Slow Food Joins Calls for Justice in Support of Mexican Farmers in Sierra Norte, Puebla

05 May 2014 | English

The Mexican states Puebla and Morelos are selling dozens of licences to large foreign and Mexican businesses to excavate gold and silver mines, build gigantic hydroelectric plants and extract oil and gas with the controversial use of fracking.

According to Leonardo Olguín Duran, coordinator of the Puebla Sierra Norte Native Bees Honey Presidium, “The situation is getting worse. They want to silence the community. Since 2007, only in Sierra Norte, the rights of approximately 120,000 acres of land were sold for a price below its value. In the past few days the repressive actions by the authorities towards the representatives of the indigenous communities have proliferated. Their crime? Protesting plans to exploit resources that are threatening the whole area.”

Carlo Petrini, President of Slow Food International, said: “The States of Puebla and Morelos, known for their rich biodiversity, are selling off their lands. The way of life for indigenous people is in danger and, as if that was not enough, their protests are brutally suppressed. It is inexcusable violence and it must end immediately.”

The Mexican artist José Ernesto Vazquez Chanico has created a pamphlet for Slow Food, denouncing this situation threatening his community. To view online: http://bit.ly/1ni7r0q

Slow Food International, together with important cultural figures such as Noam Chomsky, the Uruguayan intellectual Eduardo Galean, Mexican poet and journalist Javier Sicilia and eighty civil society organizations, has signed the petition against these abuses. Read more : http://consejotiyattlali.blogspot.com

The Puebla Sierra Norte Native Bees Honey Presidium was established in 2012 with the collaboration of the Tosepan Titataniske cooperative. The Presidium is working to protect the Pisilnekmej bee, because of its importance within the traditional food production system and as a source of income for families. For more information: http://bit.ly/1n4ENSY

The landgrabbing case concerning the Mexican community is a widespread phenomenon in the world: large areas of fertile land are sold or rented at low prices. Tens of millions of acres have been sold in recent years to produce food for export or biofuel crops, to extract resources or to resell the land in international financial markets, like any other commodity. All of this seriously threatens the environment, food sovereignty and the lifestyle of local communities. Read more: http://localhost/slowfood/landgrabbing

 

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