COP28 ends today in the United Arab Emirates. In Dubai, indigenous people attend official events, take part in parallel forums and walk the corridors and patios of Expo City, the enormous venue on the outskirts of Dubai that hosts the summit. But the distance between that presence and the decisions of the COP is still more than kilometric.
Relatives of the victims of the Viejo Velasco massacre release a joint statement on the 17th anniversary of this crime that continues in impunity.
Despite numerous protections of indigenous peoples and recommendations from the UN to demilitarize indigenous territories, the process of militarization continues. In Mexico, it is often related to the implementation of megaprojects, such as the so-called Mayan Train.
Carlos Santos Cid provides an analysis of the current context in Chiapas which includes the increasing presence of organized crime, the process of remilitarization, and the links between these and megaprojects, such as the Mayan Train. He examines the historical background since the Zapatista uprising and the counterinsurgency low-scale war using paramilitaries. He pulls these threads together and gives some hope as to a way forward. ”We believe that the strongest option is from below: communities have the possibility through peaceful alternatives to shield themselves, understanding that this war for control is not only an armed one, it is also cultural. We must rebuild and strengthen the social fabric.”
Gilberto López y Rivas
First of all, I would like to highlight the unconsulted nature of the Tren Maya mega-project among the affected populations, which include originary peoples protected by the Constitution and by international agreements, such as ILO Convention 169 and the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples…
