No justice for Antonio Díaz Valencia
Yet another Luxembourg-based company faces allegations of involvement in the deaths of people abroad. Steel supplier Ternium faces criticism after two Mexican activists who campaigned against an iron ore mine owned by the company disappeared. The controversy follows a deadly accident in a Luxembourg-owned ArcelorMittal mine in Kazakhstan in 2023 and the killings of dozens of environmental activists opposing mines in Brazil linked to these two companies.
A protest took place on 15 January in front of Ternium's Luxembourg headquarters. In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Indigenous Nahua communities blocked operations at the Ternium-Las Encinas mine in Aquila. They demand intensified searches for activist Antonio Díaz Valencia and lawyer Ricardo Lagunes Gasca. Diaz has accused the company of hiring armed fighters to repress and exploit local communities. Ternium denied involvement in the disappearance, expressing solidarity with the victims' families.
The company is governed by Luxembourgish law and faces no legal consequences or investigations, while Mexico's government is deaf to the community's calls. The EU's instrument against exploitative situations like these, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, still needs to be implemented in Luxembourg. This directive, due to be in place in all EU countries in 2026, is designed to enforce corporate accountability in companies' global operations.