Mexico

class=”MuiTypography-root-142 MuiTypography-h1-147″>Mexico’s Interoceanic Corridor aims to rival the Panama Canal

​​​​​​​Mexico is hard at work on a huge development project that the country’s president hopes will rival the Panama Canal. It won’t be another waterway, but when it’s finished, the Interoceanic Corridor will connect ports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Mexico in numerous ways. President Andres Manuel López Obrador is looking to the US for support on the project. But Indigenous communities are fighting the decision. 

The WorldMarch 24, 2023 · 4:00 PM EDT

• By Michael Fox

Wind generators near the Indigenous town of Juchitán de Zaragoza in Mexico.

Mike Fox/The World

US Climate envoy John Kerry was welcomed in Mexico this week, with an official ceremony honoring the birth of Mexico’s first Indigenous president, Benito Juárez, 217 years ago.

“Today, we celebrate leadership. We celebrate the beginning of Independence for Mexico. And we celebrate together, Estados Unidos, Mexico. Para siempre,” Kerry said. “US-Mexico forever.”

Wind farms around the town of Juchitán de Zaragoza in Mexico, which is in the middle of the Interoceanic Corridor.

Credit:

Mike Fox/The World

But there was another reason Kerry was visiting the Mexican state of Oaxaca. This is the location of the new Interoceanic Corridor. It’s the signature project of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. With a price tag of at least $1 billion, this ambitious effort includes modernizing ports and airports, building 200 miles of new railways and highways and an oil pipeline and a fiber-optic network, plus 10 industrial parks.

López Obrador is hoping to attract US investment, especially for new wind farms in Oaxaca.

Kerry this week signaled that the Biden administration is on board, and willing to invest in more than 10 wind and solar farms. But there’s a problem.

A wind generator near the town of Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico, which is along the Interoceanic Corridor, a signature project of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Credit:

Mike Fox/The World

Local residents say the wind farms already established in Oaxaca by foreign companies have disrespected communal land rights; and failed to benefit the local community; and polluted the environment.

And Indigenous groups are not happy about López Obrador's interoceanic development project. One group of residents blocked a major highway in the region just ahead of Kerry's visit. Others marched on the capital of Oaxaca and occupied the main plaza on Monday.

“We won’t let you remove us from our lands and violate our rights,” said an Indigenous leader in a video shared on social media. In the video, he stands with a group of protesters in front of a rail line that should be under construction. But they've been blocking it now for nearly a month.

Carlos Beas Torres is a leader of UCIZONI — the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Isthmus — which is battling the development project.

“The Mexican government is imposing this project on Indigenous territories. The population was not consulted,” Beas Torres said. “They are removing people from their land.”

Mototaxis driving through the streets of the Indigenous town of Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico, that sits along the Interoceanic Corridor development project.

Credit:

Mike Fox/The World

He said that he himself is being threatened. This week, a letter signed by dozens of Mexican groups demanded that federal and state authorities stop harassing Beas Torres and his Indigenous organization.

“This megaproject is looking to completely transform our region and our culture,” Beas Torres said. “We’re farmers and fishermen. This project is about industry. It will change our way of life.”

But officials say the project is a win-win. Oaxacan Gov. Salomón Jara Cruz said earlier this month that the Interoceanic Corridor would transform Oaxaca. “We will be a geopolitical and strategic point for global commerce.”

Martín Esteva Martínez drives a mototaxi in the Indigenous town of Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico.

Credit:

Mike Fox/The World

Experts say the corridor could eventually ship 1.4 million containers a year and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

President López Obrador said he’s going to encourage foreign companies to set up in the region. He said there will be state subsidies and plenty of jobs.

The Indigenous town of Juchitán de Zaragoza is along the development corridor. Martín Esteva Martínez drives a mototaxi here. But he’s also in his final years of a degree in electrical engineering. He’s concerned about what this huge development project could mean for the region’s Indigenous culture.

But he also said it could be positive for Oaxaca: “Many new companies are going to come here. So, that would be an opportunity.”

There’s still a long way to go, though, and economists like Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid at the University of Mexico question the plan’s true viability.

"The reality is that up until now, we haven’t seen one investment project from a private firm, beyond the infrastructure that the government has been building. No plant or company has yet to commit to the project,” he said.

“We’ll see what happens in the future, but currently there are many uncertainties.”

Meanwhile, Indigenous communities have promised to continue to fight.

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class=”MuiTypography-root-142 MuiTypography-h1-147″>The last of Mexico’s artisanal salt-makers preserve a 2,000-year-old tradition

A handful of salt-makers in Mexico are preserving an ancestral tradition of artisanal salt that goes back 2,000 years. It's a dying art form and many fear for its future amid climate change and migration.

The WorldMarch 3, 2023 · 3:00 PM EST

• By Michael Fox

The salt-makers in Mexico are preserving an ancestral tradition of artisanal salt that goes back 2,000 years. 

Michael Fox/The World

The sun isn’t fully up, but Pedro Salas Díaz is already hard at work carrying 100-pound sacks of salt down the hillside to be stored for sale. He navigates his way along the rock walls that separate hundreds of small pools that have been here for centuries.

Salas Díaz is only 23, but he’s been working here for the majority of his life. 

“This has been passed down from generation to generation,” he said. “From my grandfather, to my father and now, me.”

But here in this Oaxacan town of Zapotitlan Salinas, migration and climate change may spell the end of salt farming in Mexico. 

Pedro Salas Díaz has worked as a salt farmer most of his life in a tradition passed down for generations. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

Salas Díaz works alongside his father as one of the youngest in a group of less than 100 traditional salt farmers left here. 

Visiting this salt farm is like stepping back in time. Even the salt-makers don’t know how many hundreds of years ago the stairs and the rock walls of the mineral springs were built.

Their salt farming technique has remained roughly the same for generations.

They use the spring water to fill the salt pools. It can take two months of watering, washing, rewashing, and breaking up the crystals, for each pool to produce a few hundred pounds of salt.

The mineral spring near the Oaxacan town of Zapotitlan Salinas.

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

Back before industrialized production, the salt here was a coveted commodity that Indigenous people called “white gold.” Popoloca peoples produced and traded it widely long before the arrival of the Spanish.

Those days are over, but it’s still a huge source of pride for the local community. 

“It’s our identity,” local tour guide Leonardo Noé said. 

“Our town is named Zapotitlán Salinas, or Zapotitlán 'of the salt farms.' It’s our unique identity and puts us on the map.”

But still, Noé said, many youth are leaving in search of easier, better-paying jobs elsewhere. Many have migrated to the United States.

"We need to incorporate more youth, and more people who want to learn the skill of being a salt farmer," he said. 

Pedro Salas Díaz and his dad work on the salt farms that their family has done for generations. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

In town, huge baskets holding bags of salt sit outside the shop of resident Marcelo Salas. 

“When I opened this store, the first thing I wanted to do was sell this salt, because it’s part of our culture,” Salas said. “We sell about a ton of it a week.” 

Across the street, Maria del Carmen Cruzalas owns and runs a taco shop. 

"We are the children of salt farmers,” she said. “And there is a huge difference between refined salt and the salt we produce here. Our salt gives another flavor to the meat and sauces." 

Their salt is also good for one's health. A recent study from the nearby Tehuacán Technological University found that it has 65% less sodium and is rich with 200 minerals.

That’s because this whole region used to be underwater. The ancient sea left behind salt and minerals, which the rains collect when they fall during the summer months — and replenish the mineral springs that feed the salt farms.

Migration and climate change may spell the end of salt farming in the Oaxacan town of Zapotitlan Salinas.

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

But farmer Pedro Salas Díaz said those springs aren’t filling up like they used to, and he’s concerned for the future. 

"With climate change, there are times when it’s not supposed to rain and it does, and times when it’s supposed to rain, when it doesn’t. It is very concerning,” he said.

Pedro Salas Díaz, 23, has worked as a salt farmer most of his life.

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

Salt farmers here need the summer rains to fill the springs, but a rain during the dry season, right now, could ruin months of work. 

But Díaz said they will weather the storm. And when his toddler son is ready, he’ll be bringing him along, too — teaching him the trade that he learned from his father and his grandfather before him.

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class=”MuiTypography-root-142 MuiTypography-h1-147″>Mexico’s clean energy plan could run into trouble at leaders’ summit

The North American leaders will be discussing immigration and the recapture of the son of drug cartel kingpin “El Chapo.” But also high on the agenda: a dispute over energy.

The WorldJanuary 10, 2023 · 1:30 PM EST

• By Michael Fox

The beach at the popular tourist resort of Puerto Peñasco in the state of Sonora, Mexico, September 2018.

Annika Wolters/AP/File photo

Just across the Arizona border lies the dry, hot northern Mexico state of Sonora. It’s known for its abundant minerals, and it sees more than 300 days a year of clear sky and sunshine — prime real estate for something like a massive solar plant,  or several of them.

Mexico plans to do just that, building solar plants across Sonora, and it hopes to inaugurate the first project next month.

But that’s just the first stage. Within a few years, officials say it will be generating a gigawatt of energy, roughly the output of a nuclear power plant. Once completed, it’ll be the eighth-largest solar plant in the world.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said it’s just the beginning.

"We’ve already begun the solar plant in Puerto Peñasco and the idea is to replicate it. Make five plants, and at the same time, run those electric lines to the border,” he told press late last year, adding that Mexico could even supply energy to the United States.  

But there's a problem. These solar projects are to be run by Mexico’s state-owned company. The US and Canada say it is a violation of trade agreeements — an issue that’s central to the talks between the leaders of Canada, the US and Mexico, which are underway in Mexico City this week.

In recent years, López Obrador has pushed an energy policy that, in short, has prioritized largely coal-powered energy from the state electricity company, sidelining renewables and private and foreign energy firms. 

Mexican energy consultant Arturo Carranza said the move has been harshly criticized "not only by opposition political parties, but also by private companies already involved in Mexico's electricity sector. For them, this reform represented a change in the rules under which they had decided to bring their investments."

The US and Canada have demanded that Mexico rescind the priority status of the state electricity company and treat all firms equally. López Obrador responded by saying that his government has a right to prioritize Mexican state companies.

Last July, the US and Canada filed a complaint against Mexico for breaking rules under the North American free trade deal, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It states that Mexico cannot prioritize state businesses over the private sector. They also accused López Obrador of disincentivizing investment in clean energy.

Energy consultant Carranza said the Sonora plan is Mexico’s way of offering a carrot to the United States and Canada — a promise of clean energy. The plan would also include the extraction of lithium, in part, for the US microchip industry and for car manufacturing.

Analysts say it's a step in the right direction, but it only partially resolves the root of the energy conflict. Plus, it's not clear that Mexico could even get the full plan off the drawing board. 

"As a Mexican, I would love it if Plan Sonora could generate, transform, drive and supply 40% of the country with clean energy,” said Miriam Grunstein, chief energy counsel at Brilliant Energy Consulting. "But that's just a fantasy." 

Even if Mexico could muster the funds to build the plants, Grunstein said, Mexico’s electricity grid would have to be updated to carry the new load, something that Mexico is not investing in. 

University of Mexico economist Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid said not to expect anything substantial from this week’s summit.

"There will be nice words for the public,” he explained. "But behind the scenes, Canada and the United States are going to pressure Mexico hard to continue to change its energy policy.”

And that pressure may have an impact. Mexico imports roughly 70% of its natural gas, gasoline and diesel from the United States. And the US receives 80% of Mexico’s exports, which is a huge driver of the Mexican economy.

Moreno-Brid said that means the US has huge leverage to force Mexico to eventually bring its energy policy into line, negotiating power that will likely eventually have an impact, with or without Plan Sonora. 

Related: In the north of Mexico, water cuts to cope with shortages hit poor communities hardest

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class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>In the north of Mexico, water cuts to cope with shortages hit poor communities hardest 

Extreme heat and drought have left water in short supply in Monterrey, Mexico, but not everyone is feeling the pinch. Some poor neighborhoods seem to be facing far more restrictions on water usage than wealthier ones.

The WorldAugust 29, 2022 · 1:45 PM EDT

• By Tibisay Zea

People gather at a playground amid water shortages in Monterrey, Mexico.

Courtesy of Brenda Sanchez

Brenda Sánchez, a school teacher in Monterrey, Mexico, lives with her three kids in a poor area of the city known as Poniente, about 2 1/2 hours south of the Texas border.

Amid a severe water shortage in Monterrey, she said the government had a rationing plan in place to maintain access to water on a regular basis — but that it’s rarely put into practice where she lives. 

“We were supposed to have water for six hours a day during the mornings, but it never happens,” she said. “We’ve had up to six weeks without any running water at home," she said. 

Authorities have been restricting the city’s water supply since March, in order to ration the dwindling supply. But water cuts seem to be impacting low-income neighborhoods more than wealthier areas. 

In her neighborhood, she said, people line up for hours to receive water rations from delivery trucks. “We have to choose between going to work or waiting for the water,” she said.

Extreme heat and drought have left three dams that serve the city of nearly 5 million people, practically empty. Even the rain that is expected over the next few months won’t be enough to solve the problem, experts warn.

This is what life has become for many people in Monterrey.

People in the Colonia Valle de Lincoln, in the area of Poniente, Monterrey, line up to get water from the delivery truck.

Credit:

Courtesy of Brenda Sanchez

But that's not everyone's experience. 

Sánchez started noticing that in some wealthier neighborhoods, water cuts seemed less frequent, or not occurring at all.

She mentioned it to her brother-in-law, Antonio Hernández, who is a biologist and researcher in Monterrey. So, he started investigating.

He visited the municipality of San Pedro Garza García, where the governor of Nuevo León, Samuel García, lives. It is one of the wealthiest municipalities in the state of Nuevo León, and in all of Mexico.

He asked people there if their water had been cut off, and was surprised to hear that most of them said that access had not been affected. 

“I found a few people relaxing in a pool. A big pool,” he said. 

Water cuts in Monterrey, Mexico, seem to be impacting less wealthy communities while wealthier ones are not experiencing as many water cuts. 

Credit:

Courtesy of Brenda Sanchez

Hernández scanned the area using satellites and found green gardens and more than 600 swimming pools full of water.

“It was disturbing,” he said, "to see these people without any water restrictions, and then [comparing] it to the situation of members of my own family who don’t have any running water.”

In Monterrey, water distribution is the responsibility of Water and Sewage, a state agency. The agency's head, Juan Ignacio Barragán, confirmed the unequal distribution of water throughout the city. 

“Historically, wealthy people have chosen to live close to the sources of water, so they don’t face this problem,” he said.

Supplying water to areas that are far from the reservoirs is an ongoing challenge, Barragán said. These areas have also seen a growth in population, he added.

Barragán said the government has started a program to regulate water pressure. The idea is to conserve water that they can then pump to underserved communities. He also said that the agency is working to improve its outdated pipeline infrastructure.

But another problem is water concessions to private industries, like beer and soft drink bottlers.

José Antonio Benjamín Ordoñez Díaz, a researcher and environmentalist at the Monterrey Technology Institute and Higher Education, said the state of Nuevo León, where Monterrey is located, is a very dry area that historically has suffered from water scarcity.

It's a city that should not have so many industries that use extremely high amounts of water, he said. 

Barragan said that only 4% of the water of the state of Nuevo León goes to private companies. But Ordoñez Díaz pointed out that this represents 19% of Monterrey’s total water supply. 

Authorities have been calling on these industries to share the water that the government granted decades ago. Oftentimes, their water usage goes unchecked. 

But cutting water to these companies can generate another problem, Barragan said. 

“We would have a job crisis.”

Brenda Sanchez, the teacher in Poniente, said that water should be prioritized for human consumption in Monterrey. 

“I understand that we have limitations right now, but we all should have the same limitations and the same right to use this vital resource,” she said.

Related: Conservationists focus on community reforestation efforts to save Mexico’s wetlands

class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>Conservationists focus on community reforestation efforts to save Mexico’s wetlands

Mexico’s Centla wetlands are part of an ecological reserve in the southeastern Tabasco state that has been impacted by deforestation, cattle grazing and man-made fires. In recent decades, conservationists with Casa del Agua have promoted reforestation and community education to save the wetlands.

The WorldAugust 1, 2022 · 5:00 PM EDT

• By Michael Fox

Amid a multitude of trails with trees that reach dozens of feet overhead, conservationists with Casa del Agua lead tours and tell stories about the forests planted over three decades.

Michael Fox/The World

Conservationist Arturo Pantoja Garcia loves to give tours of the forest around Casa del Agua, or House of Water, a research and environmental education center on the edge of the Centla swamp in Mexico’s southeastern Tabasco state.

Casa del Agua attributes its reforestation success to community involvement since the beginning.

Credit:

Courtesy of Casa del Agua

Amid a multitude of trails, with trees that reach dozens of feet overhead, Pantoja Garcia tells stories about the forest that he and his team have planted over three decades.

“People said I was crazy when I was planting trees,” he said. “In those days, no one cared for them.”

Pantoja Garcia used to make a living hunting deer, rodents, lowland paca (larger rodents), ducks, turtles and fish in the wetlands.

“I hunted everything, to sell and to eat. Who would have guessed that after all that, I would become a conservationist?”

When the Casa del Agua conservation project began 30 years ago, much of the land served as pasture for grazing cattle. There are now lush mangrove forests, thanks to Casa del Agua’s reforestation and community education efforts.

Wetlands are the foundation for 75% of fisheries around the world, said Juan Carlos Romero Gil, a biologist with Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Natural Areas, who helped to found Casa del Agua. But they’re some of the least understood ecosystems, he said.

On the weekends, conservationists host a steady stream of visitors who take a nature tour or check out the environmental education displays. 

They emphasize how wetlands restoration can go a long way toward helping to remove carbon from the atmosphere, because mangrove forests can store three to four times the amount of carbon per acre than neighboring rainforests, which is backed by a recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

The group’s reforestation project has made a big impact on local residents' respect for the wetlands.

Just after dawn at Casa del Agua, workers water plants in one of the three nurseries on the property — about 15,000 baby trees stand in tiny rows and they're all native species: Tinto, or blackwood, and a tree the Mayans called Pukte. Some saplings go to the reforestation teams and others get handed out to residents in the dozens of communities spread out across the wetlands.

Casa del Agua has three nurseries on the property with about 15,000 baby mangrove trees.

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

Lucrecia Jimenez Hernandez, from a community just up the road, has worked on several reforestation projects over the last two years.

“Before, plants didn’t really matter to me,” she said. “Not now. Now I care. And those of us who work on the reforestation, benefit financially and we also know how important it is to have our trees, to care for them and to plant them.”

The project pays those involved about $10 a day, which is over Mexico’s minimum wage. Lucrecia said it’s an important source of revenue for her and her family.

Asuncion Hernandez Garcia, an independent tour guide, fisherman and restaurant owner who goes by the name Negro Chon, often takes groups out on the water, where two of Mexico's largest rivers pass on the way to the ocean, carrying a third of the country’s fresh water. 

“This reforestation is important,” he said. “We’ve noticed a difference, because the fish reproduce within these mangrove forests, and all sorts of other reptiles and amphibians also feed on the fish. So, this is a blessing for us.”

Local fishermen used to set fire to vegetation along the waterfront in order to more easily access fishing holes. But this practice is less frequent, in large part, due to the organization’s work.

Asuncion Hernandez Garcia, a tour guide and fisherman who goes by the name Negro Chon, often takes groups out on the water in his boat. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

Since the beginning, Casa del Agua has promoted reforestation and environmental education as methods that yield financial benefit. And the group attributes much of its reforestation success to community involvement from the start.

This September, Casa del Agua is planning a week of activities to accompany the 30th anniversary of their conservation and reforestation project. 

Biologist Romero Gil said they’ve planted roughly a million trees on more than 2,500 acres of land.

“Sustainability takes time,” he said.

Related: In Cancun, this man is turning seaweed trash into natural-building treasures

class=”MuiTypography-root-229 MuiTypography-h1-234″>'You hit this glass ceiling': Undocumented US students returned to Mexico struggle to continue their college studiesThe WorldJuly 15, 2022 · 11:15 AM EDT

• By Max Rivlin-Nadler

Demonstrators hold up signs outside the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals building in New Orleans on July 6, 2022. A panel of 5th Circuit judges heard arguments on an Obama-era program that prevents the deportation of thousands of immigrants brought into the United States as children. A federal judge in Texas last year declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program illegal — although he agreed to leave the program intact for those already benefiting from it while his order is appeal.

Kevin McGill/AP

Nancy Landa, who was born in Mexico and came to Los Angeles as a child, excelled in school and was the first-ever Latina student body president at California State, Northridge.

After college, she went on to work for a California State Assembly member. But one morning while driving to work in 2009, she was pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for being in the country illegally — she had been brought to the country from Mexico by her parents. That night, she was deported to Mexico, with nothing.

In Tijuana, she had to begin building her life back from scratch, so she took the only job she could find at a customer service call center.

“For me, that was a blow,” Landa said. “Because I had a university degree, five years of working experience in the US, [I was] managing projects, and the best job I could get was answering phones.”

Nancy Landa was deported from the United States before she could attend graduate school. After experiencing challenges integrating into the Mexican educational system, she studied abroad in London to get her master's degree.

Credit:

Courtesy of Nancy Landa

Landa still wanted to follow the dream she had in the US — obtaining a master’s degree in public policy. But to continue her studies, she had to get something called an apostille, a complicated verification process that Mexico uses to validate previous studies. She soon learned that not all of her college credits transferred.

She’s not alone. Young Mexican citizens like Landa, who return to Mexico — either voluntarily or through deportation — often find it difficult to continue their studies. Some give up, while others have to redo years of coursework just to get back to where they left off in the United States.

“At that time, the assessment was, ‘Well, we cannot count your entire US education. We can only count between 40%-60% of your education,’” she said. “For me, that was ridiculous, to start almost from scratch on that. I refused to do that, and that’s why I looked for opportunities elsewhere.”

The Mexican government instituted reforms in 2015 to try to make transferring credits easier, but Landa found that the federal government is no longer pushing changes to the system, leaving a lot of returning Mexicans, like Munoz, without the resources they need.

Landa eventually got her degree in global migration from University College London. She now works in Mexico City as an advocate to improve the ability of students to stay and study in Mexico.

Landa said that she believes that Mexico is missing out on a lot of talented students. Some give up and never go back to school, while others, like her own brother, never get to pursue an advanced degree.

“You hit this glass ceiling, really, where because you can’t enroll back in school, you can’t advance your career,” she said.

Dania Munoz, unlike Landa, had protections under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, which afforded temporary relief from deportation (deferred action) and work authorization to certain young undocumented immigrants.

Munoz was raised in Houston, attending school all the way through community college. But after her father got sick in 2018, the family returned to San Luis Potosi in Mexico.

She tried enrolling in a university there, but just like Landa ran into difficulties — she was told she’d have to retake several years of coursework.

“I could easily show my degree from Houston Community College,” Munoz said. “I have a lot of acceptance letters from different colleges, so yeah, I was a little mad.”

Eventually, Munoz reached out to Dream in Mexico, a group of returning Mexicans that helps other returnees navigate the country’s higher education system.

Dania Munoz found help through Dream in Mexico, an organization that guides returning Mexicans looking to continue their studies. Now, she's almost completed her nursing degree. 

Credit:

Courtesy of Dania Munoz

“I started looking online and I found them on Facebook. I clicked on their YouTube videos and stuff,and I was able to talk to one of the leaders of the group. He sent me everything, a guide to get all the paperwork done in Mexico,” Munoz said.

Munoz eventually enrolled in school and is almost done with her coursework to become a nurse. She thinks even though her journey was difficult, it was worth going through it.

For others in the same predicament, “I hope they get to experience something a little less complicated in the future,” she said. “There’s definitely a chance here. The process is tough but it’s ultimately worth it.”

Daniel Arenas is one of the co-founders of Dream in Mexico. He grew up in South Carolina in the early 2000s, before DACA. Because he was undocumented, Arenas wouldn’t qualify for in-state tuition or financial aid, and attending an in-state school would cost him $20,000 per year.

“In high school, I wanted to go to college and it didn’t matter what country it was in,” Arenas said. “I really wanted to go to college, and it didn’t matter if I had to be apart from my family.”

Daniel Arenas came back to Mexico in search of cheaper college tuition. Now, he helps other returning Mexicans make similar transitions to the country's educational system.

Credit:

Courtesy of Daniel Arenas

So, instead, he enrolled at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, in Monterrey, Mexico, where he said that he paid half of what he would have in the United States. He stressed that returning to Mexico for education is still a good option for DACA recipients in the United States.

A lot of undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children “think there aren’t great universities in Mexico or that it’s not possible, or that your education in the US isn’t going to be valid,” he explained. “That’s where we had to change things and help people by helping them think outside the box.”

class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>Opinion: Roe v. Wade overturned: Will more Americans travel to Canada and Mexico for abortions?

After the ruling by the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, will more Americans travel for abortions? Inequalities created by this controversial decision will be revealed at border points.

The ConversationJune 24, 2022 · 2:45 PM EDT

• By Candace Johnson

Anti-abortion demonstrators outside the US Supreme Court on the day the court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion laws. 

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

The United States Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights for Americans.

For the countries that share a border with the United States, what will be the impact for Americans who want to travel to Mexico or Canada to get access to abortions?

First, people will still need abortions and will seek them out. Abortion is a component of health care for people, along with other reproductive matters.

Second, abortion is a right, even if contested, and should be available without shame or risk.

Third, the ways in which Americans seek out abortion will be stratified, meaning achieved in different ways and according to a number of factors related to inequality. This will determine who crosses state or international borders to seek out abortions if unavailable in their own states.

This is the immediate and main outcome of the overturning of Roe v. Wade: a situation in which abortion is legal and accessible in some states and illegal and possibly criminalized in others.

People will still seek abortions

Nonetheless, people will continue to require abortion regardless of what state they live in. Evidence shows that abortion bans don’t stop the procedure, they just alter how people acquire them. They force people to find providers in other jurisdictions, to rely on medical abortion through internet sources — meaning that they’ll purchase online the medication that can induce abortion and administer it themselves — or to seek out clandestine or illegal and unsafe procedures.

It’s worth emphasizing that all sorts of pregnant people need and want abortions: young and old; poor and affluent; Black, Indigenous, racialized, white, people who are cisgender, transgender or nonbinary; nonreligious and religious; abortion-rights advocates and anti-abortion activists. Gloria Steinem’s research even revealed that anti-abortion activists who picket outside abortion clinics sometimes get abortions in the same clinics they are protesting.

With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and with access already seriously curtailed in many states, people have started to look to other jurisdictions for abortions.

Colorado, for example, reports a 1,000-per-cent increase in demand for abortion since the Texas abortion ban came into effect in September 2021. The law makes it almost impossible for people to access abortion in Texas.

By way of contrast, Colorado has guaranteed the right to abortion and made the state a safe haven for people throughout the US.

Abortion-rights demonstrators protest outside the US Supreme Court in Washington after the court issued a ruling that ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years. 

Credit:

Steve Helber/AP

State bans expected

In a post-Roe v. Wade political landscape, approximately half of American states are expected to ban or severely restrict abortion.

This means people could travel to the remaining 25 or so states for abortions. But this isn’t so easy. Some states have already threatened surveillance and travel restrictions for the purpose of getting an abortion, and travel is expensive and invasive. Not all people will be able to pick up and leave for another state.

For people on the southern US border, Mexico will be a preferred option because they already cross the border regularly for medical and dental services or other kinds of exchanges and purchases.

Access to medical abortions is easy and cheap in Mexico, although there are reasons to be concerned about information and oversight. A medical abortion requires two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. The first can be purchased in a pharmacy in Mexico; the second requires a prescription from a doctor.

There is concern that people will only acquire the first medication and forgo the second, and will not receive proper care for the entire procedure.

Slipping across the border into Mexico is familiar, anonymous, inexpensive, quick and carries with it no surveillance or judgment. This is a good option for many people, especially those who are poor, racialized and/or particularly vulnerable to state surveillance. But the removal of constitutional protections for abortion will create a stratified reproductive rights regime, in which people will be forced to make choices based on their social positions.

Travel across state borders might be easiest for the most privileged people who are the least concerned about state surveillance and control; these are people who are not poor, racialized, vulnerable or under threat.

Demonstrators hold coat hangers in the air as they protest outside of the US Supreme Court in May 2022. 

Credit:

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Travelling to Canada for abortions

Travel to Canada requires a passport, planning, time, money and medical management of the procedure. There are also relatively few abortion clinics in Canada, and there are concerns that they’re already at capacity and demand would soon outpace the ability to provide services.

Some of the states that would likely outlaw abortion — Michigan, North Dakota and Idaho among them — border rural parts of the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

This means demand might increase in the areas that are already struggling to provide abortion in underserviced and overstretched areas. And Americans who will pay out of pocket for abortions might increase wait times and further restrict access for rural, northern and Indigenous people.

The March for Life event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa last May, organized by those opposed to abortion, also attracted abortion-rights protesters. 

Credit:

THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

Justin Trudeau’s government has welcomed Americans to Canada and ensured that Canadian Border Services will permit entry, but there are still a lot of important details to sort through.

Would people have to declare their intention to have an abortion or could they state that they were going to visit a reproductive health clinic? What level of deeply sensitive personal information needs to be revealed to the border services agent?

Who will come to Canada — which pregnant people — and why is a matter of speculation at this point. But we can be certain there will be an increase in demand from across the border, that it will put pressure on the Canadian system, that the drug combination used in medical abortions will be increasingly scarce or hard to access and that stratified reproduction rights will be revealed and replicated.

The Trudeau government has been impressive regarding its rhetorical commitments to feminist foreign policy, gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights at home and abroad, but has often failed to achieve gender justice.

With the reversal of Roe v. Wade, let’s hope Canada is ready to honor its commitments to reproductive health and rights for people on both sides of the border.

Candace Johnson is a professor of political science at the University of Guelph. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good. 

class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>Roe v. Wade overturned: Will more Americans travel to Canada and Mexico for abortions?

After the ruling by the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, will more Americans travel for abortions? Inequalities created by this controversial decision will be revealed at border points.

The ConversationJune 24, 2022 · 2:45 PM EDT

• By Candace Johnson

Anti-abortion demonstrators outside the US Supreme Court on the day the court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion laws. 

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

The United States Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights for Americans.

For the countries that share a border with the United States, what will be the impact for Americans who want to travel to Mexico or Canada to get access to abortions?

First, people will still need abortions and will seek them out. Abortion is a component of health care for people, along with other reproductive matters.

Second, abortion is a right, even if contested, and should be available without shame or risk.

Third, the ways in which Americans seek out abortion will be stratified, meaning achieved in different ways and according to a number of factors related to inequality. This will determine who crosses state or international borders to seek out abortions if unavailable in their own states.

This is the immediate and main outcome of the overturning of Roe v. Wade: a situation in which abortion is legal and accessible in some states and illegal and possibly criminalized in others.

People will still seek abortions

Nonetheless, people will continue to require abortion regardless of what state they live in. Evidence shows that abortion bans don’t stop the procedure, they just alter how people acquire them. They force people to find providers in other jurisdictions, to rely on medical abortion through internet sources — meaning that they’ll purchase online the medication that can induce abortion and administer it themselves — or to seek out clandestine or illegal and unsafe procedures.

It’s worth emphasizing that all sorts of pregnant people need and want abortions: young and old; poor and affluent; Black, Indigenous, racialized, white, people who are cisgender, transgender or nonbinary; nonreligious and religious; abortion-rights advocates and anti-abortion activists. Gloria Steinem’s research even revealed that anti-abortion activists who picket outside abortion clinics sometimes get abortions in the same clinics they are protesting.

With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and with access already seriously curtailed in many states, people have started to look to other jurisdictions for abortions.

Colorado, for example, reports a 1,000-per-cent increase in demand for abortion since the Texas abortion ban came into effect in September 2021. The law makes it almost impossible for people to access abortion in Texas.

By way of contrast, Colorado has guaranteed the right to abortion and made the state a safe haven for people throughout the US.

Abortion-rights demonstrators protest outside the US Supreme Court in Washington after the court issued a ruling that ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years. 

Credit:

Steve Helber/AP

State bans expected

In a post-Roe v. Wade political landscape, approximately half of American states are expected to ban or severely restrict abortion.

This means people could travel to the remaining 25 or so states for abortions. But this isn’t so easy. Some states have already threatened surveillance and travel restrictions for the purpose of getting an abortion, and travel is expensive and invasive. Not all people will be able to pick up and leave for another state.

For people on the southern US border, Mexico will be a preferred option because they already cross the border regularly for medical and dental services or other kinds of exchanges and purchases.

Access to medical abortions is easy and cheap in Mexico, although there are reasons to be concerned about information and oversight. A medical abortion requires two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. The first can be purchased in a pharmacy in Mexico; the second requires a prescription from a doctor.

There is concern that people will only acquire the first medication and forgo the second, and will not receive proper care for the entire procedure.

Slipping across the border into Mexico is familiar, anonymous, inexpensive, quick and carries with it no surveillance or judgment. This is a good option for many people, especially those who are poor, racialized and/or particularly vulnerable to state surveillance. But the removal of constitutional protections for abortion will create a stratified reproductive rights regime, in which people will be forced to make choices based on their social positions.

Travel across state borders might be easiest for the most privileged people who are the least concerned about state surveillance and control; these are people who are not poor, racialized, vulnerable or under threat.

Demonstrators hold coat hangers in the air as they protest outside of the US Supreme Court in May 2022. 

Credit:

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Travelling to Canada for abortions

Travel to Canada requires a passport, planning, time, money and medical management of the procedure. There are also relatively few abortion clinics in Canada, and there are concerns that they’re already at capacity and demand would soon outpace the ability to provide services.

Some of the states that would likely outlaw abortion — Michigan, North Dakota and Idaho among them — border rural parts of the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

This means demand might increase in the areas that are already struggling to provide abortion in underserviced and overstretched areas. And Americans who will pay out of pocket for abortions might increase wait times and further restrict access for rural, northern and Indigenous people.

The March for Life event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa last May, organized by those opposed to abortion, also attracted abortion-rights protesters. 

Credit:

THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

Justin Trudeau’s government has welcomed Americans to Canada and ensured that Canadian Border Services will permit entry, but there are still a lot of important details to sort through.

Would people have to declare their intention to have an abortion or could they state that they were going to visit a reproductive health clinic? What level of deeply sensitive personal information needs to be revealed to the border services agent?

Who will come to Canada — which pregnant people — and why is a matter of speculation at this point. But we can be certain there will be an increase in demand from across the border, that it will put pressure on the Canadian system, that the drug combination used in medical abortions will be increasingly scarce or hard to access and that stratified reproduction rights will be revealed and replicated.

The Trudeau government has been impressive regarding its rhetorical commitments to feminist foreign policy, gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights at home and abroad, but has often failed to achieve gender justice.

With the reversal of Roe v. Wade, let’s hope Canada is ready to honor its commitments to reproductive health and rights for people on both sides of the border.

Candace Johnson is a professor of political science at the University of Guelph. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good. 

class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>Mexico hit by year’s 1st hurricane as tropical storm season begins

Mexico this week saw the strongest hurricane ever to hit the country in May. Agatha, a Category 2 hurricane, pummeled the country’s southern Pacific coast, killing at least 10 people. The Atlantic hurricane season, which started on Wednesday, is expected to be more active than usual.

The WorldJune 1, 2022 · 4:15 PM EDT

• By Michael Fox

This satellite image made available by NOAA shows Hurricane Agatha, center, off the Pacific coast of Mexico on May 29, 2022, at 11:20 a.m. EDT.

NOAA via AP

Torrential rains and sustained winds over 100 miles per hour ripped through Mexico’s Oaxacan coast as Hurricane Agatha made landfall near Puerto Angel on Monday as a Category 2 gale.

Mudslides hit at least two highways and electricity was knocked from many communities. At least 10 people were killed and 20 disappeared, as of Tuesday, according to the Oaxacan state governor.

“It rained really hard on Monday morning,” said Carlos Sánchez, who runs a community radio station in the municipality of Juchitán, a couple of hours up the Oaxacan coast. “There were serious floods in homes in lower-lying areas.”

Related: More migrants are attempting to cross into the US via the perilous Rio Grande

Videos shared over social media show buildings destroyed, roads out and homes flooded with pools of water — with residents working to keep things dry.

Hurricane Agatha has been downgraded into a tropical depression, but it’s still expected to bring heavy rains to the Yucatán Peninsula this week. It’s also possible it may reform as a new storm in the Caribbean in the coming days, heading east toward Florida.

Agatha was the strongest hurricane to ever hit the country in May. It went from tropical storm to Category 2 hurricane seemingly overnight.

“It is unique. It is rare that we would see a storm form this early and intensify this quickly. But it’s par for the course that we’ve been seeing in the last few years, with this rapid intensification from initial growth to mature hurricane quickly.”

Jill Trepanier, Louisiana State University, geographer and hurricane specialist

“It is unique. It is rare that we would see a storm form this early and intensify this quickly,” said Jill Trepanier, a geographer and hurricane specialist at Louisiana State University. “But it’s par for the course that we’ve been seeing in the last few years, with this rapid intensification from initial growth to mature hurricane quickly.”

Related: ‘That news hit us like a bomb’: Asylum-seekers still in limbo after ruling to keep Title 42 intact

Trepanier said that there is one key factor driving the hurricane’s ability to get big fast: sea temperatures. They’ve been on the rise for decades. Now, of course, sea temperatures also fluctuate due to a number of factors, including weather phenomena like La Niña, which brings warmer water to the Atlantic and the Caribbean. That’s the case this year.

“The temperature right now, that I can see, is that the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean is about a half a degree to 2 degrees Celsius warmer than normal,” said Trepanier, while reviewing a Sea Surface Temperature chart updated daily by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“But then, if you look at ocean temperature near the eastern seaboard, like New Jersey, the Carolinas, New York, because of the movement of the Gulf Stream, right now, it’s about 4 degrees higher than normal, Celsius. So, if a storm happens to make it up into that part, it’s going to intensify quickly.”

Related: Hundreds of feet in the air, Sonoran highliners face fears and find balance

Mexican meteorologist José Martín Cortés said that people need to be ready.

“All of the forecasts show that we are going to have above-normal tropical activity. A very active hurricane season,” he said.

If it is another above-average year, it would be the seventh in a row. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported last week that six to 10 Atlantic hurricanes are expected this year, and half of them major ones.

Related: ‘It’s like cultural rescue’: Eelgrass festival in Mexico celebrates Indigenous Comcáac conservation efforts

“As always, if you live near anywhere in the tropics from the months of May until December, you should have your eyes in the sky,” Trepanier said. “Be aware of things like rapid intensification. Just because it forms really close to the coast does not mean that it will not have the energy available to turn into something fierce. It does not have to have a long life to become a Category 4 hurricane.” 

class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>‘It’s like cultural rescue’: Eelgrass festival in Mexico celebrates Indigenous Comcáac conservation efforts

Seagrass is on the decline in the world’s oceans, but the Indigenous Comcáac people of northern Mexico have managed to protect 96% of the eelgrass that grows in their waters.

The WorldMay 23, 2022 · 2:45 PM EDT

• By Sam Schramski

The labor-intensive seagrass harvesting process has been perfected by the Comcáac people of northern Mexico as a traditional practice. 

Sam Schramski/The World

At a two-day festival on the coast of northern Mexico earlier this month, scientists, chefs and local residents gathered to celebrate eelgrass — a unique type of seagrass that grows in the Gulf of California. 

Seagrass is on the decline in the world’s oceans, but the Indigenous Comcáac people who live in the region have managed to protect the eelgrass that grows in their waters. 

"From my parents I learned about medicinal plants and the songs of plants, as well as about traditional foods."

Laura Molina demonstrates tortilla-making from ground eelgrass seeds

"From my parents, I learned about medicinal plants and the songs of plants, as well as about traditional foods,” said Laura Molina, who is Comcáac.

She remembers how her mom made tortillas out of flour ground from eelgrass seeds known as xnois in Comcáac language, a mix between wild rice and nori seaweed. 

Related: Indigenous communities score victories against two mining projects in Mexico

Laura Molina, who is Comcáac, remembers how her mom made tortillas out of flour ground from eelgrass seeds known, or xnois in Comcáac language. It tastes like a mix between wild rice and nori seaweed. 

Credit:

Sam Schramski/The World

Seagrass is getting a lot of attention these days because of its capacity to store carbon, estimated to sequester up to half the so-called “blue carbon” in the world’s oceans and coastal ecosystems — putting it on par with global forests.

Ángel León, a Spanish chef and owner of Aponiente restaurant, has made it his personal mission to protect threatened seagrass beds off the Spanish coast. He's interested not only in the plant’s environmental benefits but also its culinary potential in the kitchen as a nutrient-rich superfood. 

León sent chef and ecologist Greg Martínez to the festival on his behalf to demonstrate his restaurant’s version of a xnois paella. 

Conservation biologist Juan Martín also represented Aponiente at the festival. He said the hope is that if seagrass becomes a sought-after superfood in Spain, it’ll be better protected there. 

“It's very nice that a guy with an apron, a cook, with dreams, has done this: given glamor to a threatened species which currently lacks it,” Martín said.

Seagrass is down about 30% globally since the late 1800s. Through León's restaurant and related nongovernmental organization, he has heavily financed seagrass restoration projects.

Related: Self-taught chef introduces rural Vermonters to traditional Thai cuisine

Chef and ecologist Greg Martínez demonstrates a version of a xnois paella. 

Credit:

Sam Schramski/The World

In the Mediterranean region, including Spain, eelgrass beds only cover an estimated half of their historic area due to coastal development and agricultural runoff.

In northern Mexico’s Comcáac country, however, locals have done a much better job of protecting eelgrass. In fact, satellite imagery indicates that the plant has remained intact in more or less the same patches for the last 20 years.

The festival was organized to call attention to Comcáac conservation efforts with interactive activities and cooking demonstrations held between Puna Chueca (a Comcàac community), and the town of Kino Bay, in Sonoro, Mexico. The Borderlands Restoration Network, the University of Artizona Southwest Center, the Eleventh Hour Project and Salarte all helped organize it. 

Gary Paul Nabhan, an ethnobotanist and writer who also helped organize the festival, thinks that the Comcáac people should earn money for their conservation work — much like certain landowners earn money for carbon credits when they preserve forests. 

Related: As Mexico's last glaciers melt, communities that depend on mountain springs scramble to find solutions

"The Comcáac have 96% of all the eelgrass habitat left in the Gulf of California. … They're the original stewards of most of the eelgrass left on the coast of Mexico today. That means that whatever they're doing has been more effective than their neighbors."

Gary Paul Nabhan, ethnobotanist and writer

"The Comcáac have 96% of all the eelgrass habitat left in the Gulf of California,” he said. “They're the original stewards of most of the eelgrass left on the coast of Mexico today. That means that whatever they're doing has been more effective than their neighbors."

The labor-intensive seagrass harvesting process has also been perfected by the Comcáac as a traditional practice. 

First, seagrass collectors gather the tangled clumps of seagrass floating on the water's surface.

First, collectors gather tangled clumps of seagrass floating on the water's surface. They dry the eelgrass seeds. And then there’s toasting and milling. 

Credit:

Sam Schramski/The World

Then, they dry the eelgrass seeds.

"You have to beat it so that the seeds fall out of the shoots. And then later you can pick out all the little seeds, which you run through a sieve."

Comcáac leader Erika Barnett

Eelgrass laid out to dry. 

Credit:

Sam Schramski/The World

"You have to beat it so that the seeds fall out of the shoots. And then later, you can pick out all the little seeds, which you run through a sieve,” Comcáac leader Erika Barnett said. 

And then, there’s toasting and milling in another series of demanding steps historically done by hand. 

Erika Barnett toasting eelgrass seed during xnois festival cookoff in Kino Bay, Mexico. 

Credit:

Sam Schramski/The World

Barnett said that before the eelgrass festival, she was hesitant to process and cook with xnois because of the amount of work involved. But now, she said she might consider reviving the tradition. 

“My dad told me that he was 7 years old the last time he tried zostera marina,” she said, using the scientific name for eelgrass. “He said that he was very happy and proud of us for having done this important work; it’s like cultural rescue.” 

Related: Desalination brings fresh water — and concern — to an Indigenous village in northern Mexico

Whether Barnett collects the tangled shoots along the Gulf again, interest in seagrasses is likely to increase on a global scale. 

As the planet continues to warm, more people are trying to figure out how to boost the carbon dioxide sequestered in the world's oceans. Seagrass floats to the surface as a viable solution.

Former Pentagon chief Mark Esper, in his memoir, claims that in 2020, Trump was twice interested in the possibility of hitting drug labs in Mexico with Patriot missiles to destroy drug cartels

Donald Trump

Former US President Donald Trump has proposed launching missile strikes on targets in Mexico to “destroy drug labs.” This is reported by The New York Times with reference to the memoirs of the former head of the Pentagon Mark Esper, which will be published next week.

According to Esper, Trump twice asked him about this possibility in the summer of 2020. The ex-president was unhappy with the constant influx of drugs into the United States through the southern border and argued that “they [the authorities of Mexico] do not control their country” and wanted to destroy the drug cartels.

The former Defense Secretary writes that Trump, in response to Esper's objections, said: “We could just launch a few Patriot missiles and silently destroy the laboratories.” “No one will know it was us,” — he quoted Trump. According to Esper, the ex-president said that the US denied the impact.

The memoir also says that Esper considered resigning several times, but that Trump was “surrounded by so many sycophants and people whispering dangerous ideas to him” that he decided to stay in office to “make sure this didn't happen.”

One of the main campaign promises of Trump, who became president in 2016, was the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico (the wall with the neighboring country of the United States has been erected since the 1990s, by the time Trump was elected, its length was more than 1 thousand km. Trump wanted to increase up to 1,600 km (his administration built just over 700 km at a cost of $11 billion; Trump's successor Joe Biden suspended funding for the project) to stop the “powerful influx of drugs.”

In the summer of 2019, Trump imposed a 5 percent tariff on goods from Mexico, explaining this by the fight against illegal migration and drug trafficking.As the ex-president stated, 90% of drugs entering the States come from Mexico through the southern border. “80 thousand people died in the past [2018] year, 1 million lives were destroyed. <…>This went on for many years and nothing was done about it,",— he said.

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The ex-president came up with the idea of ​​imposing a $500 billion economic fine on Mexico for smuggling drugs into the US. In March 2019, Trump said that Mexico had lost control of the cartels, and called this country one of the most insecure in the world. In this regard, he began to consider the issue of recognizing Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, but later postponed it at the request of the President of Mexico.

Esper served as Minister of Defense since July 2019. In November 2020, a few days after the presidential election, NBC reported that he had prepared a letter of resignation. As noted by the channel, he has long been in a strained relationship with Trump. Esper was fired on November 9, 2020.

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class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>Indigenous communities score victories against two mining projects in Mexico

In recent months, top federal courts in Mexico have canceled controversial mining concessions near Indigenous communities in two regions of Puebla state. About 100 Indigenous activists are now on a monthlong caravan to defend land and water rights across southern Mexico.

The WorldApril 6, 2022 · 2:15 PM EDT

• By Michael Fox

"Water is for the people" reads a sign in defense of Indigenous land and water rights at a large gathering in Ahuacatlán, Puebla state, Mexico. 

Michael Fox/The World

When residents of the small Nahua community of Santa María Zotoltepec first heard about the proposed gold and silver mine about a decade ago, they were excited.

They thought about jobs and development in their area, nestled in the Ixtacamaxtitlán municipality’s highlands of Puebla state, Mexico.

Nearby were 7 million ounces of gold and 1.4 billion ounces of silver, according to mining company Minera Gorrión, a subsidiary of the Canadian corporation Almaden Minerals. The company promised that mineral extraction would bring benefits to the community — including 420 jobs and millions in local tax revenue.

Related: Desalination brings fresh water — and concern — to an Indigenous village in northern Mexico

“At first, you can’t imagine how excited we were. How this company was coming to bring us work. It’s going to change our way of life."

Raymundo Romano, Union of Atcolhua Ejidos and Communities

"At first, you can’t imagine how excited we were. How this company was coming to bring us work. It’s going to change our way of life,” said Raymundo Romano, from the Union of Atcolhua Ejidos and Communities.

But reality slowly set in. “We started to see that this project was not good,” Romano said. “The company was going to threaten our lives, threaten our water.”

After a seven-year battle led by Indigenous communities, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled in mid-February to cancel Minera Gorrión’s mining concessions in Ixtacamaxtitlán because the company had failed to consult with local people on the mining project.

It was a huge victory for the community. 

A month later, in mid-March, another federal court canceled three more mining concessions in a different Puebla region, when it ruled that the Indigenous Masewal people had also not been consulted about the mining project with another company in their community. 

The two cases may set a precedent against potential mining exploitation in the future.

Related: The debate over deep-sea mining comes to a head

A sand mine in Zacatlan shows how arid and dry the landscape is there, as the region experiences drought. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

Protecting water and land rights

Mining requires tons of water — a resource lacking in a region recently plagued by drought. At least 20 municipalities in the region currently lack sufficient water supply.

Minera Gorrión had promised to build a new water reservoir for surrounding residents. But the mine would use an estimated 1.3 million gallons of water a day to process the gold and silver. 

Pristine hillsides were at risk. Community members feared their springs would be contaminated. They feared for the Apulco River, which runs from their mountain home, down to the Veracruz coast on the Caribbean.

So, in 2015, the community of Tecoltémic, which neighbors Santa María Zotoltepec, took the mine to court, winning an injunction. The mine appealed. The case rose in the courts. Communities marched and protested before the Supreme Court. 

“We could not be happier,” said Augusto Rodriguez, who lived near the mining project. “We were very concerned before, and now we are really relieved.”

Related: A forgotten mangrove forest around remote inland lagoons in Mexico’s Yucatán tells a story of rising seas

Indigenous activists in Puebla state stand in front of a colorful sign that reads "Today the fight is for our lives." 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

Both rulings are landmark cases for Indigenous struggles against mining in Mexico. 

“I dare to say that we are at the doorstep of a new paradigm in the relations of the judicial power with the rights of Indigenous people."

Yoatzin Popoca, lawyer, Mexican Center for Environmental Law

“I dare to say that we are at the doorstep of a new paradigm in the relations of the judicial power with the rights of Indigenous people,” said Yoatzin Popoca, a lawyer with the Mexican Center for Environmental Law, a nongovernmental organization that worked on the Masewal case. 

Related: Mexican communities manage their local forests, generating benefits for humans, trees and wildlife

'We have to unite'

Hundreds of Indigenous people in the highland town of Ahuacatlán celebrated these victories in late March. And about100 Indigenous activists on a monthlong caravan in defense of Indigenous land and water rights across southern Mexico made this one of their first stops. 

At least 30 different groups have signed on to the caravan, including the National Indigenous Congress and United Peoples of the Volcano and Cholulteca Region.

“This is the only way we can stop these megaprojects dressed up as development. … We have to build these networks. … We have to unite.”

María de Jesús Patricio, former  Zapatista presidential candidate

“This is the only way we can stop these megaprojects dressed up as development,” María de Jesús Patricio told a crowd at the launch in March. She’s the former presidential candidate for the Zapatista, a radical Indigenous social movement that rose up against the Mexican state in 1994.

“We have to build these networks,” she said. “We have to unite.”

Hundreds of Indigenous people in the highland town of Ahuacatlán celebrated recent court victories that canceled mining projects in their areas. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

For the next month, the caravan will be visiting communities in nine states that are also facing threats from mines, dams and other extractive industries. Ahuacatlán is a municipality that, in recent years, has been in the middle of plans for both mines and three hydroelectric dam projects.

“It’s good what the caravan is doing. … Because we are not fighting just for one person, but for all of us. We are fighting for our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren. Those are the ones who will suffer even more.”

Santiago Pedro, small farmer who met with the caravan in Ahuacatlán

“It’s good what the caravan is doing,” said small farmer Santiago Pedro, who met with the caravan in Ahuacatlán. “Because we are not fighting just for one person, but for all of us. We are fighting for our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren. Those are the ones who will suffer even more.”

In Ahuacatlán, they held religious ceremonies. They ate, sang and danced. They committed to stand up to attacks on their land. They also shared stories of hope, like those of the recent court victories.

"Water is the blood of the land" reads a sign at a community gathering of Indigenous people in Puebla state. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

An uphill battle

Those in attendance said they still face an uphill battle. Romano and others fear the companies will try to overturn the rulings. They say Mexico’s Mining Law itself needs to be changed to meet the environmental needs of Indigenous groups. 

Over 8% of Mexican territory is concessioned to mining.

“We are one of the top 10 producers of the most precious minerals in the world,” said Valentina Campos Cabral, director of Iberoamerican University’s Environmental Investigations Institute. Total mineral and mining production in 2020 was worth almost $14 billion.

Indigenous communities say they are going to be more united than ever.

“Everyone should know that the municipality of Ixtacamaxtitlán is against the projects that threaten our lives,” Romano said. “And that’s the way it’s going to be. Any other municipalities that need our support, you’ve got it.”

class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>Desalination brings fresh water — and concern — to an Indigenous village in northern Mexico

A lack of fresh water has plagued the Comcáac people of northern Mexico for generations. There’s new hope in desalination plants, but some worry about its impact on marine life.

The WorldFebruary 28, 2022 · 10:45 AM EST

• By Michael Fox

People living in Punta Chueca, home to the Comcáac, have struggled with a lack of fresh water for generations. 

Michael Fox/The World

A lack of fresh water has plagued the Indigenous Comcáac people of northern Mexico for generations.

Roughly 3,000 Comcáac people live in two villages along the desert coast of the Gulf of California, in the Mexican state of Sonora — an expansive, dry desert landscape of dirt roads and huge green cacti. 

Last year, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador agreed to fund a new desalination plant that strips sea water of salt, providing more reliable access to fresh water. But some worry about its harmful impact on marine life.

Related: The case of the disappearing giant squid

“Water has been a huge problem. … I am 71 years old, 71 years suffering from the lack of water. Water. Water. Water. There is no water.”

Robert Molina Herrera, elder and teacher, Punta Chueca, northern Mexico

“Water has been a huge problem,” said Roberto Molina Herrera, an elder who lives in Punta Chueca, a small Comcáac village that has struggled with fresh water access for decades.

“I am 71 years old,” said Molina Herrera, who teaches traditional dance and song. “Seventy-one years, suffering from the lack of water. Water. Water. Water. There is no water.”

Related: The debate over deep-sea mining comes to a head 

The state government used to truck in water twice a week for years. But it was never enough. Then, about 25 years ago, a small desalination plant was built to remove salt from sea water, but the process only worked sparingly.

When the system broke down, residents lived without fresh water for weeks or months. 

That’s what happened last year. In the middle of the pandemic, the community went two months without fresh water. Some residents had to be treated for dehydration.

“They were terrible times. … We washed our dishes and our clothes with ocean water. We traveled to the closest town to fill up jugs with fresh water to bathe and drink. It was very hard.”

Alberto Mellado Moreno, esteemed community leader, Punta Chueca, northern Mexico

“They were terrible times,” said esteemed community leader Alberto Mellado Moreno. “We washed our dishes and our clothes with ocean water. We traveled to the closest town to fill up jugs with fresh water to bathe and drink. It was very hard.”

Mellado Moreno stands behind his home in Punta Chueca, northern Mexico. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World 

Community members demanded relief. Last October, López Obrador agreed to fund and build another, larger desalination plant in addition to the one built in 2000.

“I authorize the introduction of water for the Comcáac people,” he said. “The government will cover the cost,” said López Obrador in a televised address last November.

Today, two desalination plants now sit at the edge of Punta Chueca in separate, small concrete buildings. Fresh water is now running to almost every home.

“It’s already improving. … We have water. We can fill up our tanks and we can grab water to bathe.”

Juana Perales, resident, Punta Chueca, northern Mexico

One of two desalination plants helps provide fresh water to the residents of Punta Chueca.

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

“It’s already improving,” resident Juana Perales said. “We have water. We can fill up our tanks and we can grab water to bathe.”

Most families now have large plastic water containers outside their homes that they can fill up when the water’s running, which only happens for about half of the day — despite the two plants.

But not everyone is excited by these developments. 

Some community members protested López Obrador’s visit to the area earlier this month, carrying signs that read: “Don’t pollute the ocean,” and “water from wells, not the sea.”

Related: A forgotten mangrove forest around remote inland lagoons in Mexico’s Yucatán tells a story of rising seas

Some are worried that the new plant will contaminate the ocean and harm the sea life, which they depend on for food, income and tourism.

Their concerns are valid. For every liter of fresh water produced by a desalination plant, a liter of brine is made, which is usually dumped back into the ocean.

A 2019 UN study warned of the “profound impacts” of high concentrations of brine in seawater near desalination plants, which can cut oxygen levels and impact marine life. 

México has roughly 400 desalination plants, but lacks regulations on how to dispose of the brine.

Fisherman with their catch of the day in Punta Chueca, northern Mexico. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

“In developing countries, such as Mexico and others, where there is a lack of regulation, brine disposal can result in significant water quality impacts, as brine contains high salts which can harm sea life."

Gurpal Toor,  environmental science professor, University of Maryland

“In developing countries, such as Mexico and others, where there is a lack of regulation, brine disposal can result in significant water quality impacts, as brine contains high salts which can harm sea life,” said Gurpal Toor, an environmental science professor at the University of Maryland.

“Some desalination plants in the world also use some chemicals for pretreatment which can also contain heavy metals.”

Aaron Barnett, a 27-year-old fisherman in Punta Chueco, said he’s seen declining numbers of catch in recent years, but he doesn’t think the main problem is desalination.

“Yes, I am worried. I’m worried for the fish and the species. But there are other factors that have made our fishing decrease in recent years. Like, overfishing from people who are not from the tribe."

Aaron Barnett, fisherman, Punta Chueca, northern Mexico

Fisherman Aaron Barnett, 27, sits on a boat next to another fisherman. 

Credit:

Michael Fox/The World

“Yes, I am worried,” he said. “I’m worried for the fish and the species. But there are other factors that have made our fishing decrease in recent years. Like, overfishing from people who are not from the tribe,” he said. 

Sonora state is the country’s top producer of fish. But catches are down anywhere from 10% to 40% across the state, according to the environmental watchdog group Oceana. 

Meanwhile, more than 10 million people in México lack access to fresh water.

Scientists say this is a growing problem for México, which is already one of the most water-stressed countries in Latin America. And global warming is expected to cause ever greater periods of drought and water shortages.

“The desalination plant is what we have for now, and it’s worth millions of pesos,” said community leader Mellado Moreno.

“Despite the difficulty of life in the desert, we should be fortunate. That’s life in the desert.”

Butterfly, I like to watch you flutter by. You’re so graceful in the sky. Oh, you’re so fine.
Your journey’s like a magical thing. Part of natures mysteries. And I can see
How peaceful you can be, to me.

First you are a tiny egg on a leaf. The leaf of the milkweed.
You’re so small, but growing indeed. And resting in the breeze.
Next, here comes the caterpillar. The larva word is unfamiliar.
Crawling around from leaf to leaf. Everything comes so naturally.

The pupa or the chrysalis is calm. It’s still. It’s just like bliss.
You’re warm, your happy. You’re safe and sound, feels like a gentle kiss.
Now the most amazing thing. The butterfly emerges with beautiful wings.

Butterfly, I like to watch you flutter by. You’re so graceful in the sky. Oh, you’re so fine.
Your journey’s like a magical thing. Part of natures mysteries. And I can see
How peaceful you can be, to me.

Once you’ve grown with your delicate wings, had time to dance through summer and spring.
You make your way to a special place where all the Monarchs gather to face.
The journey through the land below, all the way down to Mexico.
After fall and winter are through, I will be waiting just for you.

Butterfly, I like to watch you flutter by. You’re so graceful in the sky. Oh, you’re so fine.
Your journey’s like a magical thing. Part of natures mysteries. And I can see
How peaceful you can be, to me.

[Verse 1]
Hawaii is calling and I must go
Aruba, Havana, or Mexico
Just a few weeks against the stream
Anywhere will do with waves and sunbeams
A pineapple a day keeps the worries away

[Chorus]
I don’t think that it would mean too much
To say the thoughts that I think out loud
But you know that I just can’t help
But consider life outside of my cloud
I’m longing for something even if
I’m not sure exactly what that is
Run or you rust
I’m suffering from wanderlust

[Verse 2]
The wonders of the world are waiting for me
Living in the shelter is no place to be
It’s never easy to let your hair down
The dreamers will dream but the skeptics will drown
I have an unhealthy calling to be where I’m not