(First Part)

Some months ago in April of 2002, the Mexican Presidential Commissioner for the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), Florencio Salazar, affirmed in the Central American parliament that: “I am clear and emphatic, there is no project, no intention to construct a hydroelectric dam on the Usumacinta, simply because the communities in the Peten do not accept it.” What he did not say, is that the Mexican communities do not accept it either. But this is what Jorge Sapovich, a high-ranking official of the Inter-American Development Bank, also confirmed in a recent meeting of this organization in Belize, a country whose people are carrying on another battle against the construction of the Chalillo Dam.

The PPP has promised public citizen consultations for the implementation of megaprojects, as well as respect for indigenous cultures. The governments have signed Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization on the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples. And President Fox promised that no public works would be constructed if the indigenous people did not agree. One year ago, Fox affirmed that Zapatismo “has nothing to do with the Plan Puebla Panama, other than the fact that if there happens to be a project which a certain community does not want passing through its territory, we will simply move it to another location. We are not going to fight with anyone.” (La Prensa Gráfica, June 15, 2001).

The World Commission on Dams (WCD), after their report on the negative impact that hydroelectric dams have had in the world, made a series of recommendations to governments and businesses (www.dams.org). Furthermore, in March of 2002, in the First Mesoamerican Forum for Life, Regional Front against Dams (www.ciepac.org) that took place in the Guatemalan Peten on the shores of the Usumacinta River, more than 300 participants of indigenous and campesino communities of Chiapas and other Central American, Caribbean and South American countries totally and completely rejected the construction of these dams (see the Bulletin “Chiapas al Dia” No. 283 from March, 2002). Many studies and experiences have already warned of the danger of these hydroelectric megaprojects (see www.ciepac.org “Chiapas al Dia” Bulletins 285-287).

THE USUMACINTA BASIN

In spite of all this, the governments continue to lie. Presidents Alfonso Portillo of Guatemala and Vicente Fox of Mexico announced the construction of hydroelectric dams in the High Usumacinta. This was one of the agreements of June 28, reached in the “Investment Expo 2002” that took place in the Merida Summit, in Yucatan, Mexico. The signing of the memorandum on technical cooperation with Central America gave formal initiation to the construction of the Hydroelectric Dams of the High Usumacinta, that consist of “five small dams” that begin on the border between Peten, Guatemala and marques de Comillas, Chiapas, and end in the state of Tabasco with the bi-national project known as “Boca del Cerro.” The construction will have a cost of $240 million USD which will be supplied by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB) “to support a project of electrical inter-connection in Central America, the first step toward the Mesoamerican energy integration set forth by the PPP.”

The antecedents of the project were set decades ago. The study made by the Federal Electrical Commission (CFE) called “Geological explorations for hydroelectric projects on the Usumacinta River, Chiapas” carried out by Gustavo Arvizu Lara and Moises Davila Serrano in April of 1987 affirms that “The Usumacinta River, the river with the largest capacity in the country, is the border between Mexico and Guatemala. Subsurface studies have been carried out in the mid to lower range of the river, for the location of five hydroelectric centers, four of them which will span both countries. The majority of the rocks of the formations studied are limestone, dolomite and marl, intensely fractured and dissolving. In the report the results of the geophysical explorations are supported by topography and perforations, and it is furthermore shown that hydrographic data of the principal currents are associated with fluctuations in the subterranean water levels.”

According to the declarations of Marta Prion in the article published in Prensa Libre in Guatemala and cited by the Commercial and Development Bulletin of July 13, 2001, since 60 years ago, the interest in constructing a hydroelectric dam on the Usumacinta River has been known. “Initially the project was proposed by Mexico, and for some reason has always been handled with much secrecy,” the author states, adding “that it was a system of great dikes from Sayaxche to the final dam in Piedras Negras, where the river reached a level of 25 meters over its maximum peak in the winter, and approximately 45 meters above minimum peak in summer.

For Marta Prion “this would provoke the flooding of an estimated 10 to 12 thousand square kilometers (almost one third of the Peten in Guatemala), where 800 archaeological sites are found, among them Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan and Altar de Sacrificios, cooperative landholdings with more than 50,000 people, and the loss of millions of hard wood trees and forest life.” She describes the construction as a “Pharaonic work, for the type of subsoil in the Peten that permits leakage, very deep and expensive foundations would be needed, without the security of their resistance in the end. The benefit of the project would be more for Mexico, and the damage for Guatemala, for the inundation would be on that side as Guatemala is lower; Mexico would use its part of the energy and would buy Guatemala’s part, or would sell to El Salvador.”

In the same article, it is mentioned that “in 1995, don Clemente Marroquin Rojas was opposed to the Project because it posed a threat to the sovereignty of Guatemala; in 1983 the case was discussed in the world meeting of the UICN in Madrid, who were worried about its impact on the Peten; in 1984 the Institute for Tropical Cultural Ecology and the German Society of Ethnology made this worldwide statement: “We express deep concern over the project of the Usumacinta dam, because it constitutes a grave threat for the people, Mayan archaeological sites or global importance, tropical forests and the biological diversity of Guatemala.” The author of the article states that “personally, as a member of the then denominated Technical Assessment Commission for the Environment, I participated in this struggle for detaining the dam. But today there is a new project (…) that is very delicate and dangerous (…) The people should be informed and exercise their right of caring for the protection of the environment and natural resources, as it is a human right necessary for survival.”

In another article published in Prensa Libre and cited as well in the Commercial and Development Bulletin No. 10 from April of 2002, Magali Rey Rosa affirms that “at this point it is impossible to believe anything that the officials of the government say when asked about the hydroelectric dams on the Usumacinta; in the Ministry of Energy and Mines they pretend ignorance, thus it is difficult to obtain reliable information. What is known for certain is that 85% of the electrical energy produced by said project would be for Mexico. And the relationship between Alfonso Portillo and Vicente Fox is no secret to anyone, thus the history of the dams could become another horrible chapter for the Guatemalans, especially for those who live on the banks of the Usumacinta River.”

Along with the irreversible ecologic impact on what little remains of the Mesoamerican forests, the displacement of indigenous populations and the consequential impoverishment will be marked by an increasing military presence in the region. Let us not forget the municipalities of Ocosingo in Chiapas and the department of the Peten in Guatemala are the most militarized regions of Mesoamerica. This will assure that the project can be sold as a concession to foreigners through Guatemala, concretely to the Spanish transnational corporation known as Fenosa Union, owner of the company DEORSA that has a monopoly in the electrical energy service in the northern part of Guatemala, characterized by poor service to users, constant black-outs and high rates on energy bills. Nonetheless, on the Mexican side there is a constitutional impediment, although the Magna Carta is constantly violated:

“Only Mexicans by birth or by naturalization and Mexican societies have the right to acquire dominion of the lands, waters and their accessions or to obtain exploitation concessions for mines or water. The State can concede the same right to foreigners, only when it is beneficial to the Secretary of Relations to consider as nationals with respect to such concessions and in no invoking for the same reason the protection of their governments with reference to the same; under the penalty of having the rights to such concessions as they have acquired by this virtue being returned to the Nation in the event of not respecting said agreement. In a strip of 100 kilometers along the borders and 50 kilometers along the beaches, under no circumstances can foreigners obtain rights to lands or water.” (Article 27 of the Political Constitution of Mexico).

Water is the second source for electrical energy generation in Mexico. For this, dam construction is necessary, a housing for the turbines, generator and energy transformers, and a control station. The installations should be below the base of the dam wall to take maximum advantage of the energy potential of the water. Although for others, reflecting the lack of transparent and truthful information on the part of the governments involved, dams on the Usumacinta only involve turbines on waterfalls and will not involve flooding. This type of dam takes advantage of the current of the river, conducting it toward the turbines. Nonetheless, although the reservoirs that are constructed for this type of dam are smaller, they also cause a corresponding impact depending on their size. Monti Aguirre of the International Rivers Network (IRN) confirms that there are various examples of this type of dam in Africa, for example in Namibia on the Rua Cana Falls dam, and another project of the World Bank called the “Lower Kahensi Project.” For Monti Aguirre, the Belo Monte dam in the Brazilian Amazon is also technically of this type “that require constant flow of water in a “relatively” small reservoir. This project nonetheless is a complex that will affect approximately 28 indigenous groups of the Amazon Basin, rural populations and one urban center (Altamira).” There are also other projects that we will look at later, where the flow of water is used for advantage, conducting it away by tunnels, and the river or the waterfall remains without water in  certain areas, which causes environmental impacts below the dams.

From another source and point of view, the National Project “Third Millennium Mexico” proposes the plotting of the country into six complexes that, going beyond the PPP, are in line with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). In each one of these areas, hydro-electric dams are being proposed: in the Western Pacific Complex, the hydroelectric dams of Ixcam in the state of Nayarit, in the Northern Pacific Complex the Montague Project in the Colorado River delta; Batahui on the Yaqui River and Huahura on the Mayo River. In the Central and Northern Complex, the hydroelectric system of Tzen Valle in the Huasteca area of San Luis Potosi stands out, as well as the Santa Cynthis and the Micos center, the Santa Maria dam in Queretaro and San Luis Potosi, the transference dam Extoraz between Queretaro and Hidalgo, the Amajaque dam in Hidalgo and the construction of various centers in the hydroelectric system on the Necaxa River in the state of Puebla. In the Southern Pacific Complex we find the dams of Papagayo-La Parota and Omotepec in Guerrero, Verde-Atoyac in Oaxaca, the 288 kilometer interoceanic canal of Tehuantepec, along with the trans-isthmus railroad that would be 8 rails wide, and the double tracked coast rail – both high-speed electric systems.

For the moment we will look only at the Southeast Complex, and specifically at the hydroelectric projects in Chiapas that take in various rivers of the state and the basins of the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers. The UsuTulija System and the Quetzalli, Huixtan I, Huixtan II, Jattza and Nance projects, all located in Chiapas, will supply a potential of 9,520 megawatts of energy (or 27% of the national level), and will generate 33,000 million kilowatts/hour per year, which represents 20% of the current national generation. The energy produced is aimed to support future development complexes like the current urban and industrial centers, and add a million and a half hectares to the agro-export business, which would necessitate the expulsion of small producers. In the same way, projects are justified with the goal of giving energy to the Gulf area to control coastal inundations provoked by deforestation, as well as direct energy to the Yucatan peninsula, that within the framework of the PPP will be inundated with industrial parks, maquiladoras and agro-export centers.

Because of the significant flow of the Usumacinta Rivers, 70,100 million cubic meters that includes the contribution of the Salto de Agua dam on the Tulija River that crosses the municipality of Salto de Agua, each meter of reservoir-charge would represent 150 million kilowatt/hour that would be equal to a saving of 250,000 barrels of oil annually, “a determining factor for considering the raising of the dam wall with respect to the maximum inundation area.” For this project it is necessary “to evaluate (…) the affectations – indemnizations on both sides of the border,” although it is supposed that the Mayan archaeological ruins of Yaxchilan in Chiapas that have an elevation of 170 meters above sea level, and Piedras Negras in Guatemala that are located 150 meters above sea level, would not be inundated by the artificial lakes formed by the dams according to the topographical information elaborated in 1967 by the Federal Electric Commission. Thus, the project concludes that “because no relevant archaeological affectations exist, it would be convenient to increase the height of the dam,” although the indigenous communities have to be displaced and the forests flooded, emphasizing that “this would permit us to take objective advantage of the technical and economic-financial resources, upon reaffirming this as the most important work of infrastructure that would be shared by Mexico and Guatemala.”

For the national “Third Millennium” Project, the central objective is business: “it is fundamental to conceptualize, plan and construct projects and basic infrastructure works of high participation and rentability” that “offer sufficient guarantees to the investors to support the installation of industries, activate commerce and increase the production of farming and livestock.” For this, it is required that the governments modify their agreements and bi-national cooperation pacts, especially the Pact of San Jose “to achieve high tension interconnection in southern Mexico, Central America and northern Colombia.” Furthermore, cynically, the necessity to define the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas is suggested “to spur sovereign and integral development.” Thus, “this purpose will fuel a renovated alliance of prosperity with all the countries of the continent.” In other words, the indigenous and campesinos will be excluded, as they are not investors subsidized by the governments of the North, nor are they “rentable” in the market.

For the National “Third Millennium Mexico” Project, the total area that will be flooded in the Usumacinta Basin will be 725 square kilometers, that is equal to 72,500 hectares of indigenous lands and jungle, of which 425 square kilometers correspond to Mexican territory and 300 square kilometers to Guatemalan territory. But if we take into account all the projects described here, we are talking about 1000 square kilometers or 100,000 hectares of flooded lands. On these lands are planned the creation of “modern farming/livestock and manufacturing industries, fish and water districts, and development of tourism and other attractions.” The Usumacinta River also passes through the state of Tabasco, where a canal will be constructed from Balancan that will carry the flow of the river toward the Laguna de Terminos in the state of Campeche. This will produce 1,250 kilowatts/hour in an additional low-load hydroelectric center.

If we add the Salto de Agua dam that will supposedly control the floods of the Tulija River, the northern and eastern regions of Tabasco, the southeast of Campeche, industry will benefit for “combined with efficient drainage works and navigation canals, the recuperation of more than a million and a half hectares of fertile lands for farming and livestock production will be assured.” In the same way, from the right coast of its reservoir “a monumental conduction” will unite the reservoirs of the projects of Boca del Cerro, San Pedro and Candelaria, and it will be possible to utilize a river-canal will various tributaries to supply “abundant volumes of fresh water and irrigate extensive surfaces in the Yucatan peninsula, which will translate into a better future for its inhabitants and will be the vital axis to re-establish the ecological equilibrium of such an important part of the peninsular territory.” Nonetheless, the agricultural workers of the north of Mexico would not say the same, as they live in misery with poor wages.

To optimize the hydro-energetic potential of the entire Basin, the National Project insists that Guatemala develop a plan similar to that for the southeast of Mexico on the Ixcan, Xactabal, Chixoy and La Pasion Rivers, which would augment the electrical production for sale and reduce the use of hydrocarbons.

The Usumacinta River has as principal tributaries the Lacantun, Ixcan, Xactbal, Chixoy (or Salinas) and La Pasion Rivers. The Basin has 20% of the water flow of the entire country and can redirect great volume of water and energy to the Yucatán Peninsula. For the same reason, the Usumacinta-Tulija (UsuTulija) System expects to control the two rivers that inundate much of the coastal plain in the states of Tabasco and Campeche, in part due to the great deforestation by lumber companies. It is proposed that the dams be linked by tunnels and canals, making the UsuTulija System the “most transcendent multi-function project in Mexico: hydroelectric production, feeding, and integral development.” Among the plans that integrate the National “Third Millennium Mexico” Project are (see maps in www.ciepac.org):

1) Salto de Agua Dam: Located in the municipality of Salto de Agua in the northern region of Chiapas on the Tulija River, and 39 kms. To the southwest of Macuspana in the neighboring state of Tabasco, 35 kms. West of Palenque, Chiapas. This dam will assist in the control of flooding, and transfer flow of the Tulija River (6,600 million cubic meters) through a 23 km. by 9 meter tunnel, toward the reservoir of the bi-national hydroelectric project known as Boca del Cerro (built on the Chancalha River). This consists in re-routing flow carrying the river from one river to another, or transferring the water from one river to another dam. The dam will have a gravity wall 150 meters high, that will be the longest (2 kilometers) and the one that uses the highest volume on concrete. The reservoir will create an artificial lake that will flood 396 square kilometers of jungle and indigenous lands with a capacity of 24,540 million cubic meters, which will function with minimum-level oscillations and will totally regulate the contributions of the Tulija River. On the banks of dam “modern population centers, industrial parks and farming/livestock centres can be constructed, as the capacity of the UsuTulija System will be increased by 700 megawatts and the generation of 1,900 million kilowatts/hour per year.

2) The Bi-national Dam Boca del Cerro, Chiapas-Tabasco and Guatemala. This dam is considered to be the most significant and key hydroenergy project of the UsuTulija System, and the most significant in the southeast of Mexico. It will be located 9.5 kilometers southeast of Tenosique, Tabasco, and will consist of a gravity dam 135 meters high, external center integrated into the wall that will lodge six powerful turbo-generators of 700 megawatts with storage of 19,550 million cubic meters. Along with its tributaries, it will carry water to the Yucatan peninsula through a tunnel 350 kilometers long, which will allow 1.5 million hectares of coastal plain to be incorporated for farming/livestock production. It will have a reservoir or artificial lake 300 square kilometers in size (of 30,000 hectares), and 42% of its surface will be in Guatemalan territory. Boca del Cerro will have a capacity of 4,200 megawatts and a generation of 17,400 million kilowatts/hour per year, which would represent 67% of the hydroelectricity of Mexico and making up for 29 million barrels of oil. This dam would be the most important in the country, although for others it will be the El Cajon Dam in the state of Nayarit.

Boca del Cerro “is high priority” and for this reason “the participation of the governments of Mexico and Guatemala is required, to push the alternative project to financial and private organizations (maximum water elevation of 125 meters above sea level).” On the other hand “all the investments for the construction of civil works and electro-mechanical installations associated with the project as well as the major effects will be for Mexico; and 65% of the contributions to the future reservoir will come from affluent Guatemalans. In this way, the benefits obtained through the production of electricity will be distributed according to the precepts and norms established in the International Limits and Waters Treaty and by the new guidelines of the amplified Pact of San Jose, as well as by the agreements and pacts that are derived from it.”

The Boca del Cerro Project is also contemplated within the Hydraulic Plan for 2001-2005. For “Third Millennium Mexico”, the execution of the project will have “a budget of an estimated 50,000 million pesos (five billion dollars), where 70% will be in national currency – civil work, construction materials, machinery… -- to be distributed during a period of five years, and will assure financial and private organizations highly competitive and rentable investments.” The Civil and Ecological Association of Santo Tomas in Tabasco has communicated that the Boca del Cerro project had been cancelled in 1991 by the then-president Carlos Salinas, as it would affect archaeological zones and would cause ecological damage. In fact, the tremors that Tenosique has been feeling are due to explosions that are being carried on the High Grijalva River. (Tabasco Hoy, June 30, 2002).

3) Chumpan Dam: This dam is located in the state of Campeche, neighboring Chiapas, and borders on the south the population of Balancan, Tabasco. It consists of a dike on the Chumpan River, 12 meters high and 7.5 kilometers long “to form an attractive lake of 265 square kilometers with a maximum elevation of 10 meters above sea level.” This would imply the inundation of 26,500 hectares. The dam would carry water through a 21 kilometer tunnel to channel the extractions from the Boca del Cerro dam (the combined flow from the Tulija and Usumacinta Rivers) toward the Salsipuedes River that empties in the Laguna de Terminos, Campeche. It would have directive dams that follow established transportation routes, and would install a low-charge center of 250 megawatts and 1,200 million kilowatts/hour per year. Its additional functions would be for navigation from the Boca del Cerro project to the Gulf of Mexico (236 kilometers) and “to foster new population centers, agricultural zones, and the installation of factories along its route.”

4) The Bajatzen Dam: Located on the Shumulha River, 16 kilometers northeast of Yajalon and forming part of the Tulija river basin. It borders with the municipalities of Tumbala and Tila in the northern zone of Chiapas. The plan takes into account the rapid lowering of the river and the maximum outlet of the future Salto de Agua Dam, to provide a charge of 400 meters that, through a 3.5 kilometer conduction tunnel would install 690 megawatts to generate 2,530 million kilowatts/hour per year. This would integrate with a 250 meter high dam that would form an artificial lake of 635 million cubic meters. This project could be “an excellent alternative to the Itzantun hydroelectric project on the Tacotalpa River, given the social problems that limit this project.”

In this way, the Development Complex of the Southeast is converted into a topic of “national security” for the “Third Millennium Mexico” Project. For that project, “the insurgent conflict should be resolved, as its series of petitions (autonomy--territorial separation, ethnic, cultural and social regionalization) along with official planes (Plan Puebla Panama) impede the optimum advantage of natural resources and thorough regional development.” In other words, the Indians are a stumbling block for capital ambition and the San Andres Accords signed between the EZLN and the federal government are a bone of contention to this ravaging. Thus, the antecedents of social, indigenous and campesino struggles in Chiapas as related to the older dams of the state will be updated. The number of hydroelectric projects in the region signal new resistance processes to prevent not only that they die of hunger with the free trade agreements that seek to bury them deeper in misery, but also against those projects that seek to bury their lands, their history, and their culture beneath the waters of “development.”

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