Mexican company denounced for toxic spill
On Aug. 26, the Groupo Mexican Mining Company faced a criminal complaint for its Buenavista del Cobre operation, which spilled toxic chemicals in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora.
The complaint was carried out by The Federal Attorney General for Environmental Protection in Mexico (Profepa), who accused the mining company of negligence for allegedly spilling 40,000 cubic meters of acidic copper sulfate—a substance composed of water, sulfuric acid, copper and other metals—into a stream called “Las Tinajas” or “Rastritas,” on Aug. 6.
As a result of the investigation, the Mexican Congress asked the federal government to cancel the Grupo Mexico’s business for the Cananea mine until the amount of damage caused by the spill was assessed. The spill will eventually affect the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers and thus the agricultural activity in the area. The rivers feed 700 water wells, which are closed today as a precaution.
In Mexico, environmental offenses are defined and penalized by Article 414 of the Federal Penal Code, which can hand out sentences of up to nine years in prison. The Ministry of Environment reported that Grupo Mexico could be fined more than $3 million for its actions.
Puerto Rico: The northwest island’s population is dwindling
In this unincorporated U.S. territory, the population has decreased due to the migration of people heading to the United States and low inter-island birth rates, according to analysis published by the Pew Research Center on Aug. 11. Between 2000 and 2010, the Puerto Rican population deceased 2.2 percent (from 3.8 million to 3.7 million), while immigration to the United States more than quadrupled between 1950 and 2010 during a period called “The Great Migration.”
This immigration wave has its roots during the 2006 economic crisis that resulted in the removal of tax exemptions for the manufacturing sector in Puerto Rico, which used to be one of the first recipients of U.S. investment. Since then, unemployment has prompted Puerto Ricans to leave the island to find work in the United States, primarily in New York and Miami.
Moreover, due to the migration of many Puerto Ricans, this has made it much more difficult to maintain a positive population growth rate on the island. Until the middle of the 20th century, the birth rate would be approximately four to six children per woman. Today, the birth rate averages out to fewer than two children per woman.
While searching for solutions, the Puerto Rican government passed a law four years ago that established the Committee on the Law of Population Change to deal with the demographic changes. This body, chaired by the Planning Board, will analyze the development of the population and the factors that have influenced its decline and to seek alternatives in order to stimulate population growth.
Argentina asks International Court of Justice to hear lawsuit
The government of Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner accused the United States in International Court of generating problems in the process of restructuring its external debt.
In the middle of their dispute with the so-called vulture funds NML Capital and Aurelius Management, the Argentine government was displeased with the decision made by U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa, who urged Argentina to pay $1.5 billion to fund NML and Aurelius , and to freeze the bonus payout for nearly 900 million bondholders who entered the process in 2005 and 2010. Due to the improbability of bondholders to collect before the July 30 deadline, Argentina declared itself under selective default.
Griesa argues that Argentina cannot pay their bondholders if they cannot first meet with the legal ruling regarding vulture funds. At the same time, the Argentinian administration questions the judge and insists that he “is a municipal judge that wants to infringe on the sovereignty of a nation.”
While the Obama administration has not yet officially responded to the Argentinian presentation to the Hague regarding vulture funds, there are more meetings scheduled with Judge Griesa.