Mexico City | Desinformémonos. Hundreds of organizations, collectives, and activists blamed the federal government and the Chiapas state government for “the threats, harassment, and criminalization” targeting land defenders who oppose the construction of the San Cristóbal–Palenque superhighway.
In a statement, the Documentation Caravan for the SCLC-Palenque Highway Project alleged that in recent weeks, direct threats and harassment against defenders in the communities of the municipality of Chilón have increased—attacks that are “seeking confrontation.”
Among these attacks was an incident on May 29, when a group of people attempted to prevent the placement of signs expressing total opposition to the highway. Additionally, the communities that have rejected the highway through assemblies and formal agreements “are now being harassed by unidentified drones flying overhead.”
“People who are organizing to defend their territory are being monitored and intimidated, and are being sought out by municipal and state police officers and actors linked to these networks. AI-generated videos (showing the burning of installed signs) have also been published with the intent of causing destabilization and uncertainty through social media,” the organizations alleged.
The organizations and collectives pointed out that the highway “offers no benefit whatsoever” to the communities and that its imposition has moved forward because the state and federal governments “have violated the right to information, staged sham consultations, and trespassed on land to conduct soil studies and topographic surveys—with engineers who, without the communities’ consent, sneak onto their land to extract resources and take samples from the territory.”
They added that the authorities have also threatened the population with the use of law enforcement forces such as the “Pakales,” and that they deceive the farmers by telling them they will buy their land for an amount they do not pay or by making social programs conditional, especially through the Sembrando Vida program.
“At other times, they brazenly mock the communities, offering to pay 9 pesos per square meter; in doing so, they create conflict among sister communities by selectively offering benefits to buy the people’s loyalty and consent,” they added.
In the face of the violence, deception, and imposition of the superhighway by the authorities, the Caravan held the federal and state governments of Chiapas responsible for any physical or psychological harm “to anyone subjected to violence or criminalized for opposing the San Cristóbal-Palenque highway” and expressed its support for organized defenders.
Below is the full statement:
We hold the federal and state governments responsible for the threats, harassment, and criminalization of land and territory defenders in the municipalities affected by the San Cristóbal-Palenque superhighway project in Chiapas, Mexico.
As part of the Caravan to Document the SCLC-Palenque Highway Project, we stand in solidarity with the defenders who oppose the highway project and denounce that, in recent weeks, communities in the municipality of Chilón have experienced an increase in direct threats and harassment against defenders, with the aim of provoking confrontation. On May 29 of this year, a group of people attempted to prevent the placement of signs expressing total opposition to the highway.
Communities that have rejected the highway through assemblies and formal agreements are now being harassed by unidentified drones flying overhead. These drones monitor and intimidate people who are organizing to defend their territory, and these individuals are being targeted by municipal and state police officers, as well as actors linked to these networks. In addition, AI-generated videos (showing the burning of installed signs) have been published with the intent of sowing destabilization and uncertainty through social media.
We know how absurd this project is for life in the region, but we now condemn the use of violence to address social conflicts and the demands of those who oppose the highway project, as in recent days there has been an escalation of persecution, threats, harassment, and intimidation against those who, exercising their legitimate right to protest, are raising their voices to defend their land and their springs and are warning us of the environmental devastation that the highway’s construction will bring, as well as the destruction of culture, as has already been witnessed in the first section near Palenque.
Opposition to the highway continues; for many people in the communities, this project offers no benefits whatsoever, since from the very beginning the state and federal governments have violated the right to information, staged sham consultations, and trespassed on private land to conduct soil studies and topographic surveys—with engineers who, without the communities’ consent, sneak onto their land to extract resources and take samples. These actions have caused damage and losses to the coffee plantations and cornfields that constitute the families’ main source of livelihood. At other times, they threaten to use law enforcement units such as the “Pakales” (an elite police force with military training, accused of committing torture, arbitrary detentions, and extortion). They continue to deceive residents by telling them they will buy their land for an amount they never pay or by tying the sale to social programs, especially through the “Sembrando Vida” program. At other times, they brazenly mock the communities, offering to pay 9 pesos per square meter; in doing so, they sow discord among neighboring communities by selectively offering benefits to buy the people’s loyalty and compliance.
The dialogue initiated by government authorities and political actors regarding the highway issue offers community representatives only three options: money, prison, or death. However, for the peoples of the region, their way of understanding and existing in the world is not limited to these three options. For a decade now, there has been resistance to this highway project because it negates the very existence of Indigenous peoples; for centuries, Indigenous peoples have resisted the project of colonial modernity, and for millennia, nature has prevailed despite humanity’s attempts to dominate it—even in the face of the neoliberal development promoted in Chiapas by the current government, which calls itself “fourth-rate humanism.” The peoples have staked their political future on the Lekil Kuxlejal—on the care of life—rather than on government projects that bring destruction and devastation to the networks of community life and to Mother Earth.
The federal and state governments are not only responsible for failing to comply with international guidelines on consultation with Indigenous peoples and the right to self-determination, but also for creating a climate of uncertainty and mistrust due to the complete lack of information provided to the communities that will be directly affected by this project, as well as for the manipulation, deception, and use of social programs as leverage.
We hold them responsible for any harm to the physical and psychological well-being of any person who has been subjected to violence or criminalized for opposing the San Cristóbal-Palenque highway and defending their right to freely decide on the territory where they live, in accordance with traditional customs and practices.
We have not forgotten the strategy used by the current government to silence voices, as happened with Father Marcelo, whom the “justice” system attempted to criminalize before he was murdered. They took Jtatik Marcelo’s life, but his prophetic spirit of speaking out against injustice has multiplied; it lives on in every heart and flows through our voices to cry out loud and clear:
Total Rejection of the San Cristóbal-Palenque Highway!
Land and freedom!
Our struggle is for life!
Yes to life, no to the dispossession of our territory!
In solidarity, the organizations participating in the documentation caravan:
Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center, A.C. (FRAYBA)
Indigenous Rights Center, A.C. (CEDIAC)
Brigada Común Collective
Economic and Social Development of Indigenous Mexicans, A.C. (DESMI)
Movement in Defense of Life and Territory (MODEVITE)
Collectives and Organizations:
1. Asamblea Libertaria Autoorganizada Paliacate Zapatista, Grecia
2. Asociación de Exploración Científica y Recreativa
3. Asociación de Exploración Científica, Cultural y Recreativa.
4. Brigada Ignacio Martin-Baró
5. Brújula Roja, Sexta
6. Caracoleras de Olba, Aragón, Estado español
7. CAREA e.V. – Alemania
8. Casa Colibrí AC
9. Casa de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas “Samir Flores Soberanes”
10. CDH Tepeyac del Istmo de Tehuantepec, A. C.
11. Centro de Documentación sobre Zapatismo -CEDOZ- Madrid. Estado Español
12. Centro de Estudios para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano
13. Centro de Estudios para los Derechos Humanos y la Justicia Ambiental YURENI A.C.
14. Centro de Voluntaries Junax, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.
15. Colectiva Sueña Dignidad
16. Colectividad Nuestra Alegre Rebeldía de la Red Morelense de Apoyo al CNI-CIG
17. Colectivo Cuaderno Común
18. Colectivo Gavilanas
19. Colectivo 16 de Octubre
20. Colectivo Alter-Nativas, San Cristóbal de Las Casas
21. Colectivo Armadillo Suomi. Finlandia
22. Colectivo Callejero de Guadalajara, Jalisco.
23. Colectivo Criptopozol + DDHH
24. Colectivo de Profes en la Sexta
25. Colectivo de Trabajo Cafetos
26. Colectivo L@s hij@s del Maíz Pinto Tlaxcala.
27. Colectivo La Insurgente, SCLC, Chiapas.
28. Colectivo la Otra Justicia
29. Colectivo Luciérnagas que Siembran de Ciudad de México
30. Colectivo Mujeres Tierra, Mexicali Baja California
31. Colectivo Nodo Solidario
32. Colectivo Panadero la Grieta
33. Colectivo tsijilba bij., zona norte
34. Colectivo ViDAS
35. Comité de Derechos Humanos Sierra Norte de Veracruz.
36. Comité de Enlace Latinoamericano y Caribeño (CELC)
37. Comité Nacional para la Defensa y Conservación de Los Chimalapas Chimalapas, Oaxaca, México
38. Comunicadorxs Populares por la Autonomía- COMPPA, México
39. Comunidad de Tlanezi Calli Resistencia
40. Comunidad de Xochitlanezi
41. Comunidad Indígena Otomí residente en la CDMX,
42. Consejo Promotor de la Iniciativa Legislativa para crear el Municipio Indígena de Alpuyeca
43. Cooperazione Rebelde Napoli – Italia
44. El Bordado de Ramona
45. El Tekpatl Periódico crítico y de combate
46. Empalabrando colectivo
47. Enlace Comunicación y Capacitación A.C. – Chiapas/Oaxaca/Guerrero/CDMX
48. Escuelas de Perdón y Reconciliación. Ciudad Victoria, Tamps.
49. Escuelas para Chiapas
50. Espacio Común «El Amate»
51. Frente del Pueblo Resistencia Organizada CDMX
52. Fundación Indigenas 3D
53. Gira Zapatista Hamburg
54. Gobierno Comunitario. Chiapas
55. Grupo de Trabajo «Fronteras, regionalización y globalización» del Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales
56. Hermanas del Divino Pastor, México
57. Ixim Antsetik Tsikos, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas.
58. Instituto Agroecológico Latinoamericano, México
59. Juventina Nicolás Flores
60. Juventud Comunista de México
61. Komite internazionalistak( Euskal Herria)
62. La Otra Calle
63. Laboratorio Popular de Medios Libres
64. Lekil kuxlejal , hasta la victoria siempre.
65. Lumaltik Herriak, país vasco
66. Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste A.C Istmo de Tehuantepec, México
67. Mexicali Resiste
68. Mexicanos Unidos
69. Movimiento Agrario Indígena Zapatista
70. Movimiento de Mujeres en Defensa de la Madre Tierra y Nuestros Territorios
71. Mujeres Transformando Mundos a.c
72. Mujeres y la Sexta – Abya Yala
73. Muuch’ Xíimbal
74. Nodo Solidale, Roma
75. Oficina Ecumenica por la Paz y la Justicia, Alemania
76. Periódico La Flor In Xochitl In Cuicatl
77. Preparatoria Comunitaria José Martí, San Francisco Ixhuatán, Oaxaca
78. Programa de Interculturalidad y Asuntos Indígenas IBERO Ciudad de México
79. Promedios de Comunicación Comunitaria, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas
80. Proyecto Videoastas Indigenas de la Frontera Sur (PVIFS)
81. Pueblos Unidos de la Región Cholulteca y de los Volcanes
82. Radio comunitaria Zacatepec XHSBE 107.1
83. Raices en resistencia
84. Red de Apoyo Iztapalapa Sexta (RAIS).
85. Red de Resistencia y Rebeldia AJMAQ, Valle de Jobel, Chiapas. Mexico
86. Red Mesoamericana de Educacion popular, Red Alforja
87. Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio
88. Red nacional de promotoras y asesoras rurales
89. Redes por la Diversidad, Equidad y Sustentabilidad AC
90. Resistencia Tlanezi calli, CDMX
91. Resistencias Enlazando Dignidad – Movimiento y Corazón Zapatista (RedmycZ
92. Rizoma, México
93. Sabotaje Media – México
94. Servicios para una Educación Alternativa Educa Oaxaca A.C.
95. Sexta Grietas del Norte
96. Sexta por la Libre Yucatán
97. Tequio Jurídico A.C.
98. Territorios en Movimiento, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chis.
99. Tribunal Internacional de Conciencia de los Pueblos en Movimiento (TICPM), CDMX
100. Txiapasekin ( Pais Vasco)
101. Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Zona Norte del Istmo de Tehuantepec. UCIZONI
102. Unión de Municipios y Comunidades Indígenas y Afromorelenses
103. Unión de Pueblos y Fraccionamientos en contra del basurero y en defensa del agua de la región Cholulteca y de los volcanes.
104. Unión Popular Apizaquence Democrática e Independiente (UPADI)
105. UPREZ Benito Juárez. CDMX
106. Xicanapatistas Autónomas
107. Y Retiemble Madrid. Estado Español
108. Zapateando, medios libres
109. Ze Kreto, Adherente CDMX
Original text published by Desinformémonos on June 19th, 2026.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.