A consortium of Dutch, Danish, Australian and Japanese corporations is planning to build the largest wind farm in Latin America. Mareña Renovables’ 132 wind turbines will cover 27 kilometres of coastline along the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Although green energy initiatives are presented as a panacea for the environmental ills of development, transnational corporations often initiate them without the consent of local communities. The proposed Tehuantepec wind farm is on ancestral territory of the Ikoots indigenous community. For 3,000 years they have fished the waters, and many fear that the vibrations from the wind turbines – which will be built in the water – will kill the fish and destroy their economy.
