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Fidel Heras, the Mexican environmentalist who returned from the United States to defend his river and was killed

2021-02-08T16:40:19.380Z


The crime is the first against an environmental defender in Mexico this year and has been condemned by the UN


Like so many others in rural Mexico, Fidel Heras went to the United States with his wife in search of a better life.

For more than a decade, he picked oranges or grapes, depending on the season, building his own version of the American dream.

But in 2008 he decided to pack his bags and return to Paso de la Reina, the remote Oaxacan community on the banks of the Verde River where he was born.

News had reached him that the government was going to build a hydroelectric plant on the river in which he swam in his youth.

The same one his family went fishing for, the one who watered his corn and bean crops.

The communities in the area organized in 2007 to fight the dam and he wanted to be part of the movement.

He joined the United Peoples Council for the Defense of the Verde River (Copudever) and became the visible face of a struggle that has managed to stop the project until today.

But in Mexico, championing a movement in defense of the territory can be expensive.

The body of Fidel Heras was found with several bullets on January 23 in the community of La Esperanza, not far from his home.

He was 41 years old.

So far, the Oaxaca State Prosecutor's Office has not issued any statement or ruled on the matter.

There are also no detainees.

Most likely, the case adds to the list of crimes against environmentalists that go unpunished in Mexico.

His community of indigenous Chatinos has been silenced by the murder, but a name is shouting in the minds of many: Celia Rivas Márquez.

According to the community authorities in a statement, the municipal president of Santiago Jamiltepec had been extracting sand and gravel from the river bed for years to sell them as construction material.

It was allied with the Iglesias family, the "caciques" of the area, historically linked to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

This newspaper requested an interview with the municipal president, but so far has not received a response.

Ana María García shows anger in her words.

With his organization, Educa Oaxaca, he has accompanied the resistance movement of Paso de la Reina since 2007. “First they were told that the materials would be to build works for the municipality.

But the extraction was increasing, every time more machinery entered, more transport trucks.

The community began to think that it was not the best idea to continue exploiting the river like this.

They were aware that it was an environmental issue, that it had a very strong impact on the river, ”he explains.

During these years, García grew closer to Fidel.

He says that he was in charge of crossing the community's inhabitants from one side of the river to the other in a boat without a motor, rowing.

The one who sang at the festivals organized on March 14 to commemorate the international day against dams.

The one who did not miss a meeting, or a workshop, or a mobilization.

He remembers him bathing in the river, "so happy and kind."

It was Fidel, as ejidal commissioner of Paso de la Reina, who raised his voice in front of the municipal president and the Iglesias family.

The dispute reached its maximum level of tension when, in December of last year, the machinery used for extraction in the river suffered "minor damage."

"Manuel Iglesias then demanded the payment of damages and made threats against Fidel Heras," says the communiqué of the community authorities.

A month later, Fidel found his death sentence in a bag at the headquarters of the Ejidal Commissariat.

A brief anonymous message with a threat that was fulfilled two days later.

It was the first murder of an environmentalist this year in Mexico, but it will most likely not be the last: in 2020 it ranked as the fourth deadliest country in the world for environmentalists, according to Global Witness.

The Mexico office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described the crime as a sign of the vulnerability suffered by defenders in this country.

"The perception that it is possible to assassinate them and thus weaken activism in defense of human rights, such as the defense of the territory and the environment, is strengthened with each murder that remains in impunity," said Guillermo Fernández-Maldonado, representative in Mexico from that office.

Fidel's assassination has spread terror in his community.

Beyond the statement, neither the family nor the ejido authorities have wanted to give interviews.

Angélica Castro, another member of Educa Oaxaca, fears that the movement will weaken.

"We are quite concerned because the figure of Fidel was a symbol of the regional struggle."

And he assures that this is more important than ever, because the pressures to build hydroelectric projects on the Verde River continue.

The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) plan for the dam that was presented in 2006 is under study.

In addition, the private company Enersi announced in 2018 another hydroelectric project on the same river that is being evaluated by the Ministry of the Environment.

According to Educa Oaxaca, a dam in the region would directly affect 17,000 inhabitants and indirectly another 97,000.

In addition, damming the river waters would impact the nearby Lagunas de Chacahua Protected Natural Area, a wetland of international importance on the Ramsar List.

Therefore, Castro believes that now "it's up to" the other communities in the region to "encourage" Paso de la Reina to continue the fight, even if one of its main engines has been turned off.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-02-08

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