Honoring Heroes Leroy Jackson, Cate Gilles and Tomas Rojo -- as Canada's Mining Industry Implodes

Old-growth Ponderosa pines; Tomas Rojo; Vicam Yaqui International Water Forum in Sonora;
Photo in front of Navajo Nation Council chambers by Cate Gilles.

Honoring Heroes Leroy Jackson, Cate Gilles and Tomas Rojo -- as Canada's Mining Industry Implodes

Brenda Norrell

Censored News

French translation by Christine Prat

https://chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=7163

In memory of three of my friends, I've written about the world mining conference in Toronto this week.

The majority of the mining corporations -- linked to the murders of Indigenous Peoples around the world who are defending their land -- are based in Canada.

While Indigenous People protested, it was surprising to see four Native people in Canada have joined the boards of directors of notorious mining companies; companies blasting and ripping into the earth for gold, silver, cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium, and other veins of the earth.

Remembering and honoring my friends Leroy Jackson, Cate Gilles and Tomas Rojo

Leroy Jackson, Dine', fought the cutting of the old-growth Ponderosa yellow pines in the Chuska and Tsaile mountains, and the Navajo tribal logging operation. Leroy was cofounder of Dine' Citizens Against Ruining our Environment, Dine' CARE.

Leroy lived his struggle.

Since I was a reporter for Associated Press at the time, Leroy's interviews reached around the world. One of Leroy's most effective tools protecting the tall yellow pines on the Navajo Nation, and shutting down the tribe's logging operation was his sense of humor.

Leroy was found dead in the mountains near Taos after his life was threatened on the Navajo Nation.

Cate Gilles, reporter, covered the Navajo and Hopi areas and the truth about Peabody Coal on Black Mesa. She was among the first to expose the danger of radiation from uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and the threat of contamination for the Havasupai in their homeland, after she received a degree in environmental journalism.

Cate was found hanged in Tucson while working for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.

Tomas Rojo, Yoeme (Yaqui), in Vicam Pueblo, Sonora, Mexico, was kidnapped and brutally murdered last year.

Tomas was the spokesperson for the Traditional Authority of Vicam, as they fought to protect their water in the Yaqui River from the theft by the Independence Aquaduct for the City of Hermosillo.

Vicam Yaqui held major highway blockades for years blocking commercial traffic to the U.S. and resisted the state and federal governments, military, ranchers, and cartels.

Vicam hosted international water forums and the Zapatistas international gathering.

It was an honor to know all three, and the beauty of their work, sacrifices and service to the people, water and earth.

Most Censored in Indian Country 2021

Most Censored in Indian Country 2021

By Brenda Norrell, publisher

Censored News

The most censored issues in Indian country in 2021 include the death of Paiute Shoshone Journalist Myron Dewey; the kidnappings and assassinations of Yaqui in Sonora; the Mohawk Mothers demand for the search for residential school childrens' graves at a former CIA torture research site in Montreal; the failure of the Navajo Nation to distribute $2 billion in federal virus relief to Dine' in desperate need; and the destruction of O'odham sacred places on the Tohono O'odham Nation by Israel's Elbit Systems for the construction of spy towers for use by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Assassinated Tomas Rojo: Yaqui was a defender of water rights, not interested in petty disputes

Tomas Rojo, Assassinated Yaqui Water Rights Defender

Motive for Tomás' crime, simplified conjecture

The coordinator of the Citizens' Movement for Water, Alberto Vizcarra Ozuna, questions the versions of the Sonora Prosecutor's Office about the conflict over the installation of a toll booth as the motive for the murder of Tomás Rojo, because that was not on the list of priorities of the Yaqui leader.

His fight was not against the criminal underworld, he says, but against the criteria of a water policy. "It is evident that the motivations for this crime transcend the simple dispute over a toll booth in Yaqui territory," says Vizcarra in the text we share here.

Yaqui Water Protector Tomas Rojo Identified in Shallow Grave: Third Assassination

Yaqui Water Protector Tomas Rojo Identified in Shallow Grave: Third Assassination

The assassination of Yaqui Water Rights Defender Tomas Rojo was confirmed on Monday. It was the third assassination of Yaqui Water Rights Defenders.

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Sadly, our friend Yaqui Water Protector Tomas Rojo was identified today as the one found in a shallow grave near Vicam Pueblo, Sonora. Tomas was identified by DNA and fingerprints.

Tomas is the third Yaqui Water Protector to be assassinated since May. Agustin Valdez was assassinated in May. Luis Urbano was murdered by gunshots on the street in Obregon in June.

Vicam Pueblo hosted Water Rights Forums that were covered by Censored News.

For years, Yaqui maintained highway blockades on a major highway through their land, which stalled semis, in protest of the theft of Yaqui River water for an aqueduct for the City of Hermosillo.

Tomas was a spokesman during the Water Forums and blockade.

Agustin served as head of security during the water rights highway blockades.

Luis, who is featured in a new film defending Yaqui water rights, accompanied the Traditional Authority of Vicam.

Tomas, an agricultural engineer, spoke on Yaqui water rights in a video interview with Censored News in 2012. https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/11/video-yaqui-foro-internacional-del-agua.html

The Traditional Authority of Vicam hosted international gatherings of the Zapatistas, upholding Indigenous rights.

Vicam Pueblo is located on Yoeme (Yaqui) ancestral land in the state of Sonora, near the Pacific Coast of Mexico, about a six hour drive southwest of Tucson.

(Above) Yaqui Water Protectors Agustin Valdez, Luis Urbano and Tomas Rojo.

AP: Mexican police identify corpse of Indigenous activist

June 21, 2021 11:46 p.m.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in the northern Mexico border state of Sonora said Monday tests have confirmed that a badly decayed corpse is that of an Indigenous rights leader who disappeared almost four weeks ago.

The office said DNA tests and fingerprints were used to identify Tomás Rojo Valencia, a leader of the Yaqui indigenous community. His body was found last week near the Yaqui town of Vicam, Sonora.

Rojo Valencia disappeared May 27 following tensions over Yaqui roadblocks protesting gas ducts, water pipelines and railway lines that have been run across their territory without consulting them or giving them much benefit. Rojo Valencia served as the Yaquis’ spokesman during past conflicts over land and water rights.

The confirmation came on the same day a 25-year-old Yaqui woman was reported missing after she left her home in Vicam to go to work, but never arrived. She was last seen June 17.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made it his special project to bring justice to the Yaquis, who he has described as Mexico’s most persecuted Indigenous group.

In February, the conflict over the highway blockades came to a head with the death of an Indigenous man killed when a trucker plowed through a Yaqui roadblock, hitting a member of the group.

Article copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News.