Environmental Violence, Cross-Border Traffic in Banned Pesticides, and Impacts on the Indigenous Peoples of Rio Yaqui, Sonora, Mexico

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the Yaqui resistance to unregulated pesticide spraying and the transportation of toxic pesticides in Mexico, resulting in devastating health effects for Yaqui women and children. Though the North American Free Trade Agreement bans some toxic pesticides in the United States, the same pesticides are transported across the border to Mexico, as documented by Yaqui women advocating against this practice in international spaces. Ultimately, this chapter examines the impacts of these practices on Yaqui women and children and highlights the Yaqui response to devastating racialized environmental violence that violates tenets of international human rights on the international stage.