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Since before the Spanish colonization, the Yaqui indigenous tribe has inhabited the arid part of northern Mexico in the state of Sonora near the Yaqui River. For centuries, the tribe has defended its territory, autonomy, self-determination and identity. The Yaquis are a nation with their own laws, internal rules, cultural identity, land and river. For centuries they have depended on the Yaqui River for survival. In 2010, however, the Sonora state government began construction on a 172 km megaproject known as the Independence Aqueduct to supply the city of Hermosillo and agro-industrial enterprises with water from the Yaqui River. The project openly violates a 1940 decree by former President Lazaro Cardenas, which guarantees that at least 50 % of the water belongs to the Yaquis. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the tribe, declaring the state’s environmental impact study void and ordering an injunction for the suspension of the aqueduct. Sonora state authorities, however, have ignored the ruling and last September arrested Yaqui spokesmen Mario Luna and Fernando Jimenez in what the tribe considers an attempt to intimidate them and dissuade them from resisting the aqueduct and fighting for their constitutional rights. teleSUR