John,

Excrement from 48,000 pigs is flowing into the water supply of an Indigenous Mayan village. Children are getting sick with diseases like chikungunya, dengue and intestinal diseases.

Yet Mexico’s biggest pork producer, Kekén, got the greenlight to EXPAND its megafarm.

The local community set up a protest camp outside the farm, but then the police started a brutal crackdown. A few days ago, in the early hours of the morning, they broke into the village where 15 Mayan women, children and elderly people were in the camp. More than 100 riot police beat, tortured and stole the belongings of the people.

Since then, intimidation and criminalisation of the community has continued. In a protest in support of Sitilpech, 4 people were arbitrarily arrested. They have been released but two are facing charges. A judge even agreed that two of these arrests were illegal.

To fight back, the community has decided to take the pork giant to court. Under the Mexican constitution, Indigenous groups have to give their consent for companies to operate on their land…and Kekén has been operating without their consent for years.

It’s a case they can win, but activists need to quickly raise the funds to pay for the costs of a legal process of this magnitude, a process that they are carrying out together with the organisation Kanan Derechos Humanos. Together, we can get them the money they need to shut down the pork megafarm for good – and ensure their water is safe for all to drink. Can you chip in to help?

Donate $3Donate another amount

Kekén’s vast megafarm is right next to the local village of Sitilpech, home to 1,800 Indigenous Mayans. For years, the company has thrown polluted water with pig excrement and urine into the subsoil, which is absorbed into the only water supply of the region.

Studies by Mexican authorities have shown the presence of high contaminants associated with pig waste in the water that the farm supposedly cleans in its treatment plants.

And it’s not just the waste that’s causing harm. To produce 1 kilogram of pork, it takes 6,000 liters of water. And with more than 48,000 pigs, the pork giant is sucking so much water out of local supply that the nearby community faces a water shortage on top of everything else.

Desperate to stop the poisoning of their land, air, and water, the local community came together to start protesting on the roads so that more pigs couldn't enter the farm. But the police used violence to force them to move.

Now they have one final chance to finally shut down the megafarm for good.

90% of the community signed a petition demanding the farm be shut down. And now they’re pursuing their case in court. Experts say they have a real shot at winning, but they need to quickly raise the money to fund their case.

In Yucatán there are more than 220 pig farms, of which only 20 have prior environmental studies, many of which have been authorised with irregularities.

Together we can get them the funds almost overnight – are you in?

Donate $3Donate another amount