For World Environment Day, representatives of the Mayan population of Homún and Kinchil came to one of Merida’s most prominent monuments on Wednesday to protest corporate pig farms that threaten their environment.
Wednesday’s mock awards ceremony declared corporate pork processor Keken an “EPRC,” an acronym that translates to Dangerously Racist and Polluting Company.
Gathered at the Monument to the Fatherland and accompanied by members of the rights group Indignación, activists singled out the corporation and its subsidiaries “which have distinguished themselves by discriminating against the Mayan people, violating our constitutional rights and imposing their economic interests.”
Indigenous groups have been at war with corporate pig farms in the cenote zone. Ground water is at risk of contamination, which threatens sacred cenotes that have both spiritual and economic resonance with the villagers.
Locals are also angered that they were not consulted before the state allowed a large-scale pig farm to be built.
Cristina Muñoz Menéndez and Martha Capetillo Pasos, from Indignación; Teodoro Kuk Dorantes and Carolina Ix Chim, among other residents of Homún and Kinchil, presented and read the “recognition.”
“With this ‘prize’ we want to point out those who discriminate against us and those who do not respect the rights of the peninsular Mayan people. We want to tell you that we already know them, we recognize them and we point them out,” they said.
The demonstrators also accused sitting politicians and governments, courts, judges and companies of conspiring to risk the life, environment and harmony of indigenous people who are defending their lands.-
They accused the former Yucatan governor, Rolando Zapata Bello, and current Gov. Mauricio Vila for siding with corporations against indigenous people.
Source: Diario de Yucatan
