One killed and over 20 injured in Mexican wind protest

MEXICO: The killing of a man during a demonstration against wind plant construction in the Mexican state of Oaxaca has brought new weight to allegations of death threats against local protestors from the indigenous Zapaoteca community.

The man killed, Reynaldo Ordaz, was among wind plant construction driving through a roadblock mounted by demonstrators, October 28. Ordaz was reportedly shot in the face, though it is not yet clear from which side of the shot came.

The protest against the 90MW Piedra Larga I wind project—developed by Spanish renewables group Renovalia Energy through local affiliate Demex—also left over 20 demonstrators injured, some seriously, according to the local press, citing the Union of Indigenous Communities (UCI), which led the protest. Piedra Larga 1 is the country’s biggest wind project.

Amnesty International had condemned an earlier attack on protesters, October 21. Allegedly, around fifty workers linked with the development forced entry and threatened at least two development opponents with death. A third was beaten. Both that attack and the roadblock disturbance are now pending a judicial investigation.

The incidents brings to light indigenous complaints to Amnesty International that wind plant construction in the area “is taking place without their free, prior and informed consent in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

http://www.windpowermonthly.com/news/1102250/One-killed-20-injured-Mexican-wind-protest/

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