Mexico's Yaqui Indians Defend Water Rights in Meeting with Senators Latin American Herald Tribune
go to original August 10, 2014

MEXICO CITY – Representatives of the Yaqui Indian tribe demanded a halt to the operation of an aqueduct in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora, saying in a meeting with senators that it will leave their communities without water.

“Yaqui elders, men, women, youth and children have come to this city to make ourselves heard because we’re sure that what’s happening on our land is a violation of our rights,” Yaqui spokesman Tomas Rojo said, according to a statement by Mexican civil society organization Serapaz.

Rojo also accused Sonora Gov. Guillermo Padres of continuing “with his crassness of taking our water away with projects like the Independence Aqueduct.”

More than 100 Yaqui Indians, who arrived Friday via caravan in Mexico City to meet with legislators and federal authorities, explained to the senators their position in a long-running dispute with the Sonora government that has included road-blocking protests by the indigenous group.

The 152-kilometer (95-mile) Independence Aqueduct was built at a cost of 4 billion pesos (some $300 million) to transport some 75 million cubic meters of water annually from the Yaqui River to the manufacturing hub of Hermosillo, Sonora’s capital, which has experienced frequent droughts in recent years.

Read the rest at Latin American Herald Tribune

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!