Due to legal gaps in the right to consultation and a lack of public information provided to communities that will be affected, Tseltales from the municipalities of Ocosingo and Chilón filed two amparos (writs of protection) aimed at preventing the construction of the San Cristóbal-Palenque highway, one of the main projects of the state and federal governments, which authorities claim would boost tourism, but which the indigenous people see as a dispossession of their lands, culture, and environment.
This project is part of the road infrastructure project originally proposed in 2001 by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to “promote sustainable development and integration in the Mesoamerican region, which includes the seven Central American countries and the southern southeastern states of Mexico.”
It has been rejected since then by indigenous communities who see the highway as an extractive project for energy and tourism . In 2019, the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador reactivated it as part of the National Agreement for Investment in Infrastructure, but it was not until the current administration that works began.
On February 17 of this year, Governor Eduardo Ramírez published guidelines in the Official Newspaper of the State of Chiapas for what he called “public consultation on strategic development projects”; and on March 23, a consultation process took place where three polling stations were set up in the municipal capital of Ocosingo, and others in the municipal capital of Chilón, Salto de Agua, Tumbalá, and Palenque. The Governor then claimed that the project had been approved by the indigenous communities, with around 39,000 votes in favor.
However, in a press conference, residents of Ocosingo and Chilón explained that various irregularities were committed, such as the fact that the communities through which the highway will pass were not consulted, that is, the communities that will be directly affected. In the the municipal capitals there will be no impact, and that was where the population voted,” said Pascuala Vázquez, one of the spokespersons for the Movement in Defense of Life and Territory (MODEVITE).
Another irregularity is that state and federal authorities have not officially stated what the route will be. “We have submitted information requests because they do not want us to know which communities will be affected. We have been figuring it out because surveyors have come around to some of our towns taking measurements without the people’s authorization; and in other towns airplanes have dropped plates dropped from an that we’ve been told are used to georeference the routes,” she detailed.
At the press conference, representatives from various communities explained that “the construction of the Palenque-San Cristóbal Highway is a threat to our territory that affects and destroys it. It dispossesses us not only of a piece of land but of the life that inhabits this land: the springs, animals, the diverse trees, and our identity which makes us a people,” they declare in a statement they read.
“We declare that our indigenous Maya territory rejects the project of the Palenque to San Cristóbal Highway and any project that is not compatible with our way of life, our worldview, and the care of Mother Earth. Our territory is declared a living culture and a territory free of megaprojects.”
In order to prevent the project from advancing, they presented two amparos (writs of protection). The first contests the constitutionality of the consultation held on March 23, because within the guidelines published in the Official Newspaper “there is no consideration of how indigenous communities will participate effectively and thus be guaranteed the right to self-determination,” explained Fernanda Santos, a lawyer from the Minerva Calderón Legal Clinic, an institution that, along with the Berta Cáceres Clinic in Mexico City, the Oscar Romero Clinic in Ibero Torreón, and the Citizen Participation and Democratic Quality Observatory, will carry forward the legal proceedings.
The second amparo pertains to the omission and lack of information from the State in regards to the entire highway project from Palenque to San Cristóbal; and the lack of environmental information. “Let us remember that the Mexican State has already signed and ratified the Escazú Agreement, which obligates all authorities to provide that environmental information,” said the lawyer.
“What we are seeking to demonstrate with this second amparo is that there is a lack of information that would guarantee an informed consultation that is prior, as well as free, culturally appropriate, and in good faith. If there is no such information and there are no detailed guidelines regarding the consultation, then it is invalid and therefore, the construction of the highway will violate human rights.”
The indigenous people also submitted four requests for information to different government institutions, to try once again to obtain the data that would allow them to know the route, investment figures, and environmental impact among other things.
According to the Chiapas government, the construction of the highway will take at least five years.
Original text by Ángeles Mariscal published in Chiapas Paralelo on April 1st, 2025.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.