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Article

14 Jan 2015

Author:
International Service for Human Rights

Mexican human rights defender Bettina Cruz exposes human rights risks posed by wind farm companies in indigenous lands

"Bettina Cruz: Mexican human rights defender working on business and human rights", 6 Jan 2015

The Mexican Region of Tehuantepec has...a lot of wind. And with the wind came many problems in the past decades. According to Bettina Cruz, those problems have a name: eolian companies...These foreign companies do not understand the diversity of implications that their projects have, she says. They do not understand that when they implant windmills in coffee or corn fields, they are depriving indigenous communities from a main source of alimentation...On 13 April 2013, different communities from Tehuantepec carried out a peaceful demonstration [at]...the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE)...to protest against the complicity of the CFE with allegedly illegal contracts that disregard the ownership of the land, as well as other human rights violations related to the installation of wind farms...Bettina was...was detained and imprisoned...Bettina Cruz and other indigenous defenders…participate[d] in the Business and Human Rights Forum...in Geneva to advocate for the respect of the rights of indigenous communities...