The study of the extractive mining industries in Mexico and the situation of indigenous peoples in the territories in which they are located turns out to be very appropriate. The Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations commissioned Saúl Vicente Vázquez to undertake and present the study at its 12th session in May of this year.
The report is significant on more than one level. Principally, for the fact that an international body of the status of the UN might notice a conflict with grave political, legal, health, social and environmental consequences in our country (and worldwide) caused by toxic mega-mining, particularly in the territories of indigenous peoples. The report's content and recommendations constitute a severe wake-up call for the Mexican government, which by omission and commission neither guarantees nor respects the rights of the indigenous peoples. Among other actions, the report and urges approval of a
"Federal law for consultation and free, prior and informed consent in accordance with the international standards established by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples".In keeping with the demands of indigenous organizations faced with noncompliance and violation of the San Andrés Accords, the report finds that one must recognize indigenous peoples as subjects of public law, in particular Articles 2, 26, 27 and 115 of the Constitution, and to harmonize this constitutional framework and its laws with international legal instruments on human rights.
Deputies and senators in Congress focused on making the largest number of legal and constitutional reforms to favor transnational capital corporations, it is significant that the UN is urging these popular representatives of the nation to
"review the legislation related to methods of extraction and types of exploitation, and reform the mining law, the national water law, the agricultural law, the general law of national property rights, and the federal law of rights so they are consistent with the rights of indigenous peoples, with sustainable development and environmental protection."As those protesting against toxic mega-mining have been insisting, various secondary laws are particularly harmful and contrary to the spirit and letter of Articles 2 and 27 of the Constitution. [These secondary laws] authorize the exploration, exploitation and processing of minerals [as having] the character of "public usefulness" and "preferred", over any other use or development of the land, as well as giving individuals extraordinarily easy access to concessions for protected lands, transforming [indigenous] communities to the unprecedented status of "surface" owners, outside any legal criterion or framework. These privileges go to corporations, the majority of which are foreigners who possess concessions. According to the report, these concessions on 35 percent of the national territory constitute a complete break with the constitutional pact brought about by the armed movement of 1910 -1917 [Mexican Revolution], and is further evidence of the collaboration and national betrayal by Mexico's ruling class.
The report highlights the ratification by Mexico of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization and its adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and, therefore, the State's obligation regarding extractive mining industries to which it refers, of respecting the self-determination of indigenous peoples, through which they freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural development. This right may only be exercised beginning with recognition of their living space, that is, their territory. For this reason, the author of the report makes a particularly coherent argument citing Article 26 of the Universal Declaration; namely, that the indigenous peoples have the
"right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use."With full recognition that the rights to consultation and free, prior and informed consent and participation in making decisions that affect them directly or indirectly are the cornerstone of the Universal Declaration and Convention 169, the author points out that apparently the related secondary laws, especially the mining law, contradict the obligations under the international legal framework that Mexico has ratified and adopted.
The report confirms the conflict inherent in mining activity and cites the Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America, which has detected 164 conflicts in 17 countries in the region, including 19 conflicts in Mexico. Here, it makes note of the gravity of the situation of the confrontations in Guerrero, Oaxaca and San Luis Potosí, among other states, in which those opposed to mining have even been killed and their movements criminalized.
Furthermore, these companies capitalize on the agriculture crisis, and on the marginalization and loss of food sovereignty in order to co-opt some community leaders:
"The concern for the relationship between indigenous peoples and the extractive companies in Mexico has reached the level of the United Nations."Thus, the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed its
"serious concern regarding the growing tensions between external actors and indigenous peoples associated with the exploitation of natural resources, with particular emphasis on cases of mining exploitation."Wasn't the armed uprising of the EZLN in 1994 sufficient to call attention to the predicament of indigenous peoples? Spanish original
*Gilberto López y Rivas is an anthropologist and researcher for Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in the state of Morelos. He holds the doctorate in anthropology from the University of Utah. He was active in the 1968 student movement and has served in the federal Chamber of Deputies.