Land and Indigenous Sovereignty in Chiapas
From the struggle for independence, through the Mexican Revolution and the indigenous uprising in Chiapas in 1994, claims over land have been a central part of the demands of social movements in Mexico. For indigenous communities in Chiapas, land is not just a means of survival. It is also central to their identity and their vision of indigenous autonomy. Yet these communities continue to face displacement and dispossession, while their struggles to defend and reclaim their land are met with increasing intimidation and violence.
The Mexican government aggressively promotes foreign investment in mining and hydroelectric projects – almost all of it Canadian – that have displaced indigenous communities and contaminated local ecosystems in resource-rich Chiapas. Government agricultural schemes have converted massive tracts of land from food production to commercial “biofuel” crops. State programs like the Rural Cities Initiative, where entire rural communities are being moved to form small cities in order to concentrate services like education and health care, have left families uprooted and under-served. The government’s counterinsurgency war has made Chiapas highly militarized, and has encouraged the rise of paramilitary groups that violently force communities from their land. All of these policies have devastated rural areas, leading to increased migration and greater insecurity and poverty.
But these indigenous communities are resisting such processes of dispossession with the support of Inter Pares’ counterparts.
The Center for Women’s Rights of Chiapas (CDMCH) provides legal support for women so they can exercise their rights to land within the communal ejido land system, a right that is made more essential by the massive number of migrants, mostly men, leaving Chiapas in search of work. The CDMCH runs a training school for women to become human rights promoters in their communities, to raise awareness of the rights of women to land and livelihoods, and to participate in local decision-making.
The Fray Pedro de la Nada Human Rights Committee provides counsel and support for legal disputes over land in rural areas. Their team of human rights advocates is documenting human rights violations of displaced indigenous communities who are victims of state or paramilitary violence.
The Fray Bartolomé Human Rights Centre (FrayBa) accompanies indigenous communities that are defending their rights to land, providing capacity-building for community organizations. FrayBa also supplies media, legal, and political support to community groups attacked by paramilitary organizations in regions where there are powerful mining and narcotrafficking interests.
The work Inter Pares supports in Chiapas reveals that despite the many aggressions that indigenous communities are facing, their desire to defend their land and their autonomy is growing stronger. With the help of organizations like the CDMCH, Fray Pedro, and FrayBa, these communities and their organizations are becoming a powerful force for social change.
| Reviewed May 21, 2010 |  |
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