indigenous

• In the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora, Mario Luna Romero faces constant threats to his life for fighting to protect his community’s rights to its water in the region.
• Within the Yaqui Territory are the remnants of the Yaqui River, which is sacred to the Indigenous tribe and has been drained of all its water after decades of overexploitation, unequal water distribution and droughts.
• Luna was arrested in 2014 and spent a year and 11 days in a maximum-security prison; meanwhile, other colleagues have been harassed by government officials or killed by criminals.
• Mexico, including the Yaqui Valley, is experiencing a deadly heat wave, drought and water shortages.

YAQUI VALLEY, Mexico — On Sept. 11, 2014, Mario Luna Romero was arrested by state judicial police in Obregón, a city on the periphery of his tribe’s territory in Sonora, and transported to a maximum-security prison. They accused him of being involved in the kidnapping of a man with links to the state government and car theft. Despite presenting little evidence to back up those claims, they kept him in an isolated cell for one year and 11 days.

A few months before his arrest, Luna had led a ferocious campaign against the construction of the Independencia Aqueduct that would drastically decrease the Yaqui River’s waters from reaching his tribe’s land, known as the Yaqui Territory. The 172-kilometer (107-mile) aqueduct was approved by the Mexican government to satisfy the water needs of Hermosillo, the state’s capital and largest city. This was done without the consent (or the free, prior and informed consent — FPIC) of the affected Yaqui tribe, as later confirmed by a Supreme Court ruling. The Yaquis, along with other affected groups, organized protests and legal actions to halt its construction.

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