Mexico City | Desinformémonos. Representatives of indigenous and community organizations from Yucatán, Oaxaca, Michoacán, and Chiapas at the Tenth Social Forum on Other Democracies, held in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, denounced the systematic dispossession of their territories, the militarization of their regions, and the co-optation of leaders and lawyers by state institutions and the Morena party.
During the meeting, they warned that the resistance structures that for years have halted megaprojects through legal means have been weakened by the incorporation of key members into agencies such as the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI). They pointed out that this strategy has disrupted historical organizational processes, especially in the Mayan regions of the southeast, where the advance of the Mayan Train and other projects has been accompanied by a military presence.
They also expressed concern about federal judicial reform that eliminates injunctions, one of the main tools that communities and collectives have used to legally stop extractive projects. The organizations pointed out that this institutional transformation represents yet another blow to their legal and political autonomy, leaving them without effective mechanisms to defend themselves against decisions imposed by the federal government.
Pablo Uc, from the Observatory of Democracies in Southern Mexico and Central America (Odemca), stated that the current six-year term imposed a national security logic on indigenous territories. Researcher Xochitl Leyva, for her part, highlighted that despite the challenging outlook, communities are keeping their collective organization, support networks, and strategies for coordination with social movements in other regions of the country and the world alive.
Original text published by Desinformémonos on September 16th, 2025.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.