Monsanto in Mexico | Indigenous beekeepers face intimidation by state
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Mayan bee glyph. |
Moderator’s Note: When we last reported on the situation with
GMOs in the southern Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán,
there were many reasons to celebrate since a federal judge had overturned the
approval of GMO soy plantings in this region as a threat to the indigenous
beekeepers of the region (see our posts of March
16 2014 and July
24, 2014).
Those rulings profoundly recognized Mayan indigenous autonomy.
As quoted in our report of March last year:
According to press reports…(Mar 11, 2014) the court
“determined that the effective protection of indigenous rights requires the
exercise of certain human rights of a procedural nature, mainly the access to
information, participation in decision-making and access to ensure justice.”
Moreover, this decision was based on the violation of the right
to free, prior and informed consultation for indigenous peoples protected by
Article 2 of the Mexican Constitution and Convention 169 of the ILO
(International Labor Organization), a legally binding international instrument
open to ratification, which deals specifically with the rights of indigenous
and tribal peoples. Mexico ratified ILO
169 on May 9, 1990.
Any decision that recognizes indigenous autonomy is unheard of
in Mexico’s juridical order; that is, until last year’s historic and
unprecedented ruling banning GMO soy plantings as a violation of indigenous
rights.
However, there are new and troubling reports coming out of
Mexico indicating that, despite this important legal victory, the Mayan
beekeepers are facing increased threats of violence, economic blackmail, and
displacement by forces aligned with powerful economic interests in Campeche
State.
I am posting a report on these attacks on indigenous beekeepers prepared
by Daniela Barragán of Sinembargo
news service. The translation was prepared by your moderator.
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Mexican women beekeepers. |
Mayan beekeepers seek
protection from state-directed violence
ECONOMIC THREATS COMBINED WITH DIRECT INTIMIDATION
Daniela Barragán | Mexico
City | October 25, 2015
The Supreme Court must resolve seven legal motions
presented recently by the communities and associations of beekeepers in
Campeche state asking to address the issue of the right of indigenous peoples
to free, prior, and informed consultation, as well as violations of their right
to public health and a healthy environment.
With less than a week to go before the Supreme Court of Mexico (SCJN)
starts discussions pertaining to the protections that beekeepers in the
Peninsula of Yucatán and Campeche interposed to prevent Monsanto from planting
transgenic soybeans in the region, members of the assemblies report that there
have been numerous acts of intimidation by the authorities.
In 2012, the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural
Development, Fishing and Food (SAGARPA) authorized the planting of soybeans genetically
modified by the Monsanto Company on 253 hectares in Chiapas and the Yucatán
Peninsula, in an area known as the Huasteca Plains.
Indigenous Maya, who are devoted to beekeeping, noted that the
illegitimate granting of the SAGRPA permission, would affect more than 50
thousand farmers, since production of honey being is one of the main economic
activities of the region.
The planting of genetically modified soybeans in the region has
led to a process of deforestation accelerated in what is considered to be the
last Mexican jungle. According to information from the Colectivo sin Transgénicos,
the planting of this product in other countries, has resulted in the concentration
of land, loss of jobs, damage to health, and deforestation and desertification
of forests and jungles. According to the testimony of the beekeepers, crops of
transgenic soybeans devastated entire fields where the bees worked.
Arnulfo Ordoñez, of Hermes Honey, said in an interview that
these actions are derived from the governmental corruption that characterizes the
region, which will end up affecting trade relations with Europe, its biggest
partner. He promoted the idea that Mexico was a country free of GMOs in honey.
Ordonez explained that in these days, in assemblies prior to the
start of the discussion, several groups of beekeepers have withdrawn their
participation, since they indicate that they are victims of acts of
intimidation by the authorities. These acts range from the suspension of the
economic support to personal threats of violence.
In general, Ordoñez said, that social pressure facing the
movement is increasing, since the indigenous communities are considered to be
persons “revolting” and “problematic”; now with the departure of several
producers, the beekeepers will have to enter a period of reorganization as a
result of these threats.
The violation of the protections afforded by the courts may
comprise temporary failures and so the plaintiffs have continued organizing and
are presented in the courts, when they have been summoned to testify on several
occasions. However, according to the testimony of Ordoñez, little by little the
Government has been pressing the producers who are signing on to the opposition
to GMOs.
“There are organizations which were against Monsanto and all
such organizations did not receive economic support this year.”
“Organizations that have indicated that they have no involvement
with the planting of soybeans, have received support equivalent to 9 million
pesos”, he said.
He said that he was at a meeting last Thursday, which analyzed
the advances of the theme, when leaders from Campeche, spoke and said they left
the movement, “which had much social pressure because there were even personal
threats, because they had trimmed the budgets and contended that the beekeepers
are problematic and unruly people”.
This month, the Supreme Court must resolve seven amparos (due process actions) presented
by communities and the beekeepers’ associations. These are asking the court to
address the issue of the rights of indigenous peoples to a free consultation,
prior and informed consent, as well as violations of their right to health and
a healthy environment.
They also demand the implementation of the precautionary
principle for economic damages that may arise from the planting of soybeans by
Monsanto, since sowing doesn’t employ people of the locality, but from other
States.
In 2012, the beekeepers presented amparo judgments related to
the violation of the right to consult, to self-determination and to development
as peoples. Two years later, the second District Court of Campeche and the
first court of Yucatán, argued that it violated the right to consultation and
advised against the planting of soybeans.
By
2015, the National Commission of human rights (CNDH), issued a recommendation
with the same verdict: The pattern of intimidation and economic deprivation
violates the right to consultation, noting: “…improper approval of genetically
modified soybeans in Maya indigenous communities [was a] clear prejudice toward
Huasteca Náhuatl, Pame, Tepehua, Popoluca, Totonaca, Chol, Mame, Tzetal and Yzotzil”,
according to information from the Colectivo sin Transgénicos.
Forty percent of the honey produced in the country is made in the
Yucatán Peninsula. According to SAGARPA, in 2014 honey sales generated one
billion pesos in revenue.
Transgenic soya and their associated pesticides place at risk
the bee populations in seven States, according to the Union of Scientists
Committed to Society, that points out that the level of deployment of the GMOs
and chemical treatments prevents the bees from staying in the affected areas
and the pollinators increasingly have to fly further to search for food in
forests. In addition, evidence suggests that the use of herbicides and
pesticides kill or disorient the bees.
Due
to the detailed documentation that surrounds the case, it is also known that
the Mayan villages of the Yucatán Peninsula are not the only ones affected, but
that the consequences of GMO threats extend to other States including Chiapas,
Quintana Roo, Veracruz, and San Luis Potosí.
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