The Federal Electricity Commission of Mexico has put off until 2018 the construction of La Parota dam, in the southern state of Guerrero, but residents there say they will never allow it to be built. “If (the commission) tries to set foot on these lands, they know what awaits them. The dam will never be built,” local farmer Justina Hernández, of La Parota Council of Opposition communities, told Tierramérica.

The project has been on hold since 2003 as a result of the strong local opposition. Farmers blocked all access to the site. But the government commission maintains that the plan will be relaunched in 2018.

The hydroelectric facility will cost more than one billion dollars and would generate 900 megawatts. The reservoir would flood an area now home to 30,000 people. Representatives from the opposition groups say it would mean the end of their community and their culture.