On October 3rd, Stay Grounded took the French March on Airports beyond borders. Our Méxican member organisation Coordinadora de Pueblos y Organizaciones del Oriente del Estado de México (CPOOEM) joined the March on Airports in Mexico City, together with groups at 17 French airports and solidary bike ride from Belgium to France. The mobilisation at Benito Juarez International Airport, Mexico City, took place in memory of Heriberto Salas Amac, who passed away due to COVID-19 and demanded justice for the murder of indigenous anti-airport activist Antonio Montes Enríquez.

Heriberto Salas Amac, peasant original from the community of Nexquipayac of the San Salvador Atenco municipality in the State of Mexico, started fighting for the rights of his community and for life with 16 years. He was co-founder of the CPOOEM and Frente Amplio No Partidista en contra del Nuevo Aeropuerto y otros Mega proyectos en la Cuenca del Valle de México, and Concejal of the Nahua people of the Valley of Mexico in the National Indigenous Congress.

Although many of us in the Stay Grounded network have never met Heriberto in person, we had the pleasure to meet him online in our various network meetings and calls. Heriberto will live on in our memories as a remarkably courageous comrade who found very clear words to address the injustices inherent with our society and point out the path towards other forms of organising allows the communities to take back what is theirs and “walk with a sense of building for life”.

In loving memory of Heriberto, we express our full support for the work of the Coordinadora de Pueblos y Organizaciones del Oriente del Estado de México, the Non-partisan Broad Front and the National Indigenous Congress and demand the Government of Mexico to stop the destruction and aggression against communities and natural heritage in the Valley of Mexico. Heriberto left us his example and we will continue our work and struggle in honouring his memory.

On behalf of our more than 160 member organisations globally, we also demand justice for the “state-crime” murder of Antonio Montes Enríquez, Rarámuri indigenous leader, opposing illegal logging and the construction of an international airport in the town of Creel, in the municipality of Bocoyna, Chihuahua, Mexico, that is scheduled to open for international flights in March 2021. Montes, who had been a vocal opponent of the airport project for years was murdered at the age of 43. He had been planning a protest against the misuse of a trust created in 2016 to compensate residents for the airport’s construction on land belonging to the Rarámuri.

Statement issued by CPOOEM (Castellano abajo)

AVIATION: INCOMPATIBLE WITH PLANET’S LIFE, CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERE

From Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport and as members of the International Network Stay Grounded, today, October 3rd, 2020, we join the French mobilizations at airports and their just demands for:
 
A moratorium and cancellation of airport expansion projects!
Air traffic reduction! and a reorientation of the aeronautical sector!
 
In European countries, climate breakdown is considered an even more serious danger than the current health crisis and air transport as one of the main global warming perpetrators. Pronouncements are issued, protests are made and are fighting for a deep sector transformation; for a fair professional re-education for all people currently working in the aviation industry; to support these thousands of aviation workers whose employment is at risk and to organize with them the industry conversion to low-carbon, environmentally friendly transport systems, for local residents suffering aviation consequences; and to collectively rethink our transport needs at the society-wide level.
 
It is time to make our voices heard so that bad governments in Mexico will stop, turn to this global trend and for the future of all of us achieve a rapid and drastic air traffic reduction (a condition also necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 virus); stop the construction of more airport infrastructure; and ecosystems destruction such as the Valley of Mexico basin on which human survival and life depends on the planet as we know it. We express our concern and outrage at the continued contamination of groundwater and the piping of rivers and springs; as well as the stripping of land, the destruction of historical and cultural heritage and the over-exploitation of natural goods due to works associated with airport projects such as the Tuxpan-Mexico highway and the urban park – wrongly called ecological – on the Texcoco Lake.
 
We demand justice for the cowardly murder of Antonio Montes Enríquez, Rarámuri native, defender of Nature and opposition to the construction of the international airport in the town of Creel, municipality of Bocoyna in the system known as “Barrancas del Cobre” in the Tarahumara Sierra on the southwest of the state of Chihuahua-Mexico, that the federal government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and state of Javier Corral Jurado, intend to open in March 2021.
 
For greater public awareness, I choose not to fly
WE WON’T GIVE UP, WON’T SELL, WON’T SURRENDER!
 
In memoriam HERIBERTO SALAS AMAC (1958-2020)
Concejal of the Nahua People of the Valley of Mexico-CNI and co-founder CPOOEM
 
Coordinadora de Pueblos y Organizaciones del Oriente del Estado de México en Defensa de la Tierra, el Agua y su Cultura (CPOOEM)
 
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LA AVIACIÓN: INCOMPATIBLE CON LA VIDA, EL CLIMA y LA ATMÓSFERA DEL PLANETA

Desde el Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez de la Ciudad de México y como miembros de la Red Internacional Stay Grounded (Permanezcamos en la Tierra), hoy 3 de octubre de 2020, nos sumamos a las movilizaciones francesas en los aeropuertos y sus justas demandas de:
 
¡Moratoria y cancelación de los proyectos de expansión aeroportuaria!
¡Reducción del tráfico aéreo! y ¡Reorientación del sector aeronáutico!
 
En países de Europa, la descomposición del clima es considerada un peligro aún más grave que la actual crisis sanitaria y al transporte aéreo como uno de los principales responsables del calentamiento global. Se emiten pronunciamientos, se protesta y se lucha por una profunda transformación del sector; por un reentrenamiento profesional justo para todas las personas que actualmente laboran en la industria aeronáutica; para apoyar a esos miles de trabajadores de la aviación cuyo empleo está en riesgo y organizar con ellos la reconversión de la industria hacia sistemas de transporte bajos en carbono que tengan en cuenta el medio ambiente, a los residentes locales que sufren las consecuencias de la aviación; y para repensar colectivamente nuestras necesidades de transporte a nivel de toda la sociedad.
 
Es hora de hacer oír nuestra voz para que en México los malos gobiernos hagan un alto, volteen hacia esta tendencia global y por el futuro de tod@s nosotr@s logren una reducción rápida y drástica del tráfico aéreo (situación también necesaria para detener la propagación del virus COVID-19); detengan la construcción de más infraestructura aeroportuaria; y la destrucción de ecosistemas como el de la Cuenca del Valle de México de los que depende la sobrevivencia humana y la vida en el planeta como la conocemos. Manifestamos nuestra preocupación e indignación porque continúan la contaminación del agua subterránea y el entubamiento de ríos y manantiales; así como el despojo de tierras, la destrucción del patrimonio histórico y cultural y la sobreexplotación de bienes naturales por obras asociadas a proyectos aeroportuarios como la autopista Tuxpan-México y el parque urbano mal llamado ecológico en el Lago de Texcoco.
 
Exigimos justicia por el cobarde asesinato de Antonio Montes Enríquez, indígena rarámuri, defensor de la Naturaleza y opositor a la construcción del aeropuerto internacional en el poblado de Creel, municipio de Bocoyna en el sistema conocido como “Barrancas del Cobre” en la Sierra Tarahumara al suroeste del estado de Chihuahua-México, que los gobiernos federal de Andrés Manuel López Obrador y estatal de Javier Corral Jurado, pretenden inaugurar en marzo de 2021.
 
Por una mayor conciencia pública, elijo no volar
¡NO NOS RENDIMOS, NO NOS VENDEMOS, NO CLAUDICAMOS!
 
In memoriam HERIBERTO SALAS AMAC (1958-2020)
Concejal del Pueblo Nahua del Valle de México del CNI y cofundador CPOOEM
 
COORDINADORA DE PUEBLOS y ORGANIZACIONES DEL ORIENTE DEL ESTADO DE MÉXICO EN DEFENSA DE LA TIERRA, EL AGUA y SU CULTURA (CPOOEM)