The Proposed Law on Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Rights “is not designed for Indigenous peoples, but rather to facilitate access of big business to our territories,” stated the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) in a position paper rejecting the federal government’s proposal, which “continues the neoliberal project of dispossessing and privatizing the lands and territories of the country’s Indigenous peoples.”
In the statement, the CNI denounced the bill as a “mockery” of indigenous peoples, calling it a tool to “plunder, destroy, and commodify” the communities’ natural and cultural commons, while “attacking and repressing the peoples resisting the capitalist, patriarchal, extractivist, and colonial onslaught.”
It explained that the proposed law stipulates that, in order for indigenous peoples to access their rights, they must be registered in a directory approved by the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), under a series of articles that, “although they vaguely recognize the right to self-identification, are worded in a way that allows the INPI to obstruct or reject the registration of an indigenous people or community, if it deems, at its discretion, that they do not meet the requirements for registration.”
Among the points it criticized was the fact that the proposed law establishes a series of “strategic omissions regarding the right of peoples to self-determination over their territory,” while affirming the continuation of Mexico’s neoliberal approach by stipulating that strategic areas for the exploitation of water, oil, fracking, lithium, minerals, and other resources will be administered directly by the state.
“In these cases, self-determination does not exist, since we will only be able to voice our opinions on these destructive and highly polluting projects, but not decide whether or not they are developed on our territories; the government of the Fourth Transformation is not interested in our lives or the future of our children,” it emphasized.
It also rejected the indigenous consultation process for the bill and accused it of being a “sham” that does not follow “even the requirements it proposes in its own law regarding consultation,” since there has been no phase of prior agreements nor sufficient information, deliberation, consultation, or follow-up on agreements.
“The process is flawed from the outset; this sham consultation is merely intended to provide administrative justification for the proposed law on the rights of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, just as has been done with the sham consultations for the approval of state megaprojects such as the misnamed Maya Train, the Interoceanic Highway, the Morelos Integral Project, the Dos Bocas Refinery, and all the others that have destroyed and polluted our territories,” the CNI criticized.
Below is the full statement:
STATEMENT BY THE CONGRESS
As the NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONGRESS, we follow in the footsteps of dignity left to us by our earliest grandparents. We were founded 30 years ago in response to a call from our Zapatista sisters and brothers to bring together all the indigenous peoples of the country to discuss which indigenous rights should be recognized by the Mexican State—a process that led to the San Andrés Accords, the historic mobilization of the “March of the Color of the Earth” by the Zapatista National Liberation Army, and subsequently the betrayal by the bad government in the form of the limited rights enshrined in Article 2 of the Constitution.
Today we reject the mockery that the indigenous consultation process and the Proposed Bill on Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Rights—promoted by President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and administered by the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), whose director, Adelfo Regino Montes, has betrayed indigenous peoples and communities, Mother Nature, and historical memory—represent for the country’s indigenous peoples.
This proposal contains 453 articles addressing various issues related to our peoples, such as autonomy, self-determination, jurisdiction, consultation, territory, indigenous legal protection, heritage, health, culture, and recognition as subjects of public law—among other topics that are causing more confusion than clarity.
We reject this law because it continues the neoliberal project of dispossessing and privatizing the lands and territories of the country’s indigenous peoples. Since the 1992 amendment to Article 27 of the Constitution, Mexican law has done nothing but pave the way for the dispossession of our territories and attempt to destroy the legacy left to us by General Emiliano Zapata and the Mexican Revolution. This law was drafted by an inner circle close to the President of the Republic; it was not created for indigenous peoples, but rather to facilitate access by big capital to our territories—to plunder, destroy, and commodify our natural and cultural commons, while attacking and repressing the peoples who resist the capitalist, patriarchal, extractivist, and colonial onslaught we are suffering.
The proposed law treats the country’s indigenous peoples and communities in a colonial, degrading, and racist manner by stipulating that, in order to exercise our rights, we must register in a catalog of peoples classified by the INPI, under a series of articles that, although they vaguely recognize the right to self-identification, are worded in a way that allows the INPI to obstruct or reject the registration of an indigenous people or community if it deems, at its discretion, that they do not meet the requirements for registration.
The proposed law states that if we do not register, we do not lose our status as subjects of law, but we cannot legally exercise those rights; this legal aberration and deception profoundly restricts the exercise of the peoples’ autonomy, interferes in the internal affairs of communities, and undermines the principle of self-identification. This law is designed to provide transnational corporations with what they call “legal certainty” to invest in their megaprojects, treating us as commodities or products for sale that must be registered so that these corporations can meet the requirements that allow them to steal from our peoples.
The content of this law is DECEPTIVE, as some of its articles propose recognizing legal pluralism in the Mexican State—acknowledging the legal system of the State and the normative system of indigenous peoples as having equal value—and giving preference to the application of the normative system based on customs and traditions in indigenous territories, but entangling this in a process of jurisdictional conflicts with any authority that claims such jurisdiction. And in practice, it is the State—through the INPI and the Ministry of the Interior—that decides what is subject to consultation and what is not, what affects indigenous peoples and communities and what does not. It turns out that the doctor is the only one who can say what is ailing the patient.
The proposed law establishes a series of strategic omissions regarding the right of peoples to self-determination over their territory; instead, it reaffirms the continuity of Mexico’s neoliberal agenda by stipulating that strategic areas for the exploitation of water, oil, fracking, lithium, minerals, and other resources will be administered directly by the state. In these cases, self-determination does not exist, since we will only be able to voice our opinions on these destructive and highly polluting projects, but not decide whether or not they are developed on our territories; the government of the Fourth Transformation is not interested in our lives or the future of our children. Amid the betrayals that have been occurring in the struggle for the recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples and communities, Article 2 of the Constitution states that we have no right to decide on resources that are strategic for the nation. Yet their strategic nature does not prevent the government from granting concessions for the relentless profit of any foreign company—including water, a vital element for survival. Thus, this constitutes a racist and criminal treatment of our country’s natural resources: they are taken away from Indigenous peoples, leaving their territories devastated by plunder, and handed over to transnational corporations for commercial exploitation, without any right to self-determination.
Self-determination means that we can decide on the life and destiny of our peoples, territories, and legal systems; we can decide whether or not a project is carried out and under what conditions, without distinction; we can decide whether or not we should be consulted on a measure; and we can conduct our own consultations. No one has the right to come into our territories to dictate how we engage in dialogue and make decisions in accordance with our own customs, traditions, and legal systems. As peoples, we are the only ones who can determine what affects us and what does not—not some study conducted from the desks of the INPI and the Ministry of the Interior.
It is false that the proposal is a jumble of contradictory provisions, as some analysts have claimed; in our view, it is a proposal that is coherent in its objectives and reveals its full perversity by establishing the “formal constitution” of ancient peoples and the bureaucratic validation of communities’ self-identification. From this perspective—and given the approach taken toward these territories—this neoliberal law becomes understandable and coherent.
We denounce the sham consultation on this proposed law, which is taking place throughout the country from August through September, where opposition to the process is growing and becoming increasingly evident. Is it really possible that such a lengthy law—comprising 453 articles—can be adequately explained, understood, analyzed, and discussed in a regional meeting lasting just 3 to 5 hours? Will it be possible to consult all the country’s indigenous peoples within two months, including translations into each language? Once the forums are over, will 15 days be enough to organize the information and make the necessary changes so that the president can present it to Congress on October 12? Isn’t this law already a done deal? Once it reaches Congress, what guarantees that the law—which was supposedly consulted with “all” the indigenous peoples and communities in the country—won’t have the articles that favor these peoples struck out or be modified, as happened with the San Andrés Accords in 2001?
This consultation does not even follow the requirements set forth in the very law it purports to consult on; there is no phase for preliminary agreements, sufficient information, deliberation, consultation, or follow-up on agreements. The process is flawed from the outset; the framework of this sham consultation is intended solely to provide administrative justification for the proposed law on the rights of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, just as has been done with the sham consultations for the approval of state megaprojects such as the misnamed Maya Train, the Interoceanic Highway, the Morelos Comprehensive Project, the Dos Bocas Refinery, and all the other projects that have destroyed and polluted our territories.
As peoples and communities organized in resistance and speaking with dignity in memory of our earliest grandparents, WE EXPRESS OUR REJECTION OF THE PROPOSED BILL ON INDIGENOUS AND AFROMEXICAN RIGHTS AND ITS SHAM CONSULTATION, AND WE DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE END TO THE HARASSMENT, REPRESSION, AND THE WAR WAGED THROUGH ORGANIZED CRIME AGAINST THE COUNTRY’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES WHO ARE RESISTING AND EXERCISING THEIR RIGHT TO AUTONOMY AND SELF-DETERMINATION. WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF OUR BROTHER JESUS PLACIDO GALINDO. An indigenous consultation where there are indigenous political prisoners is neither free nor conducted in good faith.
FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE RECONSTITUTION OF OUR PEOPLES.
NEVER AGAIN A MEXICO WITHOUT US.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONGRESS
Original text published by Desinformémonos on August 20, 2026.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.