Tribu Yaqui in meeting. Photo: Flickr user Malova Gobernador. Used under CC 2.0 license.
By Andrea Arzaba, Global Voices
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A new pipeline under construction in northern Mexico has become a major controversy involving the local Yaqui indigenous community, which is less that pleased about the Agua Prieta tube's route (straight through Yaqui territory).
Things went from bad to worse on Oct. 21, when the pipeline's supporters attacked a group of protesters, killing one, wounding eight, and causing no small amount of property damage.
The Yaqui tribe, which has endured a long history of repression, also has a history of mounting various resistance movements. Like other indigenous communities in Mexico, members of the Yaqui tribe have lost their lives fighting against invasive private companies and non-indigenous authorities. Just two years ago, before the conflict over the Agua Prieta pipeline, the Yaquis protested against a large-scale aqueduct that would have diverted what was left of their sacred river to the city of Hermosillo.
According to its design, the Agua Prieta Pipeline project would begin in Arizona, in the United States, and end in Sonora, Mexico. One portion of the pipeline would be constructed in 90 kilometers of Yaqui territory, which is protected by Mexican law. Building the pipeline without consultations deemed to be fair, transparent, and inclusive for all of the Yaqui communities would be a violation of the sovereignty of the Yaqui land, community leaders say.
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