- Arnoldo Nicolás Romero, a commissioner in Oaxaca’s San Juan Guichicovi municipality, was found shot dead on Jan. 21, hidden behind bushes in a private ranch not far from his community.
- Since the country began to develop the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a large railroad project that runs across several Indigenous territories, including Romero’s, communities have reported dispossession, increased criminalization and violence.
- After Romero’s death, the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) released a statement that condemned his killing and demanded that authorities “promptly” initiate an investigation into his death.
- No arrests have been made or suspects identified.
Ayuuk leader Arnoldo Nicolás Romero, a municipal commissioner of the Buena Vista ejido in San Juan Guichicovi, a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, was found dead Jan. 21. His body was discovered with several bullet wounds on a private ranch near his community. No arrests have been made or suspects identified.
“So far there are few elements that allow us to identify the perpetrators or the motive of the murder,” Carlos Beas Torres, a coordinator of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI), told Mongabay over WhatsApp voice messages. “It was apparently a direct attack because the body was found hidden among bushes about 50 meters [164 feet] from the road that connects the town of Buenavista with Santa Ana.”
After Romero’s death, UCIZONI released a statement that condemned his killing and demanded that authorities “promptly initiate proceedings and conduct an exhaustive investigation in order to identify and punish those responsible.”
His death points to an escalating crisis in the region, as Indigenous peoples face increased dispossession, criminalization and violence for defending their territories from extractive interests and destructive megaprojects. Since Mexico began to develop the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus Tehuantepec in 2019, a large railroad, highway and port project that runs through several Indigenous territories, including Romero’s, land defenders have faced fines and prison sentences and, in some cases, have been threatened or attacked.
In October 2024, the El Universal newspaper identified 61 people from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow stretch of Mexican territory that separates the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic, who have one or more criminal charges against them filed by federal and municipal authorities. All of them, most of whom were Binnizá, Ayuuk or Zoque Indigenous peoples (97%), spoke out against the Interoceanic Corridor.
Threats faced by environmental defenders
The Interoceanic Corridor has faced a lot of resistance from communities and Indigenous peoples along its planned, 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) route. On Dec. 22, 2023, Line Z of the Interoceanic Railway, a 309-kilometer (192-mile) line that stretches from Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz to Salina Cruz in Oaxaca was inaugurated by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. According to Beas Torres, much of the project is still incomplete, such as the port in Salina Cruz and the gas pipeline from Coatzacoalcos to Tuxpan in Veracruz.
Some features of the project are expected to be built later this year and in 2026, while others are forecasted for 2029, such as port expansions and road networks.
Environmental damage is one of the major concerns, as well as the displacement of communities, irregular consultation processes and the impact on traditional livelihoods, including agricultural practices and fishing activities. A government report anticipates that its construction will destroy natural areas and cause pollution, contamination, infertile land and widespread animal deaths.
On Jan. 5, at least 15 members of the Mixtequilla Civil Resistance were arrested during a blockade of Highway 185D toward Santa María Mixtequilla for alleged fire damage, theft and possession, as well as obstruction and damage to communication routes. The action was a protest against the construction of an industrial park that is part of the Interoceanic Corridor.
UCIZONI also reported the arrests of 24 additional land defenders Jan. 22 for their resistance to the project. “There is still resistance and there is still confrontation,” Beas Torres said. “In the meantime, we continue to investigate the situation of Arnoldo, but there is a lot of silence.”
The threats Indigenous land defenders face in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are commonplace across Latin America, which consistently has the highest number of documented killings of land and environmental defenders. According to a recent report by Front Line Defenders, 79% of killings in 2023 occurred in South America, mostly in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil. Indigenous peoples were the most targeted group overall, the report said.
“The situation in the Isthmus is an expression of what is happening in the country,” Citlalli Hernández Saad, the national coordinator of the core group in Mexico of Indigenous Peoples Rights International, told Mongabay over WhatsApp voice messages. “There is a dynamic of violence that is occurring in various territories of the country and that also has a special impact on Indigenous peoples, specifically on those who are carrying out tasks that have to do with the exercise of rights.”
Banner image: Military officials on patrol near one of the railway lines of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Photo by: Eduardo Gutierrez.
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