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Article

19 Dec 2016

Author:
Patti Kilpatrick, The Seattle Globalist (US)

Mexico: Indigenous rights defenders denounce lack of consultation on wind farms & risks of Special Economic Zones in Oaxaca

“Indigenous people confront the energy industry, from Oaxaca to Standing Rock”, 14 Dec 2016

…Our feeds are filled with news of the Standing Rock…[b]ut few realize that similar situations…have been playing out for more than a decade in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca…Bettina Cruz Velázquez, a courageous indigenous land rights activist from the region…talked about the land rights struggles [with] large wind energy companies…“[W]e are opposed to the way in which wind turbines are being installed here without any free, prior and informed consultation of our indigenous communities”…In June of this year, the Mexican government enacted a new law establishing three “Zonas Económicas Especiales”…offering even more incentives and public subsidies to large private energy companies. One of those zones will be on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, including the part of Oaxaca where Cruz works…