Self-determination and megaprojects

The Regional Indigenous and Popular Counsel of Xpujil (CRIPX) against the Maya Train

Abstract

In the following work, we argue that the fight for the self- determination
of indigenous people is carried out in Mexico in the mark of social movements
organized born, among others, in socio-environmental conflicts generated by
public policies promoted by neo-developmental governments. To do this, I analyse
the fields interaction between the state and the indigenous organizations and the
correlation of force between the paradigm of neo development and the political
horizon of self-determination, based on the specific case of the struggle that the
Regional Indigenous and Popular Counsel of Xpujil (CRIPX) is carrying out against
the Maya Train, under the banner of the defence of their self- determination. In
that perspective, I study several axes of confrontation about prior, free and informed
consultation, as well as strategies and perspectives for the construction of selfdetermination
at local, national and Latin American levels.