On Thursday February 2, Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, published two decrees in the Official Journal of the Nation making official the expropriation of 1,018 acres of communal lands in Ciudad Ixtepec, and 1,240 acres in Santa María Mixtequilla, both in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. These lands will be the future sites of two industrial parks or Development Poles for Wellbeing that are being constructed as part of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Both lands were bought by the federal government through the national fund, El Fideicomiso Fondo Nacional de Fomento Ejidal (FIFONAFE).
According to one decree, the Mexican government paid $111,447,000 pesos to community members and land caretakers for the expropriation in Ciudad Ixtepec,
In the other decree, the federal government paid $40,000,000 pesos in advance, of the total $130,000,000 pesos that will be paid to cover the expropriation of land in Santa María Mixtequilla,
The government has announced ten industrial parks to be constructed as part of the Interoceanic Corridor. Three of these industrial parks are being planned in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. However, the government still lacks the decree to expropriate 300 hectares of land of El Pitayal, in the community of Puente Madera, in the municipality of San Blas Atempa, Oaxaca.
The Community Assembly of Puente Madera has mobilized and managed to detain the sell of the lands. Community members filed a lawsuit to nullify an assembly decision which took place on March 14, 2021, where the sell of the lands was authorized for the installation of the industrial park. The lawsuit alleges that dead people’s signatures were used to authorize the sell.
In statements to the media, the Secretary of Economy, Raquel Buenrostro, has pointed out that of the ten industrial parks, between three of four of them will be for companies that produce renewable energies.
At the end of February, Buenrostro said that a program will be presented to “generate a business model” for the ten industrial parks. “We want to do an auction, to see what will be placed where,” she said.
Salomón Jara Cruz, governor of the State of Oaxaca, has announced to the media that in April, the Secretary of the Economy will launch a call to national and international companies for bids for the industrial parks.
IDB
The Inter-American Development Bank announced that it is making available between $1,800,000,000 and $2,800,000,000 dollars in the next three years to finance projects of companies relocating to Mexico. This is taking place amidst a reconfiguration of the global value chain. The IDB said that priority would be given to projects that decide to move to the Interoceanic Corridor.
