By Alex Grossman, Digital Marketing Specialist
“For us, the wind isn’t just a resource, it’s part of our life from nature that shouldn’t be sold,” says indigenous activist Bettina Cruz.
Last Thursday, October 6, Global Greengrants Fund and Global Fund for Women co-hosted a lunch event at the Posner Center for International Development in Denver, Colorado. The event featured a presentation by Bettina, an environmental and human rights defender from Oaxaca, who has received grants from both organizations. In front of a full room of engaged listeners, and after a lunch of traditional-style Oaxacan tamales, Bettina told her story.
Bettina hails from the Isthmus of Tehauntepec, an area of Oaxaca that is home to five indigenous communities that have lived off the land since long before colonization. To this day, they uphold ancient cultural values, languages, and traditions. The communities’ commonly held land is under threat due to an influx of energy companies moving in to construct a wind mega-project, approved by federal and local authorities. A total of 25 wind farms have been built on indigenous lands, violating the Mexican Constitution and the communities’ rights to free, prior, and informed consent.
The construction and operation of the wind farms has caused severe environmental destruction and impacted fishing practices, killed animals, and changed a way of life the local indigenous people have maintained for generations. The icing on the cake is that the energy produced by the farms doesn’t benefit the local people, but instead is sold to major global companies, including Coca-Cola, Bimbo, Wal-Mart, and Heineken.
At just 13 years old, Bettina took it upon herself to generate change, and became an active participant in protests and social justice movements. Since 2007, she has worked with the The Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus of Tahuntepec, an organization that has been working for more than five years to defend common lands against the wind project.
As a result of her efforts, Bettina has been arrested and jailed multiple times, she has been beaten, and she has received death threats. Yet she continues to fight, claiming that the indigenous peoples live as a part of nature, and have a right to live that way.
Their cosmic vision and way of life should be honored and respected.
While the wind farms tout they are producing clean and renewable energy, it’s clear from what Bettina and her community have endured that the impacts on the ground are anything but sustainable. Her organization is in need of resources and support to pay legal fees, mobilize local people, and continue the fight to reclaim their lands. Bettina asks that we help spread the word, continue the conversation, and reveal the hidden costs of clean energy on the indigenous communities of Oaxaca.
Photo: www.acciona.com