Modern, democratic societies and efficient governments that
strive for fairness have the political, social and moral obligation of
guaranteeing the wellbeing and happiness of the great majority.
The conflicts at La Platosa mine and La Sierrita common land,
both in the municipality of Bermejillo, Durango, are indicative of a corporate
attitude which should not be tolerated in Mexico from any company, whether
backed by Mexican or foreign capital, whose business is the extraction of
non-renewable natural resources, such as metals and minerals. The conservative
governments of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón have freely handed out
concessions to these companies, thereby mortgaging land use in Mexico: 26 per
cent of Mexico’s land is in the hands of
mining companies that, barring notable exceptions, pillage those resources
instead of exploiting them rationally, and abuse the mining workforce. These
conflicts are present across the country, for example the case of the
Wixáritari indigenous people in their sacred lands, and that of Minera San
Xavier in San Luis Potosí, among others.
In 2008, Excellon Resources de México, a company backed by
Canadian capital, signed a co-responsibility and cooperation contract with
ejidatarios (the rights holders of communal lands) at La Sierrita and the
workers at the La Platosa mine. This contract established beneficial actions
for the population using the common land, such as the installation of a water
treatment plant: this would enable the campesinos to re-use waste water for
agricultural purposes, because mining operations use water to clean the
minerals extracted but leave it contaminated and unsuitable for human
consumption and agriculture.
Excellon Resources never complied with the contract, instead
they have persistently and arrogantly violated it, carrying out exploration on
land not included in the signed document and thus causing significant
environmental damage. And, furthermore, they have refused outright to dialogue
and negotiate with campesinos and workers, who they deceived when they included
them as partners in the company.
These contract violations have gone to foreign authorities,
specifically in Canada, because tribunals in Mexico do not deal sufficiently
with matters relating to the mining companies. The Canadian Labour Congress,
the organisation MiningWatch Canada, the Project on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights and the Mexican National Miners’ Union have acted in solidarity
with the campesinos and miners of Bermejillo. The complaint that these
organisations made in 2011 to the Canadian Council for Corporate Social
Responsibility in the Extractive Sector about Excellon’s violations was ignored
by the company, who refused to enter into the good-faith dialogue that was
proposed.
What is more, on Thursday 5 July Excellon Resources blocked
the free choice of workers from section 309 of the National Miners’ Union, when
they carried out the recount where three associations were fighting for their
affiliation, two of which were invented by the company. The company threatened
to sack workers and their leaders, used corporate terrorism and violated the
Federal Labour Law and jurisprudence 150/2008 of the National Supreme Court of
Justice, which establishes that worker recounts for tenure must be secret, free
and have security guarantees. Threats of violence, the use of groups of thugs,
armed with clubs and stones, who were sent to the La Platosa mine in
Bermejillo, vote buying and corruption meant that the voting was totally
rigged. Both the company and the Durango state Local Council for Conciliation
and Arbitration turned a blind eye to the electoral register of unionised
workers presented at the recount, which included six trusted Excellon Resources
employees who never should have been there, much less voted on an issue that is
the sole responsibility of the workers who are members of the union
organisation.
In the face of this result and the violations of the contract
between Excellon and ejidatarios and workers, these two groups peacefully took
the mining installations, demanding that there be no further attacks on the
interests of ejidatarios or workers. The company’s stubborn bloody-mindedness
in the face of those groups is what gave rise to this miner-campesino movement,
which will not back down until justice is reached. The company has mentioned
that within a few days it could run out of material for its grinders, but this
is the result of its irresponsibility, as is the fact that on Friday 13th
its shares had fallen by 10 per cent on the Toronto stock market TSX:EXN.
Consequently, it is clear that cynicism and exploitation
cannot not be accepted as forms of government or as a permanent business
strategy, because one day we will wake up with our country on the edge of a
profound social crisis. John F. Kennedy put it very well: Those who make
peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Ambition, greed and corruption must come to an end, and it is only by punishing
violations of the law, like those of Excellon against ejidatarios, with
exemplary punishments and the withdrawal of concessions, thatwill we achieve
the atmosphere of peace necessary for work and development in our country. An
investigation must establish whether behind this company there are Mexican
politicians or civil servants who are promotion the violations of the part of
Excellon, because otherwise there will be no way to understand this unnecessary
provocation and conflict.
Enough is enough: either Mexico changes with the new
government, or this government will be fully responsible for future crises,
which will be worse than those provoked by the National Action Party over the
last 12 years, given that popular discontent is at breaking point. We Mexicans
must not tolerate further mediocrity or the exploitation of the masses by a few
individuals. We must put an end to the passivity and conformity that, if
allowed to continue, will drag the entire Mexican nation down even further.
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