Mexican activist shot dead before vote on power project he opposed – Thousands protest murder of Samir Flores Soberanes in Mexico City
By David Agren
20 February 2019
MEXICO CITY (The Guardian) – A Mexican environmental activist has been murdered before a referendum on a controversial thermal-electric plant and pipeline that he opposed.
Samir Flores Soberanes, an indigenous Náhuatl, was killed in his home during the early hours of Wednesday in the town of Amilcingo in Morelos state, 80 miles south of Mexico City. He was a human rights activist, producer for a community radio station and long-time opponent of the Proyecto Integral Morelos (the integral project for Morelos) – which includes the plant and pipeline.
Mexican media reported that Flores had been shot twice in the head by unknown assailants. The Morelos state prosecutor, Uriel Carmona, said the murder had nothing to do with the thermal-electric plant and investigators were probing links to organised crime.
The People’s Front in Defence of the Land and Water for the states of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA) said in a statement that Flores had no enemies besides those behind the project. “This is a political crime for the human rights defence that Samir and the FPDTA carried out against the [project] and for people’s autonomy and self-determination,” the statement said.
The FPDTA has opposed the construction of the thermal-electric project at Huexca over concerns it could contaminate water supplies.
The project was first proposed in 2011, but has been championed by Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as a way to reduce electricity bills. […]
Flores’s violent death continued the disturbing trend of environmental and human rights defenders, along with journalists, being murdered with impunity in Mexico – something López Obrador has promised to confront.
The death also came after López Obrador controversially branded civil society groups as conservative for opposing his plans for megaprojects and creating a militarised police force.
Conservatives “have seized control of civil society. I don’t know people from civil society,” López Obrador, commonly called AMLO, said on Tuesday. “The truth is very few [are] left-wing. With total respect, everything to do with civil society has to do with conservatism. Even big consortiums promote civil society.” [more]
Mexican activist shot dead before vote on power project he opposed
23 February 2019 (BBC News) – Thousands of protesters have marched in Mexico City following the murder of an environmental activist.
Samir Flores Soberanes, who was also a journalist, was shot twice in the head in his home in Amilcingo, south of Mexico City, on Wednesday.
The protesters held signs saying “Samir didn’t die, the government killed him”; “Samir lives”; and “Justice for Samir”.
As the march made its way through Mexico City, thousands gathered in Amilcingo to lay Flores to rest.
The reasons for the killing are not yet clear but a prosecutor has indicated it was linked to organised crime.
Flores was a longstanding opponent of the Proyecto Integral Morelos (PIM), a development project that includes two new thermoelectric plants and a 150km (93 mile) natural gas pipeline in the state. […]
Activists fear that the pipeline will contaminate the local water supply, which would predominantly affect the indigenous communities in the area.
His death came just days before Saturday and Sunday’s public referendum on the plants. [more]
Samir Flores Soberanes: Thousands march in Mexico City over activist’s murder
