(The Penmont S de RL de CV mine located in Caborca.)

SALTILLO, Coah. (apro).- En un nuevo intento para arrebatarles los ricos terrenos del ejido El Bajío, las mineras Peñoles y Penmont acusaron a 11 campesinos de “asociación delictuosa” ya que presuntamente robaron millones de litros cúbicos de una peligrosa “sustancia cianurada”.

En el expediente penal 112/2016 que interpusieron las empresas en el municipio de Caborca, Sonora, el pasado 19 de abril, un juez giró órdenes de detención contra 11 ejidatarios por el “robo con violencia” de vehículos mecánicos y robots que estaban en los terrenos del ejido, donde las mineras se habían apropiado de esos terrenos ilegalmente para sacar oro.

Lo absurdo de la demanda es que también se acusa a los humildes campesinos de robar más de 460 millones de litros de una solución cianurada rica en oro, que si se maneja sin equipo puede causar la muerte, y que para moverla se requieren al menos 15 mil camiones cisterna.

“Es un intento más de despojo a los ejidatarios del Ejido el Bajío por parte de Rafael Pavlovich Durazo”, tío de la gobernadora de Sonora Claudia Pavlovich Arellano, de la empresa estadounidense Penmont y Peñoles que dirige Alberto Bailleres, comentó a Apro el abogado Jesús Thomas.

from Proceso MX

translated by Earth First! Journal

Mexico: Mining Company Fabricates Absurd Charges, Sends 11 Campesinos to Prison

In another attempt by the rich to evict the communal land dwellers of the ejido [communal land] El Bajío, the mining corporations Peñoles y Penmont accused 11 campesinos of conspiracy for allegedly robbing millions of gallons of water from a dangerous “cyanide substance.”

Under the penal code 112/2016, the corporations from Caborca, Sonora, on Abril 19, a judge ordered the detention of 11 community members for “violently robbing” mechanical vehicles and robots which were on the community land, where the mines have illegally appropriated the land to extract gold.

What’s absurd in the lawsuit is that they also accuse the humble peasants of stealing more than 120 million gallons of a gold-rich cyanide solution, which if managed without proper equipment causes death and requires at least 15,000 cistern trucks to move.

“This is another attempt to evict the communal land dwellers of Ejido el Bajío on behalf of Rafael Pavlovich Durazo,” (uncle of the Sonoran governor, Claudia Pavlovich Arellano, of the US-American corporation Penmont y Peñoles, directed by Alberto Bailleres), commented the lawyer Jesús Thomas to Apro.

“Today the campesinos have been sentenced to formal prison, accused of plunder by Rafael Pavlovich and the same judge that ordered the arrest of another six community member for four other charges,” the lawyer said in a television interview.

He specified that the mining corporation has been working on this solution since mid-August, 2014, when the ejido El Bajío sued them before the Second Investigation Agency, under file number 0987/2014.

“The Public Ministry arrived and alleged that the solution was extracted by a hose of at least five miles long which took the liquid from the mining plant la Herradura, property of Penmont,” explained Thomas.

“Despite the lawsuit, nothing was done. Everything stayed as it was, but now that they want to arrest the community members, curiously enough, the Public Ministry is working efficiently, using a crime committed by the same corporation against the ejido,” he condemned.

The lawyer highlited that the order to detain 11 campesinos lacks a shred of evidence, “it is based solely on the miner’s words.”

“What’s strange is that the Attorney General of Justice from that state has been so focused on converting the victims of plunder into criminals, and the [real] criminals are converted into victims who order [the Justice] what to do and how to act, [through purchase/custom-made].”

Jesús Thomas remembers that there have been 137 murders in Sonora in 2016 already; not to mention countless robberies, and the authorities are never quick to investigate them.

“Almost seven years since the tragic fire at the ABC Kindergarten and no one has been subjected to judicial process,” he gave as example.

He also mentioned that the ejido El Bajío and its community members are victims of the mining corporation Minera Penmont, S de RL de CV, of Grupo Peñoles, whose owners are taking advantage of the peasants’ economic need and illiteracy to occupy and appropriate their land.