Rosas next to the window of Juan de Dios, who disappeared because of the social problems caused by huachicol -gasoline theft- from Veracruz. His mother found him dead at the bottom of an abandoned well four years after his disappearance. Puebla, Pue.

The Totonac people, native to northern Veracruz, call oil Ixchalatiyat, “blood extracted from the heart of the earth.”

The municipality of Papantla houses 2,117 oil wells. Excessive exploitation, mixed with the use of violent extraction methods such as fracking, has had a major impact on both the health of the inhabitants (miscarriages, cancer, congenital diseases) and the environment of the municipality.

The contamination of Totonac territory has caused severe changes in the local culture: the rivers have been completely polluted with chemical compounds and heavy metals; the land has changed its composition and does not allow the planting and harvesting of traditional agricultural products; the sky of Papantla is constantly stained blood red because of the thousands of gas flares that exist in the area –a problem that has caused dozens of species to migrate permanently. This has led some towns of the sierra of Papantla to organize themselves in order to stop the entry of national and international oil companies.

This ongoing project addresses the ecological and sociological devastation caused by oil exploitation and fracking in the area known as Totonacapan, as well as some of the consequences it has brought to its neighboring areas, such as the state of Puebla.