TUXTLA GUTIÉRREZ, Chiapas. The Movement in Defense of Life and Territory (Modevite), composed of Tseltals, Tsotsils and Chols from 13 municipalities in the Highlands and Selva regions of Chiapas, expressed its opposition to the construction of the San Cristóbal de las Casas-Palenque highway, promoted by Governor Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar, and denounced that its foundation is being laid under warning.
“Since the reactivation of the construction of the highway was announced in April 2024, it was under warning, sending a message to those who opposed it; the project has been sold as progress for the people, however, for us who travel daily from our cornfield to our community it does not represent a benefit,” the environmental organization states in a document addressed to the federal and state governments.
Modevite’s statement comes one day after the state government began the consultation process with indigenous communities for the project.
Meetings will be held in the municipalities of Palenque, Salto de Agua, Chilón and Ocosingo, where technical, economic, social, cultural and environmental information on the project will be provided.
The construction of this highway has been suspended in the past three six-year terms, due to the opposition of various indigenous communities that would be affected, but the current governor, Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar, has it contemplated as one of his priority works.
Unlike previous governments, the Ramírez Aguilar government has proposed that the income from the toll, gas stations and other negotiations on the side of the road be for the indigenous peoples through which the road will pass.
Modevite points out: “We are not against progress, we are against the violation of our rights, against imposition and authoritarianism, benefiting a few to the detriment of the land and territory that have been a source of life for our peoples.”
The environmental group asks: Who benefits most from the construction of the San Cristóbal-Palenque highway? It denounces that the path of imposition and false consultations destroy the life of our communities.
As indigenous peoples, they demand that the current government respect the rights of indigenous peoples; “we have the right to demonstrate, the right to freely decide our future, as well as to a free, prior and informed consultation stipulated in Articles 2, 6 and 7 of the Mexican Constitution and in international treaties.”
In the document, they state that they do not want “more destruction of Mother Earth and our culture. Today we are once again protesting against a project that seeks to deprive us of our territories rich in water, trees and vast natural resources, a project that hides the same old thing: colonialism, racism and favoring the interests of large transnationals, extractive companies, narcos and the government.”
On February 7th, the state governor made a tour of the Francisco I. Madero ejido, in the municipality of Salto de Agua, bordering Palenque, where the highway will pass, which he assures will boost social, commercial, economic and tourist activity and will directly benefit the indigenous peoples of the region.
“The government that we lead has a clear commitment to the people of Chiapas: We want to improve connectivity and, at the same time, help those who need it most, especially the sectors in the most vulnerable conditions,” he said.
In response, Modevite said that “deciding the future of indigenous communities and peoples, stating that they will be the main beneficiaries of a project that they do not know about, of which there is no record of a preliminary dialogue, where the environmental, socioeconomic and cultural impacts are unknown, means continuing to reproduce the systemic discrimination that the Mexican State has promoted for years.”
Therefore, it demanded that their right to free, prior and informed consultation for indigenous peoples be respected; that the dispossession be stopped, because they warn that they will not allow their land and resources to be taken from them.
The Movement in Defense of Life and Territory also demands justice and transparency in the process with the delivery of the document on the environmental and cultural impact of the construction of the highway; information on the economic budget and the origin of its financing; information on the results of the consultation of each community, ejido and municipality where they intend to build the highway.
Modevite group has been fighting and resisting for 12 years in municipalities in the northern region, the jungle and the highlands of Chiapas.
Original article by Gabriela Coutiño at Proceso, February 21st, 2025.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.