In Conversation with Jésus Thomas González
PBI uk interviews a land and environmental defender from Mexico
Interviewed by Adam Shaw
As part of PBI UK’s May advocacy tour, a delegation of land and environmental human rights defenders from Sonora, Mexico visited the UK to speak to various government and civil society representatives about Fresnillo PLC’s illegal exploitation of Ejido El Bajío communal land. We interviewed one of these defenders, Jésus Thomas González, to explore this context and the work of the Ejido El Bajío defending their land and seeking due compensation.
Jésus Thomas outside Parliament on a previous UK advocacy tour .
Could you please begin by sharing a bit about yourself, the Ejido El Bajío, and why you are here today?
My name is Jesús Thomas. I am a member of the community of El Bajío, Mexico and we are here today looking for international solidarity for our cause because previously, we have seen that international pressure on the Mexican government has really helped in our case. As foreign governments and organisations have asked the Mexican government about our case, they have gradually stopped giving attention and support to the company that operated an illegal mine on our community’s land. This helps because it neutralises the battlefield and that is why we are here.
Can you tell us a little about the illegal exploitation of El Bajío land and the damage that this has caused?
The company illegally occupied our land in 1998 and remained there until we took them to court in 2013, where their occupation was declared illegal and they were ordered to return all the gold they illegally extracted - this gold is valued at over £560 million. They were also ordered to restore the land to its original state and pay rent to the community for the period of occupation and until this restoration is complete; and, if this doesn’t happen, they must pay rent to the community for eternity.
This is because they have totally destroyed more than 3,200 hectares of our land, with it thoroughly polluted with a lot of cyanide, killing a lot of animals. It's land that will never be fully recovered again. We can't use the land for agriculture, for cattle - it's impossible to use the land again, so now we have converted that land into a national park.
It has been 10 years since this judgment and the company has done absolutely nothing. They refuse to do anything because they believe that they can do whatever they want as they are in Mexico, behaving like a Mexican company despite being a British company and, in the end, it is cheaper to kill people and kill resistance than to pay compensation.
So, we are now planting endemic trees like mesquite and palo verde to recover 300 hectares of land, focusing on restoration and conservation ourselves, as we can no longer look to the mining company to do that job, as they have not sought to remedy anything in the past 12 years. We are doing it ourselves and we are engaged in that.
Jésus Thomas at a PBI UK event hosted at Greenpeace UK.
Earlier this year, after 12 years of legal contests, Mexico’s 28th Agrarian Unitary Court ruled that Fresnillo PLC owes farmers in El Bajío over £500 million in compensation. Please can you tell us about the advocacy work that has gone into making this ruling possible?
We have to continually pressure the Agrarian Court to implement every measure in its power to guarantee that the sentence is executed as they are obliged so that the company is put in a position where they are forced to pay compensation. They can confiscate shares and bank accounts, and they can intervene in the company, making sure that any profit they make goes to the agrarian court and then to the community. Our advocacy work is focused on pressuring the Agrarian Courts to implement these measures and urge the Mexican government to make the company comply with the law - at this point, it's just pressuring the government to do that. That's why we’re here too, as when a foreign government or an organisation from abroad asks about our case and why there is no justice, they feel so much shame and sometimes they do what they have to do.
Your work, and the work of other El Bajío members, has not come without a cost. Can you tell us about the reprisals members of the Ejido El Bajío have faced as a result of their defense of their land?
TThe consequences of our action so far have been 4 comrades killed, 12 comrades in jail, and approximately 150 members of the community displaced from the land because they are too afraid to be there - only 8 or 9 members of the community still live on the land. This is because the company employs local organised crime to harass people. In 2021 for example, they killed the last 2 comrades and along with their bodies, there was a list with the names of the rest of the community resistance. This kind of thing obviously creates a lot of pressure and fear in our community, and for many of us, the only option is to leave the land because we would prefer to be alive and that is totally normal. So, the reprisals have been killings and jailings - nobody knows what will happen later - we have been suffering.
From left to right: Sergio García (legal representative of the Ejido el Bajío), Eriberto Paredes, Christina Challis (PBI UK), Dakota Anton (CJC), Alberto Duarte, and Jesús Thomas González.
What role can the international community, particularly here in the UK, play in supporting your work?
What has been very useful is the connections. Organisations like PBI contacting MPs, or other people within the UK government making connections with the Mexican ambassador here. Things like that help us put pressure on the government because that's the only thing that they respond to. When a foreign government or organisation asks the Mexican ambassador in the UK or Mexican government about the case, they feel ashamed, whereas they wouldn’t if the same pressure came domestically. In Mexico, they have no shame, and no decency - they are corrupt, but they pretend to be honest people.
This international pressure should aim to:
Ensure Fresnillo PLC pays compensation and rents to the Ejido El Bajío.
Ensure that affected Ejido El Bajío land is restored to its original condition.
Call to Action!
If this interview inspired you to take action, there are several ways you can do so to support and protect communities, defenders, and organisations on the frontlines of protecting the environment and the planet!
Write to your MP! Urge them to support a UK law to hold companies accountable for environmental and human rights abuses. It takes less than 3 minutes: using this handy template by Friends of the Earth.
Stay in the Loop: Sign up to the PBI UK newsletter to hear about future events, updates, and how you can take action.
Support Defenders at Risk: Donate to Peace Brigades International to help us continue our support of environmental defenders like Jesús.
Interested in Volunteering? Learn more about joining one of our international protection teams here.
