Introduction

International Earth Day is a day to recognize the ongoing struggle to protect the planet and the great achievements of those individuals, communities, and movements who dedicate their lives to protecting the planet. In Mexico, PBI accompanies these struggles, and despite their legitimate claims, they navigate intimidation by the Mexican state, unlawful evictions by private companies, and even defamation from unknown actors on social media for speaking out against injustice.

The Resiliance of the Peoples’ Front in Defense of Land and Water (FPDTA-MPT)

FPDTA-MPT is an organization formally created in 2012 by Nahuatl indigenous communities from the states of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala who mobilize towards the goal of defending their territories and the exercise of their self-determination一frequently in the face of megaprojects. Speaking out against such strong economic interests of powerful companies has wrongfully led to the silencing of members through attacks, harassment, and criminalization. Specifically, in the state of Morelos, the aggressors have gone as far as the arrest, torture and murder of Samir Flores Soberanes. Despite these painful losses and significant challenges, FPDTA-MPT has continued to use their collective strength to continue forward to ensure the protection of the land, rivers, and people of the community.

“The people of Cholula are not a garbage dump”: Mobilization against the Cholula Landfill to Protect the Health of the Land and Community

On March 19, 2024 the Federal Attorney General’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) approved the landfill closure of San Pedro Cholula; however, throughout the extended process of closure, it has been documented by independent studies as a source of contamination for the aquifers used for drinking water. There has been a surge in harmful fauna and a distinctively bad odor within the community, impacting the daily well-being of the community. PBI has provided political and physical accompaniment to FPDTA-MPT, specifically Juan Carlos Flores Solís, since 2020, to ensure his and his community’s safety in the face of intimidation, harassment, and surveillance. As a lawyer for the organization he has been accompanied throughout the integral legal process to ensure the land, environmental, and ancestral rights of FPDTA-MPT are respected. PBI’s accompaniment is visible, whether at meetings with state and judicial contacts to the protests in front of Profepa or the Cholula garbage dump. PBI’s accompaniment of these defenders to continue their tireless work that led to a ruling in August that the “landfill of death” and commitments by officials to actively ensure its closure and reparations. 

Conclusion

The work of FPDTA-MPT in the long-fought achievement of the closure of the Cholula landfill is impactful in a context in which powerful actors work against Indigenous peoples showing the extent communities must go for their basic rights to be respected. On Earth Day and every other day of the year, these defenders are leading the movement to ensure that the water sources and environment are respected.