On June 18th, Secretary of the Economy Marcelo Ebrard led the signing of the agreement to launch the Mexico 2025 Mining Education Committee between the mining industry, the Ministry of Economy, and higher education institutions. There, Marcelo Ebrard declared that “mining will be the pillar of the national economy.” Mining has never made significant contributions to the country’s economy, so why are they focusing on this activity now?
Despite acknowledging that the regions in Mexico where minerals are found are those with the greatest water shortages, the secretary said he will seek ways to “overcome this challenge,” that is, he intends to go against the Mining Law, which prohibits mining concessions in regions with water shortages.
He added that “21st-century mining must be transformed, and it must be sustainable and respectful of the communities where it is located.” However, the communities have not been informed nor were they invited to the event. There is no sustainable mining, nor can there be equitable benefit sharing without the participation and consent of the communities, who own the territories where the minerals are found. Even less progress can be made if there is an attempt to return to the model of formulating public policies hand in hand with the industry.
The director of the Extractive Activities Coordination Unit of the Ministry of Economy, former federal deputy of the PAN (National Action Party), José Fernando Aboitiz, acknowledged that the mining industry has operated under an extractive and colonial model that has not shared benefits with the communities, and that this must change. It should be noted that such change will be complicated, if not unrealistic, if the authorities place themselves at the service of the industry and respond to its interests in the development of the regulations that should govern them.
To the communities and organizations that make up the Cambiemosla Ya (Let´s Change it Now) Collective, we are already offended by the Ministry of Economy’s servile attitude toward the mining industry. In the words of former Secretary of Economy Raquel Buenrostro, “the mining sector does not pay taxes and is one of the most corrupt.”
The Mining Chamber, the one the secretary now praises, resorted to all kinds of practices to boycott the reform of the Mining Law and try to prevent progress in regulating this industry, which has left enormous environmental impacts and systematic violations of community rights.
Even the president of the republic, Claudia Sheinbaum, pledged during her campaign to promote a ban on open-pit mining, which failed to be approved during López Obrador’s term. Inexplicably, she withdrew this commitment from her priority agenda and is strongly promoting the mining industry.
The regulations for the Mining Law are still pending publication, and the Ministry of Economy has given ample space to industry participation and denied it to communities and organizations.
For the Cambiémosla Ya Collective, pretending that the mining model in Mexico is sustainable, conscious, and that it equitably shares benefits with the communities where it is located is practically impossible, and it will be worse if the same practices are repeated and communities and environmental sector specialists continue to be excluded.
It is not enough to remember and boast about the legacy of indigenous peoples and their mineral processing practices, as Secretary Ebrard pointed out. The statement by the president of the College of Mining Engineers, Metallurgists, and Geologists of Mexico, Raúl García Reinbert: “The agreement honors our pre-Hispanic communities that dedicated themselves to mining, mainly in the state of Oaxaca,” seems more like a mockery if the indigenous peoples who inhabit the territories today are dispossessed of their lands and natural resources and excluded from the formulation of policies and regulations for the extractive industries that affect them.
Original article from Cambiémoslo Ya, June 22, 2025.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.