided that they wanted the mining company to leave. As Agustín Ríos Cruz, a resident of nearby Ocotlán and a member of the Comité de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEP), explains, “Our objective is the cancellation of the project, and the outright refusal from every one of the communities, a no to mining. This cancellation is not only for San José del Progreso, but for all of the Valley of Ocotlán and for the state and for the entirety of Mexico. All the authorities – state, federal and some municipal – are delivering our homeland, our soil, our land to the companies, but we can’t give the land away. It is our children’s and we are simply taking care of it for the moment.”
However, the local authorities, most notably the municipal president, Venancio Oscar Martínez Rivera, and the head of the commission that administers the ejido, Quintín Vásquez Rosario, stood opposed to the decision of the people, going as far as to threaten them if they dared to take action against the mine. Many residents who attended the meeting describe how the municipal president used a gun to physically threaten members of the Coordination in Defense of the Natural Resources and Our Mother Earth, a group that was formed earlier in the year to organize resistance against the mine. Various media outlets also report that the local officials are being paid monthly to maintain their support for the project.[5]
Despite not having support of local authorities, the community marched from the center of town to the mine site two days later, and peacefully shut down all operations.
Just days after the closing of the mine, several trucks filled with soldiers arrived at the mine site. However, when the people refused them entry, the soldiers began to provoke and threaten them. Ultimately, with the assistance of a private company, Oveida, they extracted more than 30 tons of explosive material from the tunnels, not only shocking local residents but also generating more questions about the safety and environmental impacts of that quantity of explosives.
There have also been reports of harassment and threats by police against resisters, including two attempted kidnappings of key organizers of the movement. At the time of writing, there were at least 15 outstanding arrest warrants against members of the community and the Coordination, but no one had yet been detained.
A month into the occupation of the mine, the members of San José del Progreso and neighboring communities Maguey Largo and Magdalena, among several others, decided to shut down a federal highway between the capital city of Oaxaca and the coastal town of Puerto Ángel, in an attempt to increase visibility of the struggle and elevate pressure on the government to take their claims seriously. They entered the highway in the early hours of March 20, 2009, and declared that they would not lift the blockade until the authorities answered their claims.
The following day, at least nine trucks of riot police and one truck of soldiers arrived to oust the blockade. A peaceful agreement was reached to end the blockade in exchange for negotiations with the state government. Though no agreement has yet been reached through these negotiations, the community was successful in attracting more media attention to their plight and movement against the mining company.
Fortuna Silver has responded with demands that the government protect their investments in the mine, nearly US$30 million, simultaneously accusing community members occupying the mine site of theft and vandalism.
In a press conference in late April, Canadian trade and environmental officials, Paul Connors and Paula Caldwell St. Onge, said that the Canadian government embraces corporate social responsibility, and that Canadian companies in Mexico respect that position. They also suggested that the Trinidad mine could start exploitation within a year.[6]
Mexican government bodies went on to deny reports that the water is contaminated and that any animals have died as a result. They insinuated that the struggle over the Trinidad mine was not community based, but rather spurred on by a small fringe group from outside the affected area. The government assured the company that they would find a way for to continue their exploration.[7]
On May 2, 2009, the community held a symposium, with the intent of inviting experts and scientists to better inform the communities about the effects of mining, share mining experiences from other parts of Mexico, and generate ideas for the future of their struggle. However, the invitees coming from Mexico City or San Luis Potosi, two cities shut down by the swine flu, were forced to cancel their travel. The community decided to ahead with the event as planned. As one organizer explained,
“The pretext of the flu is a way of putting brakes on our movements…What a coincidence that they are so worried about our health now, that we are going to die of respiratory diseases, but why aren’t they thinking about the huge harm that the exploitation of the mines, the exploitation of gold, will cause to our lives. We are in the land of gold; however, we are in the worst conditions of life: in poverty, marginalized, our children are dying of malnutrition and contamination. They don’t think about us, what they want is to get the resources to make themselves richer. For that reason, the only way to sustain this struggle is conscientization, people’s organization, and the unity of the poor. Not only in the Valley of Ocotlán, in Oaxaca, but in the state, the country, and the world – we have to make a united, integrated struggle. Our dignity is not for sale, it is the only thing that we, the poor, cannot sell, our dignity and our courage.”
They will be holding another event on May 16-17, 2009, in Ocotlán de Morelos, Oaxaca, in an attempt to bring together other anti-mining and land struggles to coordinate state and national efforts.
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WHAT TO DO
Send a letter, or a version of this one, to YOUR OWN politicians and media, as well as the people listed below.
To Whom It May Concern:
We have learned that the government of Mexico has unleashed repression against the indigenous communities of San José del Progreso and Magdalena Ocotlán, for defending their environment and natural resources, and for opposing the establishment of a gold and silver mine by the Canadian company Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.
We demand:
•  A stop to the repression and violation of the human rights being committed by the national and state governments.
•  Immediate freedom for the political prisoners from the communities of the Valley of Ocotlán and of the state of Oaxaca.
•  Immediate suspension of these mining licences and the cancellation of all mining that poisons the water and destroy the environment
What is the position of the governments of Canada and Mexico with respect to this repression in support of a Canadian mining company?
We hope for a positive resolution of this conflict and look forward to hearing back from you.
SEND LETTERS TO:
Embassy of Canada
Schiller 529, Col. Bosque de Chapultepec (Polanco)
Del. Miguel Hidalgo
11580 Mexico City, D.F., Mexico
From Canada dial: 011-52 + 55-5724-7900
From Mexico dial: 01 + (55) 5724.7900
E: mxico@international.gc.ca
Consulate of Canada in Oaxaca
Honorary Consul: Frances May
Consulate of Canada
Pino Suárez 700, Local 11B
Multiplaza Brena
Col. Centro, 68000 Oaxaca, Oaxaca
T: (951) 513-3777
E: oaxaca@canada.org.mx
List of all Canadian consulates in Mexico:
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/mexico-mexique/offices-bureaux/consoff-burcons.aspx?lang=en#HCOAX
MEXICAN PRESIDENT
FELIPE CALDERON HINOJOSA
PRESIDENTE CONSTITUCIONAL DE MÉXICO
felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
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MORE INFORMATION
Minerva Nora Martinez Lazaro, BARCA, Mariano Azuela 203, Col. José Vasconcelos, Oaxaca.  T: 01 951 5141634.  E: barcadh@prodigy.net.mx
CODIPJUP (Comisión Diocesana de Justicia y Paz), García Vigil 702, Centro, Oaxaca. T: 01 951 5167505, codijup@prodigy.net.mx
komala ramachandra, kfiesta@gmail.com
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Based in Guatemala, Rights Action (with tax-deductible legal status in Canada and USA) funds and works with community-based indigenous, development, environment and human rights organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, and also in El Salvador, Haiti, Oaxaca and Chiapas; and educates about and is involved in activism related to global development, environmental and Indigenous and human rights struggles.
EDUCATIONAL DELEGATION TO GUATEMALA, JULY 6-14
Please join this trip that will investigate DAM “DEVELOPMENT” PROJECTS UNDER-MINING HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT.  Over 9 days, delegates will meet with development, enviro and human rights experts and activists; visit Chixoy hydro-electric dam affected Mayan-Achi communities; visit Mayan-Q’eqchi communities that may well be harmed by the pending Xalala hydro-electric dam; visit Mayan-Mam communities being harmed by Goldcorp Inc’s huge gold mine.  INFORMATION: Karen Spring: spring.kj@gmail.com
SPEAKING TOUR - “MINING INVESTING IN CONFLICT”, APRIL 26 – MAY 18
Carlos Amador, member of the Siria Valley Environmental Defense Committee (Honduras), and Francois Guindon, Quebecois activist living in Guatemala and working for Rights Action on issues related to mining, are on a speaking tour right now in Canada.  To find out where they are, Francois Guindon, c: 819-329-0223; francois.guindon@gmail.com
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FOOTNOTES
1 Panorama Minero del Estado de Oaxaca, September, 2008.
2 For more information, see the website of the Dirección General de Minas: http://www.economia-dgm.gob.mx/.
3 http://www.azureminerals.com.au/projects_whymexico.shtml
4 Informational material from the Comité de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEP)
5 “Vamos a defender nuestras tierras hasta la muerte,” El Imparcial, May 5, 2009.
6 “Defiende Canadá la mina de San José del Progreso,” Diario Despertar, April 26, 2009.
7 “Grupos radicales, alborotan en ‘caso’ San José del Progreso,” Diario Despertar, April 26, 2009.

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