PETITION OF SUPPORT FOR THE MEXICAN TRIBUNALS DECISION AGAINST NEW GOLD’S PROJECT IN CERRO DE SAN PEDRO, MEXICO

If you support the following declaration (after the jump), we would appreciate the expression of your support. All you need to do is sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/FAOmpt1/

Or you can send a message to Dr. Juan Carlos Ruiz Guadalajara jcruizguadalajara@gmail.com with your name or the name of your organization and the statement: “Yes I support the declaration, please add my name” Please distribute this on your networks. We thank you for your solidarity.

Halt the impunity! New Gold – Minera San Xavier must respect Mexican law!

To the publics of Mexico and across the World.

On the 24th of September, 2009 the ninth Tribunal of the first circuit courts ordered the Federal Tribunal of Fiscal and Administrative Justice to emit its sentence on the suit presented by Pro San Luis Ecologico (Exp. 170/00-05-02-9/634/01-PL-10-04-QC-DA, pages 239 and 240). It reads:

“…the plaintiff’s suit is well-founded. Be it resolved, on basis of art. 239-B:IV of the Federal Fiscal Code, that the authorization accorded to Minera San Xavier, S.A. de C.V. in the permit S.G.P.A./DGIRA.DG.0567/06 by the Director General of Environmental Impacts and Risks at the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) is null and void. By our order the SEMARNAT, which has already ignored a previous ruling by the court on the 5th of October, 2005, has 20 days to advise the affected party and carry out the sentence.”The sentence of the 5th of October, 2005, cancelled in a definitive manner New Gold-Minera San Xavier’s mining project. This sentence was the product of another order obtained in the injunction D.A. 65/2004-873 of the 23rd of June, 2004. It reads: “…in conformity with the law, the court calls attention to the illegalities that have been brought to light. Consequently a land use permit can not be authorized, not even in a conditional manner.” (pg. 202).The response of the Mexican ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) was to ignore this sentence. Instead it gave a land-use change permit to New Gold – Minera San Xavier on the 10th of April, 2006 with even less conditions than those asked for in the original permit that had been rejected. This act has finally been declared unjustified and illegal by the Tribunal of the Judicial Authority of the Federation, which determined that since 2005 the issue had been tried and resolved. New Gold-Minera San Xavier’s project violated, amongst many others, a range of environmental laws as well as a decree that was designed to protect the wild life and vegetation of the zone affected by this project.

 

The project also violated official regulations that protect rare species of cacti that are endemic to the region. It jeopardized the valley of San Luis Potosi through its massive and irremediable contamination of a territory occupied by more than 1.3 million people as well as its aquifer. This is without mentioning the irreversible damage to the historical heritage of the nation.

The land use change licence obtained by New Gold-Minera San Xavier in 2006 was no accident. It was drafted in the law offices of Angel Candia Pardo, lawyer for the company and for the Partido de Acción Nacional in the state of San Luis Potosí. Together with individuals from the private sector, three levels of government, the Canadian managers of the company an open pit mining project was developed at the cost of ignoring national laws, the health of the inhabitants of San Luis Potosí and environmental heritage of future generations of Mexicans.

Ample proof of all of this was presented by members of the FAO to New Gold-Minera San Xavier but it has been steadfastly ignored by the various parties that had bearing on this case. Thanks to the protection of this illegal license the company has caused wide-spread destruction of the area. In only 34 months, without even working at full capacity, the company has, amongst other things, levelled two patrimonial mountains and has buried extensive areas of a territory that had been protected by law. We are before one of the most dramatic and representative cases of the environmental impacts generated by the generalized corruption that exists in our country.

For all these reasons, the following signatories demand the immediate execution of the sentence passed on the 24th of September, that is, the immediate and definitive cessation of the illegal operations of New Gold-Minera San Xavier in San Luis Potosí. We also ask, with respect and vigour, that the legislature forms an inter-parliamentarian commission to fully investigate this matter in order to establish where responsibilities lie.

We will be closely watching to assure the strict application of the State of Law by the relevant authorities as well as any instance of contempt to the courts that would maintain the operations of New Gold – Minera San Xavier in Cerro de San Pedro.

Halt the impunity!

New Gold – Minera San Xavier must respect Mexican law!!