They say that laws, and I would add official reports, should be analyzed not only for what they say, but also for what they do not say. The section on the subject I am discussing is thorough in its data on actions taken by and on behalf of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI). I will highlight six points. They highlight that the National Development Plan incorporated “the voices of 68 indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and led to the integration of a cross section on rights that establishes a structural transformation of the Mexican State as national priority, in which autonomy and self-determination are fundamental principles for the implementation of government policies and programs.”
Another important development has been the National Catalog of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples and Communities (Cnpcia), which, in its latest edition updated by the INPI, provides information on 16,114 communities belonging to 70 indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples in 28 states and 1,392 municipalities, to promote the exercise of their self-determination and autonomy. It also serves as a fundamental source of information for the development of policies, programs, and projects.
It should also be noted that on December 11, 2024, through the Ministry of the Interior (Segob) and the INPI, the Mechanism for the Implementation and Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was established, which is a body for coordinating public policies between federal government entities and agencies. For its part, they note that work continues on institutionalizing the National Council of Indigenous Peoples so that it has the appropriate channels of dialogue that fully represent community organization, under the principles of self-determination and autonomy, for the formulation of proposals and monitoring of the policies, programs, and actions of the Mexican government that affect the lives of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and communities.
A central aspect is the constitutional recognition of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and communities as subjects of public law with legal personhood and their own heritage, as well as holders of the right to self-determination: “The Mexican government promotes the creation and consolidation of direct budget allocation mechanisms that allow these peoples and communities to exercise their collective rights, based on their own development models, regulatory systems, and governance models.”
They refer to the Contribution Fund for Social Infrastructure for Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples and Communities (FAIS), which allows for the autonomous execution, administration, and use of public resources. For fiscal year 2025, the fund was allocated 12.3743 billion pesos for the improvement of basic social infrastructure to promote the reduction of social underdevelopment in these peoples and communities. They indicate that in recent months they held community assemblies in which, in accordance with their regulatory systems, authorities, and representatives, general assessments of social infrastructure were made for each community, projects were prioritized, and administration and oversight committees were formed through community participation mechanisms. This has nothing to do with their own development models outlined in the speech.
Similarly, on October 17, 2024, the Inter-institutional Agrarian Committee for Justice and Regional Development Plans was established with the aim of analyzing the Agrarian Law, identifying articles to be reformed, and integrating recognition of the special material and spiritual relationship of peoples with the land, the territory, and natural resources, as well as traditional communal property and the possession that indigenous communities have historically held. They do not note that they have honored the Salinas counter-reform to the 27th constitutional amendment, which is why they left out the right to territory in their recent reform.
Finally, they return to the calls for the drafting of a general bill on the rights of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, which will “consult” those who are absent “in their own way” in the coming months. The central question concerns the official practices of presenting indigenous people who do not have such representation as “peoples” and “consulting” them. What is left unsaid is the issue of megaprojects, and we find a gem in the section on legal actions to defend the public interest by the Legal Counsel of the Presidency: “Regarding the Maya Train, the continuity of the project’s operation in all its sections was guaranteed by successfully defending various appeals filed against its construction.”
Also missing in the report is the situation of violence, dispossession, and impunity faced by the peoples who currently exist in their struggles of resistance. I am speechless.
Original text by Magdalena Gómez published in La Jornada on September 9th, 2025.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.