Minería de oro: promesas, conflictos y desilusión en Cerro de San Pedro, México

This article analyses how conflicts over land and water resources arose in Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico, when a Canadian mining company started an open pit mine in this municipality. We examine different positions in the conflict between the gold mine developer and local inhabitants, and how ambivalent national regulations and governmental bodies allowed a foreign company to operatewithout the required permits. For scrutinizing the conflict we use the Echelon of Rights Analysis (ERA) framework: four layers of dispute are being distinguished, involving conflicts over: resources; contents of rules and regulations; decision-making power; and discourses. We discuss how the foreign company‘s self-representation discourse as a socially responsible corporation contrasts with the environmental, political and social injustices it inflicts upon the local inhabitants, exacerbated by national policies and international trade agreements. Finally we argue that multi-actor, multi-scale alliances may offer opportunities to foster environmental and social justice solutions.<br/

Disputes over land and water rights in gold mining : the case of Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico

This article analyzes different visions and positions in a conflict between the developer of an open-pit mine in Mexico and project opponents using the echelons of rights analysis framework, distinguishing four layers of dispute: contested resources; contents of rules and regulations; decision-making power; and discourses. Complexities in this study manifest how communities’ land and water rights are circumvented by governmental bodies and ambivalent regulations favouring the large mining company. This process is importantly reinforced by international trade legislation. Multi-actor, multi-scale alliances may offer opportunities to foster environmental and social justice solutions.</p

Los caminos del agua

El agua fluye y a su paso siembra vida. Desde siempre, los territorios dependen de este importante recurso y sus dinámicas sociales se organizan en torno a la gestión del agua. Por eso, el acceso al agua, si bien es un derecho, implica también una disputa entre los diferentes actores de un territorio. En el escenario actual, que tiene como marco un modelo de desarrollo capitalista y globalizado, se priorizan los intereses de la agroindustria de exportación y la mneria, funcionales al capital, en detrimento de los sectores campesinos y de pequeños productores