Chiapas: Zoque, Tseltal and Tsotsil Representatives Stand against Megaprojects

@Otros Mundos

At the end of the 3rd module of the Ejidal and Communal Popular School that took place on April 15th and 16th, 2021 at the Alter Natos Center in San Cristobal de Las Casas, the participants, Zoque, Tseltal and Tsotsil representatives of agrarian groups of Chiapas, published a statement in which they declared themselves against the “Highway of Cultures”, which will link to San Cristobal de Las Casas and Palenque and several mining and hydroelectric megaprojects.

They denounced that “Capitalism, Transnational Companies and National Governments continue to promote mechanisms to deepen the Extractive Model with Megaprojects with which they intend to dispute the territories of native peoples through violence, repression, dispossession, displacement and criminalization of our peaceful resistance for the defense of our lands and territories.”

They also denounced “the incompetence of the state government to guarantee governance”; “The violation of collective, individual and human rights that is committed against indigenous peoples and Defenders of Human Rights and the territory, as well as the harassment, threats and actions by the local government that seek to discredit those of us who defend life and territories.”

They claimed their “right to decide about our present and future based on our internal normative processes and not through political parties that cause us violence and community and family divisions.”

For more information in Spanish:

Representantes zoques, tseltales y tzotziles de núcleos agrarios de Chiapas rechazan Megaproyectos de sus territorios originales (Pronunciamiento conjunto, 19 de abril de 2021)

Zoques, tseltales y tsotsiles rechazan megaproyectos por temor a violencia, despojo y desplazamiento (Chiapas Paralelo, 19 de abril de 2021)

For more information from SIPAZ: