PBI-Mexico calls for an end to the criminalization of 24 Indigenous land defenders opposed to Tehuantepec megaproject
Photo: The press conference in front of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Photo by La Marea.
La Jornada reports: “In the context of World Mother Earth Day, more than 20 Indigenous, environmental and human rights organizations demanded this Tuesday [April 22] in a statement an end to the criminalization of 24 members of the Ayuujk and Binizaa communities, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, for rejecting the expansion of the Interoceanic Corridor railway.”
The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project is one of the organizations demanding an end to this criminalization of the 24 Indigenous land defenders.
Photo: José Alberto Cayetano Matus, member of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the northern zone of the Isthmus. Photo by CIMAC.
The La Jornada article continues: “José Alberto Cayetano Matus, a member of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec [UCIZONI], said, when reading the text, that in the case of the community of Mogoñé Viejo, San Juan Guichicovi municipality, 16 indigenous women and men are accused of the crime of attacks on communication routes for preventing the construction of the train in their territories with a sit-in in 2019.”
“Cayetano pointed out that eight other people from Rincón Viejo, Petapa municipality, face criminal proceedings for the crime of invasion of rights of way. The defender, a victim in the case, stressed that the accusation is presented as a retaliation for his refusal to vacate his homes, after he refused to accept a single payment that does not fairly compensate the value of his patrimony.”
Photo: Juana Inés Ramírez Villegas, member of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the northern zone of the Isthmus. Photo by CIMAC.
“When reading the document, Juana Ramírez Villegaz, another of the defendants and a member of the union, stressed that the report issued two years ago by the Civilian Observation Mission, created by several national and international organizations [including PBI-Mexico] in 2023, highlights the seriousness of the aggressions perpetrated by officials at different levels of government.”
Video: A representative of PBI-Mexico (in green vest) speaks (starting at 35:26) at the observation mission media conference, July 27,2023.
The article highlights: “The signatory groups asked the federal authorities to establish a dialogue table and intervene to stop criminalization, desist from criminal actions and accusations against their members and reinforce and update the protection measures granted to those who are part of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.”
Video: The 33-minute Article 19 video of the press conference.
The Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT)
The Interoceanic Corridor is a megaproject that has been described by a proponent as including “two deep sea ports, railroads, highways, three airports (Minatitlán, Ixtepec and Huatulco), a gas pipeline and a fiber optic network.”
The Jaltipan-Salina Cruz pipeline
The Jaltipan-Salina Cruz pipeline spans the Tehuantepec Isthmus, from Chinameca, Veracruz, to Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, where it connects to the floating Salina Cruz liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal.
Calgary-based TC Energy is building the Puerta del Sureste/ Southeast Gateway pipeline that will connect to Jáltipan-Salina Cruz Gas pipeline to transport gas across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the proposed Salina Cruz LNG export terminal.
Video still: On February 15, 2025, several coastal communities of the indigenous Nahua and Nuntaj++yi’ municipalities of Pajapan, Tatahuicapan and Mecayapan in southern Veracruz protested against the TC Energy Puerta del Sureste pipeline. The pipeline is expected to be operational on May 1, 2025.
The Toronto-headquartered Royal Bank of Canada and other Canadian banks are financing the US company Sempra Energy that through its Mexican subsidiary Sempra Infraestructura – a partner of TC Energy – that will develop that LNG terminal in Salina Cruz that would export gas to Europe and Asia.
The Trans-Isthmus Railway
Railway Gazette International has reported: “The ports in both cities, the railway and related terminal infrastructure are all managed by Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec, a state-owned enterprise which is part of the Mexican Navy.”
That article notes: “The primary aim of the reconstruction of the Trans-Isthmus Railway is to develop freight traffic through the two ports; investment in the Minatitlán and Salina Cruz oil refineries is also expected to generate more rail flows.”
In January 2024, the International Railway Journal reported: “Freight operations began in September 2023 following an upgrade under the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor (CIIT) project, which aims to provide a rail alternative to the Panama Canal for freight moving between the Atlantic and the Pacific.”
A railway for grain, petrochemicals, mining concessions
That article adds: “According CIIT director general, Mr Raymundo Morales Ángeles, the upgraded railway known as Line Z can accommodate freight trains up to 65 wagons in length, as well as double-stack trains carrying up to 260 containers or 5200 tonnes. Line Z is also expected to handle bulk traffic including grain, chemical products and petrochemicals.”
In October 2024, the Pulitzer Center quoted Binnizá environmental defender Martín Regalado saying that Line K “is a Trojan horse that is leaving unprecedented environmental disasters in its wake. No one will travel on this train because its purpose is to provide roads for mining concessions and extractive companies.”
Canadian wheat shipped on the railway
On January 10, 2025, Breakbulk Events & Media reported: “The Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec (FIT) or Isthmus of Tehuantepec Railway [and] Mexico’s Ministry of the Navy announced in November that grain producer Viterra Mexico successfully transported 2,000 tons of wheat grain using the railway. The cargo, which was imported from Canada, arrived at the Port of Salina Cruz via the SSI Prudence and was then transshipped to bulk hoppers before heading to warehouses operated by wheat distributor Trimex near the Port of Coatzacoalcos.”
CPKC involvement
There are snippets of information available about a potential role being played by the Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railway company in this megaproject.
In May 2023, Bnamericas reported: “Following a meeting between President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, US officials and CPKC executives in Mexico City, the government unveiled that it invited the company to participate in the 1,500km Maya train that will connect five states in the southeast and to the rehabilitation of the 300km Tehuantepec isthmus rail corridor between Oaxaca and Veracruz states. However, during his morning press conference on Thursday, López Obrador also said that he asked CPKC to take over the Mexico City-Querétaro high-speed train that the previous government attempted to construct.”
By March 2024, Mexico News Daily reported CPKC had submitted proposals for two routes not in the Isthmus: Mexico City-Querétaro and Querétaro-San Luis Potosí-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo.
Furthermore, in January 2024, FreightWaves quoted Pawan Joshi, executive vice president of products and strategy of the Austin, Texas-based supply chain software provider e2open suggesting that the CIIT could offer another option when global disruptions or droughts interrupt trade flows in the Panama Canal. Joshi says: “The Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern railroad is looking to start to invest some money on the Panama side to build more infrastructure and provide an alternative.”
Further research needed
Further research is needed to document and map the role Canadian companies and investment capital may be playing in this megaproject.
We continue to follow this.
Additional reading
The press conference and statement were also noted in: Women defenders of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec criminalized, they oppose the expansion of the Interoceanic Corridor (Cimacnoticias), Stop the criminalization of Ayuujk and Binizaa indigenous people (CiudadaniaXpress), Demand to stop the criminalization of indigenous people in the Isthmus (La Coperacha), NGOs demand an end to the criminalization of opponents of the Interoceanic Corridor in the Isthmus (Estado20), Land defenders denounce criminalization in the face of the imposition of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (La Marea) and Environmentalists of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec report threats (El Universal).
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