Families from the municipalities of Arriaga and Pijijiapan, on the coast of Chiapas, are the subject of a criminal complaint for the alleged crime of invasion of national property, in what the Digna Ochoa Human Rights Center (Cdh Digna) denounces as a process of criminalization carried out by Ferrocarriles del Istmo de Tehuantepec (FIT) and the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT) to displace people living in the vicinity of the tracks implemented for the megaproject.
In a statement released Thursday the 29th, the Cdh Digna details that the federal agencies responsible for the operation of the railway lines that make up the project, together with the Secretariat of Communications, Infrastructure, and Transportation (SCIT), filed a criminal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) against three women from the municipality of Pijijiapan, as well as four women and one man from the municipality of Arriaga, with the aim of demanding the surrender of the right of way for the railway.
For the human rights center, the criminal action constitutes an act of criminalization against a vulnerable civilian population, mostly women, in the context of the implementation of the CIIT.
In an interview with Avispa Mídia, Nataniel Hernández Núñez, a member of the center, argues that the criminalization of families who have lived in the area for more than 20 years is based on a presidential decree, issued in May 2023 by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to classify infrastructure megaprojects such as the CIIT and the Maya Train as matters of national security in order to accelerate their construction.
The lawyer points out that this maneuver allowed for the subsequent modification of the National Property Law, particularly Article 150, which establishes and defines the crime of invasion or occupation, “as in this particular case, over the right of way claimed by the railway megaproject,” which is 30 meters wide.
For Hernández, the legal framework, made possible by the presidential decree, uses this crime as a preventive measure to ensure the progress of the construction and implementation of the CIIT. Specifically, Line K traverses the coast of Chiapas, a 472-kilometer route that will connect the Oaxacan Isthmus with port infrastructure in Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala. “Anticipating the scenario, in case people opposed voluntarily handing over the land, they had to proceed legally before the Attorney General’s Office; that is what is happening,” explains the lawyer.
Criminalization
Although work on the railway rehabilitation officially began in 2023, CIIT officials have been trying to negotiate with families for four years to vacate their homes located within the right-of-way. However, residents of Arriaga and Pijijiapan have resisted because, they argue, the relocation plan has been imposed on them without providing decent housing conditions.
Among their complaints, the lawyer points out, is the fact that entire families have been relocated to subdivisions with homes “in terrible condition,” and others have been relocated without considering whether it was convenient for them to move from a rural environment to the municipal capital or vice versa, thereby altering their way of life.
“The situation became more complicated at the end of last year, when a criminal complaint was filed with the FGR in November. What we have identified in this criminalization is that it mainly involves women, mostly over the age of 50, who are heads of households and who are basically the breadwinners and have struggled for many years to build up their assets,” adds Hernández.
According to the lawyer, the federal government’s strategy seeks two things: to subject people to a judicial process where they will be punished, which could mean pretrial detention, and to have a federal judge order a forced eviction without guaranteeing the recovery of the families’ assets.
The Cdh Digna claims that these events constitute a pattern of criminalization of poverty, using the criminal justice system to pressure, intimidate, and displace vulnerable families, which violates the principles of proportionality, minimal criminal intervention, and social justice. “We remind you that forced evictions without procedural guarantees, without prior consultation, without decent relocation alternatives, and without compensation for damages constitute serious human rights violations, according to the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights,” it states.
For Chiapas advocates, these events are part of a broader context of federal megaproject implementation, in which various communities have denounced the lack of prior, free, informed, and culturally appropriate consultation, as well as risks of territorial dispossession, forced displacement, disruption of the community fabric, and impacts on livelihoods.
For Chiapas advocates, these events are part of a broader context of federal megaproject implementation, in which various communities have denounced the lack of free, prior, informed, and culturally appropriate consultation, as well as risks of territorial dispossession, forced displacement, disruption of community fabric, and impacts on livelihoods.
Nataniel Hernández explains that, despite meetings with CIIT officials and local councils, the government has shown no commitment to withdrawing the criminal complaint. He even condemns the “Machiavellian use” of the justice system, which maintains rounds of dialogue while continuing with criminal proceedings.
According to the lawyer, during the implementation and operation of the CIIT—whose transit has been suspended since December 28 following the derailment in Oaxaca—the megaproject has presented irregularities in both its planning and execution. As an example, he mentions the problems encountered when attempting to leave only a couple of railroad crossings in the municipal capitals, which met with resistance from communities seeking to maintain their crossings where the railroad tracks pass through.
He also points out that, in the municipality of Pijijiapan, there is citizen resistance that has slowed the progress of the works seeking to connect the railroad line in the direction of the municipality of Huixtla. Above all, residents of the region complain that the way the elevated tracks have been built is blockading river drains, which they predict will cause flooding or even inundation during the next rainy season.
Finally, attorney Hernández emphasizes a call for solidarity with the case of the criminalized families, noting that this is yet another consequence of the dispossession resulting from the megaproject, which was also carried out without free, prior, and informed consultation, imposed by force and with arguments such as national security, with consequences that are currently impacting the rural populations of the Chiapas coast.
Original text by Aldo Santiago published in Avispa Midia on February 3rd, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.