The Agua Prieta pipeline is a natural gas pipeline project by Sempra Energy to move natural gas from the U.S. state of Arizona to the Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa. The pipeline will cross the Yaqui River (Rio Yaqui), the water source for the Yaqui, an indigenous tribe. Some Yaqui strongly oppose the pipeline and have campaigned against it.
Geography and description
The Agua Prieta pipeline is a natural gas pipeline project by IENova (a subsidiary of the Texas-based Sempra Energy)[1] to move natural gas from the U.S. state of Arizona to the Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa.[2] The pipeline received a permit from the Mexican government for the the pipeline; gas distributed through the pipeline will go to the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, the national electric utility of Mexico.[1]
Opposition
The Agua Prieta pipeline will cross the Rio Yaqui, the water source for the Yaqui, an indigenous tribe residing in the valley of the Rio Yaqui in Sonora, Mexico and the Southwestern United States.[2] The Yaqui Valley is fed by numerous tributaries which drain the eastern highlands as they flow from the escarpment of the Sierra Madre Occidental to the Gulf of California.[3] From the colonial era onward, the tribe has maintained a high degree of consciousness and organization.[4] According to scholar Stephen V. Lutes, "the Yaqui are notoriously sensitive about the issue of autonomy, even today, and have shown a will to resist the encroachments of alien colonists and authority."[5]
There are differences among the Yaqui over the pipeline, leading to sometimes violent confrontation.[2][1] The conflict focuses on water rights.[6] Opponents of the project say that the pipeline will cross 90 kilometers into Yaqui territory in violation of Mexican law and that "Building the pipeline without consultations that are deemed to be fair, transparent, and inclusive for all of the Yaqui communities would be a violation of the sovereignty of Yaqui land."[7] Yaqui members from Loma de Bácu secured a moratorium temporarily blocking pipeline construction.[1] Despite this, construction resumed, "allegedly with the support of government officials and the Yaqui members from the community of Loma de Guamúchil."[1] In October 2016, there was a clash at Loma de Bácum involving the use of "machetes, clubs, rocks, and firearms." One protester was fatally shot, eight were injured, and there was "significant property damage" including the burning of cars.[1] In December 2016, the Yaquis' lawyer, Anabela Carlon Flores, and her husband were kidnapped at gunpoint by unknown masked men; the couple was "held for days before eventually being released."[2]
See also
- Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline System — TransMountain Pipeline expansion project has encountered opposition from the Suquamish and other indigenous tribes
- Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock.
References
- ^ a b c d Alexander Sammon, Get Ready for the Trump Pipeline Boom: 8 oil and gas projects in the works—and the protests gathering around them, Mother Jones (March 1, 2017).
- ^ Radding, Cynthia: Peasant Resistance on the Yaqui Delta (1989).
- ^ Miller, Mark E. "The Yaquis Become 'American' Indians." The Journal of Arizona History (1994)
- ^ Evers, Larry: The Holy Dividing Line: Inscription and Resistance in Yaqui Culture (1992).
- ^ Nájar, Alberto (31 August 2015). "Yaquis: los combatientes de la primera guerra del agua en México" (in Spanish). BBC World.
- ^ Arzaba, Andrea (14 December 2016). "Mexico Ahead Controversial Pipeline Through Indigenous Land, Despite Moratorium". GlobalVoices.