The Inter-Oceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is a megaproject proposed by the government of Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador that focuses on the construction of infrastructure and energy projects among which is the rehabilitation of the Isthmus Railway and the construction, maintenance and operation of the Jáltipan Salina Cruz gas pipeline. The aim is to put into operation an electric train and a 247 km gas pipeline to expand gas production in the region. Both projects are developed under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme and have foreign investment.
In Mexico, PPPs have been implemented considering that they are the necessary formula to solve the State’s inability to administer and offer public goods and services. However, this approach has not guaranteed its success and has generated various territorial conflicts.
This project reproduces relations of domination over territories based on the discourse of a development model that meets social needs, although it maintains as a priority economic growth linked to extractive production. This approach not only generates environmental and social impacts but also makes invisible and accentuates the discrimination and marginalization that women in the region face by not being considered as subjects for decision-making.
In this context, women defenders in this region have undertaken a way of resisting by building their own notion of well-being and proposing an agenda in which the rights to health, education, food, water and environmental protection are fundamental issues.
El Sur Resiste
“El Sur Resiste” is a documentary that follows a protest caravan of the indigenous women-led resistance against the megaproject of the interoceanic corridor in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in southern Mexico. It sheds light on recurring development plans implemented by successive Mexican governments, resulting in land dispossession, income loss, precarization of labour, migration and environmental degradation. The caravan is met with intimidation and an escalation of violent repression as it threads its way through small villages and towns in the region, in an effort to alet and mobilise the population.
Although governments and funders present Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a panacea for public services and infrastructure projects, DAWN feminist aligns with a growing critique of PPPs, asserting that they reinforce the “corporate capture” of the State.
It questions their supposed efficacy and transparency, deeming it problematic that public services run the risk of being absorbed by; greed and a mentality reminiscent of the colonial era.
Watch the full documentary right now on Youtube!
The Podcast
In this thought-provoking episode, renowned feminist economist Corina Rodríguez Enríquez and international development expert Sue Godt engage in a crucial conversation with guests María Julia Lamberti and Daniel Castrejón from PODER about public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Mexico.
María Julieta Lamberti, a feminist and human rights advocate, along with Daniel Castrejón, a defender of human rights, provide insights into the case study in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, discussing how PPPs impact gender and socioeconomic inequalities and highlighting the resistance of local communities against this strategy.
The episode reveals contradictions in the official narrative on development, elevating public-private partnerships as the solution to all development challenges, and emphasizes the marked disparities in wealth concentration in Mexico, exacerbated by the PPP model.
The episode also explores the environmental impact of PPPs and their connection to the climate crisis, pointing out the apparent contradiction between the promotion of clean energy and the real impact on people’s lives.
The discussion exposes the lack of a gender perspective in the development plan, disproportionately affecting indigenous and Afro-Mexican women. Governance issues, limited community participation, and corporate influence on national sovereignty are also highlighted.
Despite the challenges, hope emerges from the resistance and determination of local communities, especially women leading the fight. The episode provides a profound look at the complexities of development, emphasizing the importance of questioning conventional narratives and advocating for a more inclusive and sustainable approach.
The podcast is also available on Soundcloud and Youtube
Connect The Dots
This article presents an analysis of the megaproject for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico proposed by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. This region joins the territories of Oaxaca and Veracruz and has a historical geopolitical and economic interest because it is the only point, in Mexico, that joins the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in a distance of approximately 200 kilometres. These territories, in addition to being indigenous and peasant territories, form an ecosystem of great relevance due to its biodiversity and hydrology. The isthmus has not been considered by the prevailing development model as a biological corridor but as a commercial corridor particularly for the energy and hydrocarbon sector. This is not the first time that a government program has directed its
attention to the region under this perspective. Since the 1970s, the Tehuantepec Isthmus has been configured to emulate the Panama Canal.
This work takes up again the most recent interest in this territory, that is, the government’s bet which has elaborated a development program for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec whose “nodal axis” is the Interoceanic Multimodal Corridor. This program consists of a set of projects including the renovation of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Railway, the Jáltipan Salina Cruz gas pipeline and the creation of free zones, a model of
territorial planning that aims to establish specific areas to operate the projects and attract national and foreign investment in the framework of public-private partnerships (PPP). For the government, this program is considered a “new development model”.(SHCP, 2019)
In order to address this, community resistance is based on demanding respect for their right to decide on the territory and to define the activities to be carried out there. The main concerns about the project have to do with its impacts on the environment, the local economy, and the use of the project to expand extractive energy projects that have already impacted the soil, water, and wildlife in the region. The role of women has been central in this struggle by highlighting these impacts, strengthening the union of organizational processes and developing proposals for the collective well-being of the region.
Read now The Isthmus of Tehuantepec Corridor: Public-Private Partnerships and territorial impacts in Mexico by Isabel Clavijo Flórez.