Mexico City | Desinformémonos. Women from different regions of Chiapas denounced the impacts of the construction of the Palenque-San Cristóbal Superhighway on land, water, biodiversity, and community life. At the 8th Assembly of the Women’s Movement in Defense of Mother Earth and Our Territories, held in Salto de Agua, they pointed out that the project was imposed without the consent of the indigenous peoples and affected crops, sacred hills, water sources, and forests. The collectives demanded respect for the land, an end to dispossession, attention to basic services, and justice for the defenders of Mother Earth.
In their region, Tzeltal and Tsotsil women reported that logging, contamination of rivers and wetlands , as well as the sale of genetically modified corn and the use of agrochemicals, cause diseases in the population, including cancer, diabetes, and reproductive problems. In the coastal area, they reported that violence and disappearances among young people have increased, while the construction of megaprojects and the extraction of stone materials are moving forward under military surveillance, generating fear and harassment.
Women from the Ch’ol and Tzeltal regions in the northern zone expressed their rejection of the highway and the “harvest road,” accusing the government of implementing projects without real consultation and generating internal conflicts, land sales, family division, and forced migration. They also denounced the displacement of wild animals, many of which are endangered, and the loss of community cohesion and autonomy .
Women from the Ch’ol and Tzeltal regions in the north expressed their opposition to the highway and the “harvest road,” accusing the government of implementing projects without genuine consultation and generating internal conflicts, land sales, family divisions, and forced migration. They also denounced the displacement of wild animals, many of which are endangered, and the loss of community autonomy and cohesion.
Zoque women defenders warned about the political use of information on the Chichonal volcano and the possible reactivation of mining by the Fortune Bay Corp company, despite the past damages caused in San Isidro. Together, the groups demanded an end to harassment, respect for recovered lands, decent medical care, electricity as a human right, and justice for the murdered defenders. “Mother Earth and territory are one. Together and organized, we will prevail,” they concluded.
The full statement is below:
Eighth Assembly of the Women’s Movement in Defense of Mother Earth and Our Territories
Salto de Agua, Chiapas
November 2025
To civil society
To the struggles and resistance around the world
To the peoples who struggle and resist for their autonomy
To the women of organizations, networks, and collectives
To international civil society organizations
To organizations that defend human rights and Mother Earth
Women from Chiapas, from the Tzeltal, Ch’ol, Tsotsil, Costa, and Zoque regions. We gathered and reconnected at the eighth Assembly to analyze, reflect, learn, and heal collectively by sharing our words with each other.
In our Altos, Tzeltal, and Tsotsil regions, we women declare that the capitalist system continues to damage our Mother Earth through the cutting down of trees, the use of agrochemicals and synthetic fertilizers, and the sale of genetically modified corn for planting, which is making people in the communities sick. We have observed an increase in fibroids and cysts in women, as well as cancer and diabetes in men, women, youth, and children. Similarly, our waters and wetlands are being damaged and contaminated. In addition to this, extractive tourism is causing water shortages in the communities near the Jobel Valley.
Delinquency and organized crime continue to gain ground within our communities, mainly among young people, as young people no longer want to work and prefer to steal in order to buy alcohol and drugs sold by organized crime itself. Some even become dealers themselves. In light of these situations, we propose strengthening our male compañeros in particular, without neglecting our female compañeras and young women, so that alliances can be formed and women can find the motivation to remain strong and fight collectively. We also propose reforestation in our territories with compost, waste recycling, and continued care for our rivers, waterholes, and springs.
We, as women from the coastal region, denounce the fact that young people continue to disappear in our region. We see that organized crime is increasingly taking control of our towns and there is no authority who will stop it. Violence continues to increase and breaks our family and community ties. Meanwhile, the dispossession of land continues for the construction of the Trans-Isthmus Train megaproject, supervised by the Navy, which imposes fear, harassment, and repression so that society does not raise its voice, while they take advantage of the situation to destroy and exploit Mother Earth, extracting stone material (quarries, gravel). This is related to the high costs of electricity and harassment by the CFE, causing power failures, high and low energy levels, which breaks household appliances.
The women of the Ch’ol and Tzeltal regions of the northern zone: We express our rejection and disagreement with the construction of the Palenque-San Cristóbal highway. There was never any information or intention to communicate what it is about; it has been imposed without the true consent of the indigenous peoples. They have crossed farmland, destroying water sources, demolishing our sacred hills and mountains, and then plundering the gravel, cutting down the trees, and taking the wood. This has caused divisions in the communities, loss of autonomy, the sale of land, and the dispossession of identity in favor of individualism.
Wild animals have been displaced, stripped of their habitat, many of them endangered species such as jaguars, white-tailed deer, howler monkeys, armadillos, iguanas, and endemic lizards, among others. We also express our rejection of the construction of the “harvest road,” which is intended to transport the products of bad government programs such as “Sowing Life” and “African Palm.” Only those who receive government projects have been consulted, and they are using it for their own benefit. This has also caused intra-community conflicts and threats against communities organized in defense of Mother Earth. With the parcelling of land, we see that it has caused division among families and social breakdown, leading to migration with no destination.
We are seeing an increase in alcoholism, drug addiction, and trafficking of undocumented immigrants, mainly among young people and adolescents, both men and women, causing illness, death, family and community breakdown, and disappearances, without any intervention from the competent authorities. High electricity bills and constant power cuts are damaging electrical appliances. In terms of health, hospitals do not have good services, there is a lack of medicines and surgical equipment, and care is substandard.
We, the women of the Zoque region, urge you to be wary of the misinformation spread by the bad government regarding the Pyokpatzyuwe volcano, known as El Chichonal, as it poses no risk to the population because we are accustomed to its natural movements. On the other hand, the complicity of state and municipal government officials together with the Army (SEDENA, GN) and organized crime do pose a threat to the community fabric. During the months of August and September, we experienced firsthand an increase in violence by organized crime, which has killed and disappeared people. This allows the bad government to justify the installation of an army regiment, which causes fear and uncertainty, because we also see that there is no information about why and for what the officials are coming to our territory. Perhaps they are negotiating the continuation of megaprojects related to geothermal energy, mining, and the extraction of common goods from our Mother Earth. We denounce that the company Fortune Bay Corp is seeking to reactivate mining in the area, despite the fact that in 2003 in San Isidro las Banderas, municipality of Pantepec, Chiapas, there was a landslide 100 meters long and 15 meters wide caused by mining activity near the town, which affected several houses and caused the loss of human lives. The Zoque people have said, “The mine will not come here; here, the butterfly will continue to arrive.”
At this eighth meeting, we were witnesses to the destruction caused by the Palenque-San Cristóbal Superhighway. It pains and angers us to see how they are destroying our Mother Earth, but we turn that pain into strength to continue organizing. In the face of all this, we remain steadfast as collectives, inviting other supportive comrades to strengthen our network and our common cause.
From within the collectives that are part of the movement, we reflect with young people and our families on how to care for each other and practice self-care. We organize ourselves in neighborhoods and communities for collective participation. In the face of ecological collapse, we plant resistant foods such as cassava, taro, chaya, and nopal; we avoid the use of disposables and the consumption of soft drinks, and we recognize the importance of resisting the consumption of junk food. We also organize ourselves to collect rainwater. All of this to take care and defend Mother Earth.
We invite people to analyze, reflect, and raise their voices in defense of our Mother Earth from the depths of their hearts. Let us fight for our peoples, for our sons and daughters, and for their dignified lives.
We demand an end to the dispossession of our lands.
We demand that the right to electricity be respected and constitutionally recognized as a human right.
We demand timely attention and dignified treatment in hospitals. Stop the criminalization of our struggles.
Stop the disappearances of our young people. Respect our organized comrades.
We demand justice for all the defenders who have been murdered.
We demand an end to the harassment of the EZLN bases in the Belen community. Respect for the recovered lands and the proposal of El común.
Mother Earth and territory are one. Together and organized, we will win.
Sincerely,Nasakobajk Defenders Collective (Defenders of Mother Earth)
Coastal Women in Rebellion Network
Tsijilba Bij Collective (New Path)
Nichim Antsetik Collective (Flower of Women)
Altos Tsotsil Collective
Antsetik Ts’unun Collective (Hummingbird Women)
Original text published by Desinformémonos on November 25th, 2025.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.