MEXICO CITY (apro).- Various civil society organizations took advantage of the meeting of the presidents of Canada, Justin Trudeau; from the United States, Joe Biden, and from Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador to express different demands on human rights and the environment that were not on the agenda.

This was the case of the “CambiémoslaYa” Collective, which asked the Mexican government to take advantage of the Summit of North American Leaders to call for “stopping the looting” perpetrated by Canadian mining companies in the country.

“We call on the Mexican authorities to take advantage of the meeting with the leaders of the United States and Canada to stop the looting of mining companies, in particular Canadian ones, which have taken advantage of the legal framework in force in Mexico, causing serious damage in the regions where they operate,” he asked the collective in a statement.

The organization stressed the need to change the conditions under which mining is currently carried out and to put the protection of human rights, nature and finance at the centre.

He explained that in 2019, state revenue from metallic and non-metallic mineral mining activity was only 0.13% of the total federal government collection; in 2020 mining contributed 0.32% and in 2021 0.97%.

“CambiémoslaYa”, which calls for deep reforms of the mining law, assured that the current legal framework has given “facilities and privileges” to Canadian mining companies.

“The current mining law has granted enormous facilities and privileges to mining companies, in particular Canadian ones. Among these facilities is the unrestricted exploitation of transnational corporations, among which the presence of Canadian companies stands out: of the 238 mining companies operating in the country, 151 are Canadian,” the group pointed out.

Even more: he pointed out that 70% of the mining activity that operates in Mexico is gold and silver, and of this, 68% belongs to Canadian companies.

“Most of these mining projects are open pits, prohibited in so-called developed countries, because they generate deforestation, intense overexploitation and contamination of water, as well as soil and air, due to from the use of arsenic, cyanide, lead, cadmium, copper sulphate and even mercury,” he pointed out.

For this reason, they asked to take advantage of the meeting to ask the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, to stop the pressures against the autonomous decisions of Mexico not to grant new mining concessions.

Also on that day, the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) considered that the safety of journalists in the country should be a topic on the agenda of the meeting between Presidents Justin Trudeau, Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López. Obrador.

“President Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should not miss the opportunity not only to raise the issue of the murders of journalists in Mexico, but to pressure President López Obrador and the Mexican government to commit to reform in depth to put an end to the bloodbath. which torments the Mexican press,” the organization said in a statement.