"PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio OSC denounces Civil Force violence and water takings by Carroll Farms pig farms", 26 June 2024

...The Associated Press has reported: “Two people were killed Thursday [June 20] when locals protesting alleged water contamination by a pork processing plant clashed with police in the Mexican gulf coast state of Veracruz.”

“Residents of the community of San Antonio Limon had been blocking a road demanding government action against the operation, which they said was responsible for polluting the aquifer and using too much water.”

That article further notes: “State security forces arrived Thursday in the community, also known as Totalco, and protesters said police began beating them and opened fire. Brothers Alberto and Jorge Cortina Vázquez, aged 22 and 27 respectively, were killed, according to the Veracruz state prosecutor’s office, which opened an investigation”...

“[Carroll Farms] has 18 farms between [the states of] Veracruz and Puebla...In addition to the overexploitation of the wells, the residents denounce the disposal of sewage contaminated with biological and chemical waste by the company”...

Civil society organizations...reported, in addition to physical violence, the use of firearms by elements of this institution, causing the death of the peasants Jorge and Alberto Cortina Vázquez...

As noted on their website: “Granjas Carroll de México (GCM)...is made up of two private groups that manage international operations: the first, Mexican, Agroindustrias Unidas de México (AMSA), with activities in the agri-food industry; the second, Smithfield, is American, the main pork producer and processor in the world.”

Smithfield Foods, Inc., is a pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia. It operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese-owned conglomerate WH Group...