Mining in Mexico: the NAFTA connection

Out of a list of 926 mining projects in Mexico, there are 85 exploration projects from the U.S.A. 21 have been postponed, 23 in production, and 6 in development. In terms of Canadian projects, there are 501 exploration projects, 115 have been postponed, 58 in production, and 28 in development, according to the Mexican Bureau of Economy. In the 28 states where there are mining concessions, the rise in industry from the U.S. and Canada can be tied into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which created a free trade zone between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico starting in 1994. Those who argued for NAFTA promised it would create economic growth and prosperity across these three countries. However, at least in the case of U.S. and Mexico, there continues to be large income disparities. 

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             Mexico is a country with resource rich land serving extractive transnational industries; thus, taking most of the wealth outside of Mexico’s borders. Also, with the high rates of impunity and corruption, most of the wealth that does stay within the country ends in the hands of public officials working hand in hand with transnational companies. The mining industry is not talked about enough by the international media. However, with ⅕ of Mexico’s land concessioned to mines, what is happening in Mexico in regards to the mining industry must be addressed.

The paved road leading to the Yahuín mountain

In towns such as San Jose del Progreso located in the southern state of Oaxaca, there have been several cases of assassinations and intimidation practices towards environmental activists protesting the Canadian mine company Fortuna Silver. On June 16, 2012, environmental activists Bertín Vásquez Ruiz and Guadalupe Vázquez were shot in front of city hall for protesting the presence of Fortuna Silver in the town. Local human rights groups assert that the three gunmen were hired by the mining company. Also in 2009, while 300 people (including women with children) were blockading the mine’s entrance into the town, 700 police units arrived and violently removed the townspeople. Water is of main concern because the mining industry absorbs a great amount of the resource in the arid town of San Jose. The local population is also worried about pollution of their water by chemicals. An infamous case is the nearby town of Capulálpam, where water became so polluted by the company Continuum Resources that even the Mexican Federal Environmental Protection Agency intervened.      
                                                                
            Most recently there have been rumors that Fortuna Silver is planning to spread to the town of San Juan Chilateca which is in the same municipality as San Jose del Progreso. Espacio Kruz, a grassroots project working on environment protection, human rights, gender equity, cultural preservation, and defense of the land and territory asserts that in the mountain of San Juan Chilateca, called “Yahuín” there is presence of minerals, mostly gold and silver. Espacio Kruz started noticing a couple of years ago that there was construction in the perimeter of the mountain such as paving, road and electricity amplification principally near the mountain, as well as the arrival of trucks with the logo of Fortuna Silver.

The reed fence and unpaved road out front from Espacio Kruz

Espacio Kruz’s private property is found along one of the roads that lead to the mountain. The municipal government decided to pave the road, which Espacio Kruz opposed to. The response from the authorities was one of hostility and threats. On August 1st, 2016 Espacio Kruz was notified by the municipal authorities that it had to move its  fence in three days or otherwise it would be taken down by force. The fence has become polemic because it has prevented the paving of that portion of road. (The majority of the neighbors had already donated their 2 meters of land for the pavement project of the municipality.) Espacio Kruz argues that the document they received is illegal because it is not signed by a judge. There are rumors too that the politicians in the creation of this document work with the mining company Fortuna Silver. This is not the first time Espacio Kruz has experienced acts of intimidation. On February 25th, 2016 the fence was intentionally burned. 

             Although the rumors in San Juan Chilateca are just that, it is important to make the connections with the cases of San Jose del Progreso and Capulálpam, within the context of U.S. policy and NAFTA. The towns mentioned above are only three small examples of how the actions of our national companies are diminishing the way of life of people all across Latin America. An important change we need is policy change. It is time to educate ourselves about where our tax money is going and what policies our representatives are supporting, especially now in times of elections. Take action and recommend your Congress member to say NO to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the international trade agreement that has been called NAFTA on steroids.

Bringing the Land and People Together in Mexico

by Mickey Foley (originally published on April 18, 2016 on the Land Stewardship Project website)

On day two of our trip, we visited EDUCA (which stands for the Spanish equivalent of "Services for an Alternative Education"), an NGO located in Oaxaca City. It was housed in a two-story building, with a wall out front and a formidable door.

EDUCA was formed in 1994 to promote civil participation, indigenous rights and indigenous leadership. That year was a turning point in the history of Mexico. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect and, in response, the Zapatista uprising began and Mexican civil society emerged. EDUCA was inspired by the Zapatistas to organize indigenous communities on the local level. There are 10,000 such localities in Oaxaca.

The speaker, Miguel Angel Vásquez de la Rosa, outlined 6 Pillars of Indigenous Resistance: language (the indigenous mother tongue), territory (80 percent of Oaxacan land is communally owned), the community assembly, community work (tequio, which is unpaid), volunteer positions (cargos) and celebration (Fiesta!).

The word "democracy" has been so thoroughly discredited by its association with the Mexican (and U.S.) establishment that they've come up with a new word to describe the form of government they want to create: "communalocracy"—rule by the community. They want to replace the nexus of corporate and government power that has impoverished Oaxaca, especially its indigenous inhabitants.

The Mexican government has been supporting energy and mining mega-projects in Oaxaca, ostensibly to relieve poverty. But these projects— even the wind farms and hydroelectric dams—have ruinous environmental and economic consequences for the locals. The primary effect (and, likely, the purpose) of these projects is to dispossess indigenous people.

This has led to emigration from Oaxaca to northern Mexico and the U.S., which has caused disintegration of the social fabric, as well as poverty and violence. Even many of the Tachuatl, or "Snake People," the traditional guardians of the land, have been forced to leave. EDUCA believes these issues can best be remedied on the local level.

Thence, we took a fleet of taxis to the Pochote organic market. In my taxi, we spoke with the cabbie, whose English was decidedly better than our Spanish. He'd lived in Mexico City until the age of 4 when his dad split and his mom returned home to Oaxaca. My fellow delegate Sue said, "Qué lástima" ("How sad"). As we paid him 50 pesos and bid him adieu, I wondered if we could've done more to help him.

People in need pass through our lives all the time, and we rarely take the time to make even a token effort. The needy in Mexico were more obvious and numerous than those back home, but poverty in the Twin Cities has become more visible in the past few years. There are so many poor and so few rich wherever you go. I think spare change can help, but big change, like repealing NAFTA, is what's really needed.

The Pochote market was in a picturesque old square with a church. After picking up lunch from the stands there, we listened to two speakers. The first was a woman who wrote a book on nutritional sovereignty in 2000, featuring recipes from the Mixe region. Her mantra was: “Food is life. Food is knowledge.” They don't waste food. Even if a kernel of corn falls, they pick it up and use it. Before producing the food, and throughout the process, they ask permission from the Earth. They give thanks when they eat and when they harvest.

The Pochote organic market provides a place for campesinos
and local producers to sell their goods. (photo: Eric Nelson)

Food reinforces community organization. Kids participate, older folks measure out ingredients, women cook, men bring chairs and firewood. Different kinds of tamales are used in certain rituals: in the corn ceremony to give thanks for the harvest, at weddings for the parents of the bride, and for the Day of the Dead and wakes.

The second speaker was a local farmer. He told us that the market allows campesinos and local producers to sell their goods. It's difficult to create this kind of space with the transnational corporations dominating the economy. He talked about how organic agriculture tries to transform nature in ways that are benign. These farmers cure their animals homeopathically, use their manure for compost and plant their own saved seeds in double-dug beds. Through this approach, producers are spiritually, economically and socially strengthened.

That night, we wandered the square, which was full of people, mariachi bands and some dancing. A bedraggled group sat on the steps of a seemingly abandoned building with what appeared to be political banners. It looked like they’d been sitting there all day, if not longer. They’d wait until Doomsday, it seemed, until they got the change they wanted.

Land Stewardship Project member and frequent volunteer Mickey Foley was a participant in the LSP-Witness for Peace Mexico delegation. You can read more of Foley's reflections from the trip at his blog.

Human Trafficking: not an isolated phenomenon

by Sue Davis (WFP Mexico Program delegate)

“If you promise a girl heaven, you can take her to hell.” (Quote from a human trafficker overheard by human rights attorney Malika Saada Saar.) 

This quote took on many layers of meaning as our group encountered various human rights violations in Mexico. And who was our group? A delegation of seven members from Plymouth United Church of Christ and one Quaker from Des Moines, Iowa, embarked on a Witness for Peace experience in Mexico. The focus of our trip was the issue of human trafficking, which we found to be deeply connected to other issues of economic and social justice, both in Mexico and the United States. Our Witness for Peace facilitator, Maggie, engaged speakers and created experiences that allowed us to understand the context in which the phenomenon of human trafficking occurs and to connect personally with Mexicans and Americans fighting for justice on the frontlines.

“Tan lejos de Dios, tan cerca de Estados Unidos.” (“So far from God, so close to the U.S.”) 

Francisco Cerezo, our first speaker, quoted this phrase when he explained the cause of many human rights violations in Mexico. He was speaking from his personal experience of working for the freedom of three of his brothers, who had been illegally arrested and imprisoned in 2001.The government had trumped up charges against them of terrorism. Through the diligent efforts of their lawyer, Digna Ochoa, the youngest brother was freed after three years, and the older two after seven years of incarceration and torture. Comité Cerezo - which consists of the five Cerezo siblings as well as many collaborators - has established a center (named after the lawyer) for aiding other victims of human rights violations.  Francisco’s fourteen years of experience have led him to see how U.S. policies, especially the Mérida Initiative - meant to combat drug trafficking and organized crime - have increased human rights violations in Mexico. According to the fact sheet issued by Witness for Peace about the Mérida Initiative, aka Plan México, the 2.4 billion dollars appropriated by Congress to train Mexican state security forces and to deliver military aircraft and drug interdiction equipment have coincided with a five-fold increase in complaints of human rights violations by Mexican soldiers and federal police, including torture, rape, extrajudicial execution, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearance. Almost none of these cases have been prosecuted. The impunity rate in Mexico is between 95 and 98%. According to Francisco Cerezo, the culture of impunity continues because an extensive network exists among businessmen, the government, and organized crime. In spite of the odds and multiple death threats, Comité Cerezo continues to document human rights violations in Mexico and to find ways to prevent them.

“I felt anger and denial.” Maru’s emotions during the four-five years that it took her to feel that she had made the right decision to return to Mexico after having lived in the United States from the age of eight through the completion of her college education in New York.

We had the opportunity to hear the personal stories of six young people who had lived in the United States with their parents but were undocumented. Either they returned to Mexico voluntarily when they recognized the limitations that their undocumented status placed on their future, or they were deported. Having spent their formative years in the U.S., all of these young people faced discrimination and red tape when they returned to Mexico. The authorities did not recognize their high school or college educations. The young people often felt anger and denial for a long time before they were able to adjust to life in Mexico. Most had to live with relatives other than their immediate family and sometimes did not feel welcomed by them. In 2013 an organization called Dream in Mexico was formed to help returnees find educational, cultural and career opportunities in their native country. In turn, our group felt anger and dismay that our country has not found a humane way to treat undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for many years and who have a lot to contribute to our society.

Did you know that Pinocchio and Little Red Riding Hood are tools to educate young children about human trafficking and the vulnerability of victims?

Our speaker, Mayra Rojas, founder and director of an organization called Infancia Común, opened our eyes to the problem of human trafficking of children in Mexico. She claimed that prevention through education is the best measure to take, since rehabilitation of the victims of human trafficking is practically impossible. The statistics of the number of people affected by the problem are not accurate because there is no collaboration among agencies. The last study in 1999 claimed 16,000-20,000 children under the age of 18 were victims, and the numbers have been trending upwards ever since. The poverty of many Mexicans has made it easy to entice them to allow trafficking because they need the money. The consumer mentality of having or needing more has invaded the culture. International laws exist to prevent human trafficking, but they need to be stronger.

120 changes were made to the Mexican constitution to accommodate NAFTA.

This astounding fact was pointed out to us during Maggie’s summary of the history of U.S.-Mexico economic relations. One of the major changes was the allowing the sale and privatization of ejidos, which are communally owned lands that had been created by breaking up the ancient haciendas and which were never intended to be confiscated or sold. In addition, on June 1^st, 1994, the day NAFTA went into effect, there was a Zapatista uprising. Among other issues they were protesting the elimination of tariffs and protections for Mexican grown corn. Now, in Mexico, the birthplace of corn and a country whose dietary staple is corn, over 35% of corn consumed is imported from the U.S. NAFTA has been devastating for small farmers. Farmers from the southern state of Oaxaca have moved north to Baja California or the U.S. to work the fields. All this migration destroys the social fabric of the country. In addition, after a perfect storm of economic conditions in Mexico in the early ‘80’s, the IMF swept in with a 7.2 billion dollar loan in 1982 and insisted that the social safety net be dismantled. This has not done much too improve the lives of the 60 million Mexicans, almost half of the population, who are living in poverty. This poverty has pushed 1 in 10 Mexicans to migrate to the U.S. 

“The drug cartels know that drugs can only be sold once, but women can be sold again and again and again,” says Teresa Ulloa, director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This was a point brought up by Gaby, the director of Casa Tochan, a shelter for refugees and migrants from Central America who either intended Mexico or the U.S. as their final destination. After 9/11 in the U.S., the closing of the U.S.-Mexican border caused a bottleneck in the flow of migrants, principally from Central America, in Mexico. Consequently, thousands of people were put at high risk due to a lack of safety nets of families and gainful employment to support them. It’s a very complex issue, but generating magnets for growth in their countries of origin and improving their educational opportunities would eliminate the need to emigrate.

In the meantime, Mexico has built steel barriers along the south-north rail tracks to obstruct the hopping of the train by migrants. The consequence of this policy is the increased number of migrants taking the entire journey through Mexico by foot along dangerous routes well known to human traffickers and drug cartels. Women who stop at a shelter near the southern border of Mexico are given contraceptive vaccinations because they most certainly will suffer rape and abuse along the way. Gaby, who runs the shelter, wants to prevent human traffickers from posing as migrants and then exploiting the residents by enticing them with false promises that lead them into lives serving the drug cartels and human traffickers, who often work in tandem. Migrants and refugees have been coerced into growing, making or transporting illegal drugs for the cartels or have been enslaved as domestic workers and sex slaves for them. The cartels have found it more lucrative to sell women for sex than to sell drugs.

Here is a common migrant worker’s story: I paid a recruiting fee of $500 to work at a meatpacking plant, I paid a visa fee of $950, (it’s actually $190), I paid my transportation costs to the U.S., I paid for my hotel room while waiting for approval from the embassy, and I paid for travel costs to the final work site.

Sarah Farr of the Center for Migrant Rights, which has two offices, one in Baltimore and one in Mexico City, related this story to us as she explained the H2 visa system of the United States to us. We discovered that H2A visa workers in the agricultural sector have a lot more protections than those that come to work on a H2B visa. The H2B visas encompass such businesses as landscaping, forestry (cutting Christmas trees), and carnivals. Unlike businesses recruiting under H2A visas, H2B companies do not have to reveal who their migrant labor recruiters are. This right to hide their recruiters was supported by JKJ Workforce, which is an American agency that recruits for carnivals and is owned by Jim Judkins in Texas. He has formed the Outdoor Amusement Business Association, which has joined forces with landscaping businesses to form a powerful lobbying group. They have prevented the strict enforcement of labor laws, such as not providing a list of their labor recruiters. Their labor recruiters are subcontractors in Mexico that often resort to fraud to line their own pockets by charging workers recruitment fees. These are prohibited both by the U.S. Dept. of Labor and the Mexican government. Over 50% of workers actually pay these illegal fees. Carnival workers often work 100 hours per week in 36-hour shifts with no time to sleep. Their pay is not commensurate with their hours because weekly flat-rate wages are permitted in H2B visas. The fair and carnival industry is the only one exempt from a minimum wage requirement. Ten carnival workers might be crowded into living in one trailer with no kitchen or bathroom. They have to cook on hotplates outdoors. As a further insult, there is no safety protection when they erect and tear down the equipment. Many have suffered great bodily injury in accidents. How can a democracy allow a powerful lobbying group to effect policy that denies basic human dignity to workers who have come here with legal documents?

“Mexico is a clandestine cemetery. There are mass graves everywhere.” (Quote from Araceli Rodriguez)

Araceli Rodriguez came to talk to our group about her son Luis Angel, a federal policeman, who was disappeared at the age of 23 on November 16, 2009. He and six other federal policemen and one civilian were disappeared on their way to Hidalgo, Michoacán, where the policemen were commissioned to occupy the building of the municipal director because his life was being threatened. At 3:00 on November 16 they were kidnapped by the cartel Michoacán, which is now known as the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar). The government didn’t know that the seven men were missing until 6 days after the kidnapping. Araceli went directly to the government office to inform the officials that the policemen were missing and to ask about the welfare of her son. Armed men in the office took her and threw her out on the street. The government didn’t have any information about the missing 7 people. 

Thus began Araceli’s quest to find justice for her son. Besides the perpetrators of the kidnappings and killings who have been convicted, three levels of government, (state, federal, county), were complicit in this case, but no one has been charged criminally or civilly. Araceli is still pushing to try them in court and says that she’ll never give up. A major problem is the distrust of the police and government officials because you don’t know if you’re actually talking to someone involved in organized crime or to someone who is trustworthy. Corruption is prevalent at all levels of government and police.

Drug trafficking and human trafficking have contributed to the ubiquitous corruption and high rate of impunity. The drug cartels have stocked up on weapons and have the means to pursue human trafficking and organ trafficking. By way of human trafficking, the cartels have kidnapped victims to manufacture the drugs and to transport them. Thousands of Mexicans who are disappeared probably are not dead. The authorities know this because they are part of the cartels themselves. Of course, it is not to their advantage to have this exposed.

How does a community function when 30-40% of its families have migrating members?

The answer to this question is an organization called CAFAMI in San Francisco Tetlanohcan in the state of Tlaxcala. CAFAMI is a local organization that, primarily through theater and community projects, seeks to mitigate the phenomenon of migration and its impact on women and families. The consequences of migration are separated families and women searching for employment and having total responsibility for raising their families. Often the grandparents are in charge of raising their grandchildren. CAFAMI has striven to reduce the negative effects of migration by encouraging leadership among the women of the community and giving them the opportunity to develop their rights as citizens. CAFAMI is a place where women can reflect on the social impact of migration on their personal lives and on community life. The women reconstruct their identities through dancing, singing, acting, and cooking. An advantage of the group’s theatrical and cultural activities is their ability to travel to the U.S. to present their heritage. Once there, they can visit their relatives who have immigrated to the U.S. The Mexican government has mostly ignored the effects and causes of migration. To counter the government’s inaction, CAFAMI has joined 3 other organizations as a collective voice known as Colectiva sin Fronteras to work together to push for stronger laws protecting migrants and their families.

“There are boys who want to grow up to be traffickers, but there are no girls who want to grow up to be prostitutes.” (Quote from Emilio Muñoz)

How can it be that there are boys who want to grow up to be traffickers? According to Emilio Muñoz, the director of the Center for Human Rights and Local Development "Fray Julian Garcés" in Tlaxcala, there are entire family trafficking networks operating today that began with the grandfather and that have been maintained by subsequent generations. The adolescent boys in these families actually aspire to be traffickers. The role of the young men in trafficking families is to put psychological pressure on vulnerable young women by first showing up in a poor village in an expensive car. He claims to be in love with a young woman and shows her photos of the expensive houses he owns. He showers her with gifts and constantly sends her text messages. He claims that the girl is the woman of his dreams and that he wants to marry her. He even meets the girl’s family and impresses them by organizing birthday parties for family members and by bringing them food. Consequently, the family is convinced to allow the union of the trafficker and the young girl to go forward. After the wedding, he moves her to his community. Upon their return, his next step is to get her pregnant. The girl’s child or children stay in the trafficker’s home and are cared for by his female relatives.  The children’s lot in life is to continue the trafficking network of the family.

Since 1990, a common theme has been for the trafficker to move with his “wife” to a city, often in the U.S. and most commonly to New York. Once in the city, the trafficker invents an economic crisis and convinces the girl that the only way to get out of the situation is for her to become a prostitute. To protect her “husband’s” life, she will sacrifice whatever is necessary. This is a cultural expectation. If she refuses to become a prostitute, the trafficker threatens her child, her family or even her younger sister by capturing her and forcing her into prostitution. The women stay in prostitution for 10-15 years. They have up to 30 clients per day. They are able to work every day of the week because the traffickers give them medication to stop their menses.

Of course, there have to be clients or consumers to complete the human trafficking cycle. The current trend of neo-liberal thought promotes accumulation of capital. Trafficking has commercialized women’s bodies, which can be sold repeatedly to bring in money. People look at the victims’ bodies as a market. The consumers of the market are willing to spend money on prostitution of these trafficked women. According to Emilio Muñoz, everything has become a marketable item: Mexicans’ bodies, Mexican land, their water and air. For Mexicans, these things are not commodities but are considered sacred and a source of life.

The Making of a Passionate Immigrant Ally: a Delegation to Mexico

by Sarah Aldridge

At the beginning of my summer vacation, from May 12th - 21st, I traveled with a delegation from Appalachian State University to Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico, to study U.S. and Mexican immigration policies, and the effects that these policies have on the lives of ordinary people. I went into this experience having no clue of what to expect, and knowing very little of the issue of current immigration policies, and left with yet another country and people I have fallen in love with, and knowing much about a handful of related topics, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, indigenous Mexican farming techniques, and women’s weaving collectives. Above all, however, I made a connection with a place, a people, and an issue that I was not previously as passionate about.

This trip will be engrained in my memory forever, from my free afternoon trip to the local modern art museum and the realization that I can speak Spanish better than I believed, or the pan dulce that I loved so much at breakfast every day. One of the most amazing things about the itinerary that Witness for Peace put together for us for the ten days we were there was the human connection with a very human topic. So often, the people affected by immigration policies and reform, the D.R.E.A.M Act, and the increased border patrol are erased by mass media and a lack of knowledge to simply being a mass of people, nameless immigrants. 

Throughout our delegation, Witness for Peace made sure that we were meeting with and making connections with people staying at migrant shelters, with returned immigrants to America, and with the indigenous women and families who worked to decrease the migration out of their community. I know that as long as I live, I will never forget some of the people I met, from Jesus Leon Santos, the passionate and internationally acknowledged farmer in charge of CEDICAM, an organization that reintroduces indigenous farming techniques and local trade to an area ruined by the policies of NAFTA, to the university student that we joined for lunch, who had returned to Mexico after, despite excelling in American schools and making incredible grades, was unable to attend college because she was in “illegal” immigrant, and to my host mom in Teotitlan del Valle and her precious niece and nephew, whom I spent many enjoyable hours with pushing on swings, or watching Beauty and the Beast with in Spanish, while helping their mother cook dinner or discussing their father’s experiences growing up in the U.S. 

Not only has my time with Witness for Peace enriched my knowledge of immigration facts and figures, the stereotypes forced upon immigrants, and the true personal faces of immigration, but it has enriched the values that I find the most important in my life, which I believe any unbelievable experience should. The night before I returned to Charlotte, North Carolina, I wrote in my journal, reflecting for eleven pages. On the last two pages, I listed the values that were strengthened in me after all the meetings and dinners and day trips and shopping at indie bookstores, including the openness of my host family and all the speakers, the social awareness of everyone we met with on the trip, the adventurous spirit of all the friends I made at our hostel, the passion of our wonderful leader Maggie, and the beauty and tranquility and beautifully bustling city of Oaxaca. 

In addition to strengthening my life personally, my time in Oaxaca has enabled me to speak up more on behalf of immigrants who have been rendered faceless and nameless by our society, and educate future generations on the injustices of current immigration policies and the dangers and hardships that immigrants face, both in their home country and in the U.S., whether they arrive “legally” or “illegally.” At the summer enrichment program where I’ve taught this summer, we’ve read several books on immigration or with characters with hispanic heritage, and I’ve had the opportunity to speak with not only my class, but other classes as well about immigration policies and the things I learned through my time in Oaxaca. All in all, travelling with Witness for Peace changed my life, and definitely for the better. I’ll never forget the things I learned there, the experiences I had, and the person that I was during my ten days in Mexico.

Corruption, Impunity, and a Stunning View of Central Park

by Maggie Ervin

Oaxacan resident Claudia Trujillo was eating lunch behind the cash register as she does every day, her elderly mother sitting next to her. “It makes me angry…Here I am breaking my back, facing higher electricity and phone bills and sales tax, and they’re off buying properties in New York, Miami, and who knows where else, and opening bank accounts in Switzerland.” She was reacting to one of the latest political scandals in Mexico, which sometimes feel as much a part of daily life as warm tortillas and hour-long lines at the bank. 

The latest one hits close to home for Claudia. An exhaustive investigative report in the New York Times last week revealed that ex-governor of Oaxaca José Murat has bought at least six high-end properties in the U.S.: in Utah, in Texas, and in the extravagantly expensive Time Warner Tower in New York City. Murat is from humble beginnings, and rose up through the ranks of the PRI party starting in the 70’s. He is a man known for his stentorian voice and larger than life presence, but when it came time to buy luxury property in the U.S., he became more discreet. By using names of relatives, altering his own surname, and founding a shell company, he was able to buy millions of dollars worth of property, much more than his government salary could have afforded. This may sound like the back-cover summary of a John LeCarré-meets-Horatio Alger novel, but this is the stuff of non-fiction.

Let’s go back to his home state for a moment. Oaxaca is Mexico’s second poorest state out of thirty-one. Over half of its citizens live in poverty, and about a quarter in extreme poverty. Home to diverse cultures and languages, archeological wonders, culinary riches that make mouths water the world over, more biodiversity than many nations can boast, and a blinding variety of crafts - not to mention alluring beaches - it’s no wonder Oaxaca is one of Mexico’s main tourist destinations. And yet this hasn’t translated into wealth for many Oaxacans. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that the state has a long tradition of emigration that started during the Bracero Program in the 1940’s and increased over the last twenty years, after NAFTA rendered small-scale farming a profitless endeavor. Remittances are essential to many families throughout the state. But not only in Oaxaca. Currently 10% of Mexicans live in the U.S., and in 2013 they sent a total of 21.6 billion dollars in remittances, the most significant sector of the Mexican economy after petroleum.

“José Murat...was a bad governor whose administration was marked by repression of social movements, co-optation of community leaders, and corruption,” ruminated Miguel Angel Vásquez de la Rosa of a local NGO, EDUCA. “In Mexico and in Oaxaca there are many politicians like José Murat, but unfortunately the Mexican justice system doesn’t take any actions to bring them to justice.” Indeed. The last few months alone have offered a wealth of examples: President Peña Nieto’s wife purchased a palatial $7 million home from a contractor cozy with her husband, Guerrero’s governor Aguirre had to step down due to suspected links with drug cartels, former governor of Veracruz Fidel Herrera was discovered to have multi-million dollar properties in New York, and ex-president Salinas’ brother Raúl, who amassed 84 million dollars and 41 properties during his brother’s administration, was exonerated of all charges. 

Of course, impunity in Mexico is a problem Mexico ultimately has to solve. But it's not the only issue at play here. Lax property laws in the U.S. which allow millionaires to buy property virtually anonymously are also to blame in this dynamic. By permitting sales in cash, or in the name of limited liability companies, shell companies, or trusts, these laws facilitate the movement and concealment of millions upon millions of dollars of dubious origin from all around the world. As Louise Story explains in her NYT piece, “In many ways, the (U.S.) government has allowed the real estate industry to turn a blind eye to the source of money used to buy luxury properties…Foreigners who buy real estate in the U.S. often have an easier time keeping it out of reach of investigators, victims and plaintiffs back home.” Which is to say, these laws contribute to the impunity that criminals like José Murat enjoy in Mexico and in other countries. The fact that it’s so difficult to trace the money makes prosecutions and convictions extremely unlikely. There is another troubling issue in this interplay of geopolitics and geocapitalism: a certain double standard. At the same time that the flow of people to the U.S. has become more restricted, cumbersome, and risky (i.e., a more militarized border, stricter immigration laws, higher deportation rates), the flow of money to the U.S. has become less restricted, easier to conceal, and more difficult to trace. 

Meanwhile, like Claudia and Miguel Angel, other Oaxacans I spoke to about the Murat revelation also expressed anger and fatigue. “Politicians are allowed to make a living, that’s fair. But steal from the people? That’s not right.” said Carlos Figueroa, who works six days a week at a local hardware store for $11.66 a day. “We know this goes on all the time, but every time there’s new proof I get pissed off all over again.”

Mexican Oil Privatization Finds Support in U.S.

by Maggie Ervin

Petróleos Mexicanos logo found
in every gas station in Mexico

$32,600,000,000. $21,400,000,000. (You might have to count the zeros carefully to make sense of these numbers. That's 3.26 billion and 2.14 billion.) These were the earnings of ExxonMobile and Chevron in 2013, respectively. If this news didn’t already have them giddy, the Energy Reform passed last week in Mexico just might. In fact, Chevron’s CEO reacted to it with a “Congratulations,” while his counterpart at ExxonMobile had already expressed interest in the Reform: “If the next step provides an avenue for ExxonMobil to participate, we will.” 

Indeed it has. On August 12th, President Enrique Peña Nieto signed the Energy Reform into law, opening the doors to privatization of Mexican oil. With the Reform, PEMEX - or Petróleos Mexicanos - will retain its name, but its nature will change significantly.

Celebration in Mexico City in 1938
following the nationalization of oil.

Petroleum is the single most important element of the Mexican economy, accounting for about 10% of GDP and over 30% of the federal revenue. In 1938, Mexican oil was nationalized and transnational oil companies kicked out. The president at the time was Lázaro Cardenas, who justified his position with these words:  “…oil companies have enjoyed great privileges…including customs and tax exemptions and innumerable prerogatives,” as well as “miserably underpaid native labor; tax exemptions; economic privileges; governmental tolerance." Cardenas’ decision enjoyed overwhelming popular support in Mexico. Perhaps it’s not surprising then, that Peña Nieto’s does not. 

Here in Oaxaca, shopkeeper Norberto Lopez Santos articulated the prevailing skepticism: "It's another excuse to deceive the people. They're always lying to us. But it's the same thing: the rich always getting richer and the poor always getting poorer." A group of social justice organizations called Colectivo Oaxaqueño en Defensa de los Territorios (Oaxacan Land Defense Collective) denounced the Energy Reform as a "legalized land grab," referring to the electricity infrastructure projects included in the law. "An example of displacement can be seen in other projects in Oaxaca state," it wrote, and went on to cite dam projects and mines which have displaced entire communities.

Pena Nieto’s promises of what the Energy Reform will bring sound a lot like President Salinas’ (and Bill Clinton’s, for that matter) when he signed NAFTA: Better jobs, cheaper products (in this case, electricity and gas), and increased wealth thanks to foreign investment. But as NAFTA has shown Mexico over the last 20 years, the jobs won’t necessarily get better (oil companies will have no obligation to hire Mexican workers); electricity won’t get cheaper (past privatization has rarely meant cheaper prices for consumers, i.e., Enron in California. Indeed, just before the reforms passed, Governor Jerry Brown warned Mexico to regulate private energy companies or "they will eat you alive"). Lastly, foreign investment may increase, but again as with NAFTA, it will likely mean worse distribution of wealth. In fact, despite increased foreign investment, NAFTA only helped 10% of Mexicans increase their standard of living, while 45% of Mexicans remain poor, and an estimated 6 million small farmers have had no choice but to migrate. 

Jerry Brown warning Mexican lawmakers to enact a strict regulatory
 policy on foreign oil and gas companies or "they will eat you alive."

While many Mexican elites and politicians back the Energy Reform, it also enjoys plenty of support from both energy companies and politicians across the border. Republican Senator Richard Lugar - who before losing his seat in 2012 elections was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - was focused on the issue, and  in one of his final reports wrote: “Failing to implement the deal…would be a major setback for U.S.-Mexico energy relations.” During Obama’s visit to Mexico in February of this year, he congratulated Peña Nieto for the “outstanding efforts that he’s made…on a whole range of reforms that promise to make Mexico more competitive and increase opportunity for the people of Mexico.”  John Kerry has framed the issue as "energy security": "We

Obama's visit to Toluca,
Mexico State in February 2014

believe in this future of energy policy for this hemisphere…and that’s exactly the idea behind a program that we have created called Connecting the Americas 2022.” This is is a regional initiative that encourages exactly the type of private sector investment embedded in the new Mexican law. But the U.S.’s interest in oil goes beyond praise and policies. As revealed through the Snowden leaks, it turns out that NSA spied on PEMEX. According to Glenn Greenwald, more than issues of terrorism or the drug trade, the NSA's interest in Mexico actually lay more in the realm of energy. 

Like NAFTA, the Energy Reform will have far-reaching consequences in Mexico, a continuation of an agenda where privatization is not only a touchstone, but held up as a savior. The question is -  like the free trade agreement before it - who will it save?

Enrique Peña Nieto on the cover of TIME, Feburary 24, 2014. 
The cover was widely mocked throughout Mexico, 
and sparked an unprecedented number of memes.