"Francisco Vázquez, defender of water in Morelos, is assassinated", February 14, 2022

...Armed men assassinated Francisco Vázquez, an environmental defender in eastern Morelos and a member of a group of ejidatarios who oppose the start-up of the Huexca thermoelectric plant.

The thermoelectric plant is part of the Morelos Integral Project (PIM) which also includes a gas pipeline (which leaves from Tlaxcala, passes through Puebla and reaches Morelos) and an aqueduct built to carry water, from Ciudad Ayala and Cuautla to Huexca in Yecapixtla.

A day earlier, Francisco, who was a member of the Supervisory Council of the Cuautla River Association (ASURCO), publicly announced -during a meeting of ejidatarios- that he "received death threats" and "in case something happened to him or Thus, blamed Rogelio Plascencia, president of ASURCO”. This is according to members of the Permanent Assembly of the Peoples of Morelos who, for fear of reprisals, asked to remain anonymous...

Through a statement, Government of Morelos rejected suggestions Vázquez was an opponent of the thermoelectric plant, to avoid parallels with the murder of Samir Flores Soberanes in 2019, the main opponent of the thermoelectric plant...

However, members of the Peoples' Front in Defense of Land and Water Morelos, Tlaxcala and Puebla highlighted at least two recorded submissions, filed by ejidatarios, which Francisco participated in and monitored as Ejidal Commissariat in the Sixth District Court, have to this point halted the operation of the Huexca thermoelectric plant.

These protections form the legal strategy chosen by the ejidatarios who are already suffering from water scarcity and which is directly affecting their crops...