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anybody
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Date: November 13, 2019 09:32AM
https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-new-twist-in-the-horrific-massacre-of-american-mormon-moms-and-kids-in-mexicoOne possibility now being reported in Mexico is that the killings are linked to an ongoing series of violent clashes between the LeBarons and an alliance of local farmers over land and water rights in the semi-desert of northwestern Chihuahua.
The farming collective is called El Barzón. Its dispute with the Mormon clan over local aquifers goes back some six decades, and had escalated dramatically over the last few years. The farmers accuse the family of syphoning “excessive” amounts of water from rivers and vital aquifers for the commercial cultivation of maguey, nopal, and walnut trees, leaving nearby communities without enough water for subsistence farming.
Mexico’s National Water Commission (CONAGUA) also alleges the LeBarons’ have sunk hundreds of illegal wells on their properties. They also have reservoirs allegedly bulldozed to hold water diverted from local rivers, leaving little or nothing for indigenous communities downstream.
In one high-profile investigation, in November of 2017, CONAGUA found a dozen illegal drainages on a single property, the La Mojina ranch, owned by Julian and Joel LeBaron. In another case, local politician Alexander LeBaron was accused of using his influence to grant 395 water concessions to family members and illegal strawman companies. He flatly denied the accusation. But the resulting strain on the Carmen River Basin and Flores Magón aquifer reportedly left some 900 families in the region without sufficient water.
In April of 2018, more than 100 members of El Barzón invaded the LeBaron family ranch at La Mora to protest the diminished water table. They destroyed property, crops, and vehicles and, when they refused to disperse, LeBaron family members reportedly opened fire on them. At least one LeBaron and five campesinos (small farmers) were wounded in the clash.
In the aftermath, Julian LeBaron told a Mexican newspaper that he and his family were prepared “take justice into our own hands” against the campesinos. Shortly thereafter Barzón leaders publicly announced that they’d received death threats from the LeBarons. A few months later, in June of 2018, two members of the ejido were murdered, supposedly for “protecting water rights.” The crimes remain unsolved.
Then, in August of 2019, a court ruling in favor of the farmers ordered Francisco LeBaron, Julian’s brother, to restore land allegedly confiscated by the family from small farmers in Chihuahua. It appears that court order was ignored by the LeBarons. In fact, shortly before the massacre, El Barzón claimed the family was planning to excavate 50 new wells.
As speculation that they might have been behind last week’s attack has mounted, Barzón leaders have publicly denied any involvement. Joaquín Solorio, a spokesman for the group who had two family members killed while “defending the environment” in the Carmen River Basin in 2012, has been particularly outspoken against the allegations his group was responsible for the attack on the LeBaron caravan.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2019 09:33AM by anybody.