On July 31, Mexican Interior Minister publicly promised to directly intervene to pave the way for the construction of La Parota dam, drawing immediate condemnation from the Council of Ejidos and Communities in Opposition to La Parota Dam (CECOP; the primary indigenous/peasant organization fighting the dam) and the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre in La Montaña.

“This federal official’s stance establishes an aggressive position and demonstrates the desire to impose the construction of the dam by force, overruling the decision reached by the landowners who voiced their unanimous rejection through an assembly held on 12 August 2007,” the groups said. “Furthermore, he ignores the resolutions issued by the agrarian tribunals that annul the rigged assemblies in which the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) was granted permission to expropriate and occupy the lands.”

The dam — and the government’s attempts to impose it illegally and by force — has been condemned by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and the Latin American Water Court. Due to a federal court’s reversal of the expropriation of land for the dam, the project is currently on hold.