In this issue, we gather publications that help us understand the advancement of mega infrastructure projects in Mesoamerica and the importance of what is happening in that region.  

The trains of devastation are making their way through southeast Mexico with the intention of integrating Indigenous and campesino territories into the market. Communally owned lands in Mexico are being reconfigured to comply with the interests of national and international capital.

The poorly named “Mayan Train” is consolidating jungle deforestation in territories of the Yucatan peninsula. The armed forces are in charge of the project’s sections 6 and 7, serving as a pretext for further militarization in the region. This is a concern for local Mayan communities.   

In Oaxaca, the priority project of the United States, the Interoceanic Corridor, has received a great deal of attention these last few weeks. From several fronts, investments were announced for the construction of more wind farm projects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and a call was made out to international companies to invest in the future industrial corridor.

With the celebration of Mexican authorities, a delegation of US officials arrived to Oaxaca to push for foreign investments. At the same time, Indigenous communities like Puente Madera are maintaining a persistent struggle in defense of their communal lands, as one of the inhabitants of the community shares with us.

Lastly, we present the case of the International Airport of the Pacific, and of those who are resisting the project. The airport, retaken up by the government of Nayib Bukele, responds to the ongoing desire to transform the east of El Salvador into a “development pole,” reactivating plans for Exclusive Economic Zones, which for years have sought to consolidate infrastructure for tourism, industry, and the circulation of commodities in this geostrategic region of the Central American pacific.

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“Why do they treat us like that, with so much hate? Lima lives from what we produce in the fields, from our resources, from mining. We are only reclaiming our rights, asking that they respect our vote. They treat us like animals, worse than criminals. We Aymara never abandon a fight, we aren’t afraid to die because we are dying for our children, for those who come after us,” says María, from Puno, the region most affected by the repression.

In organized assemblies in the streets and different neighborhoods of Lima, the Indigenous and campesino peoples sustain the opposition to the civil-military dictatorship of Dina Boluarte. The struggle, unanimously, will continue until the de facto president resigns.

Photographer: Javier Bedía Prado

Date: March 31, 2023

Place: Lima, Peru