Michoacán Peasant Farmers Are Determined to Defend Their Lands

[400Years]

Michoacán Peasant Farmers Are Determined to Defend Their Lands, Coveted by Multinational Corporations for a Tourism Mega-Project
http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1719.html
By Bertha Rodríguez Santos
The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Michoacán
April 4, 2006

ZIRAHUÉN, MICHOACÁN, MÉXICO: To shouts of “Zapata lives, the struggle continues!” and “Cárdenas, understand, our land is not for sale!” about 500 indigenous peasant farmers from the “Caracol in Rebellion of Lake Zirahuén” received Zapatista Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos with a march. They later expressed to him their determination to continue the struggle to defend their communal lands in the face of an ambitious tourism mega-project.

Lake Zirahuen is threatened by a mega-project to bring casinos and five-star hotels to this indigenous Purépecha community.

The project is being pushed by local PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) boss Guillermo Arreola Estrada, who hopes, according to the farmers, to build a resort complex with casinos, five-star hotels, restaurants and various recreational centers, including a golf course, on top of some 3,020 acres of communal lands located on the shores of Lake Zirahuén. Docks for yachts and pleasure cruises are also planned for the lake.


Lake Zirahuen is threatened by a mega-project to bring casinos and five-star hotels to this indigenous Purépecha community.
Photo: D.R. 2006 Amber Howard