Get-rich-quick mining schemes can be tempting for local people, but the Zoque of northwestern Chiapas, Mexico, who have inhabited their lands for 2,500 years, aren’t buying it.
Their communities have rejected all that Mexico’s national Energy Reform Project has slated for their territory: oil and natural gas wells, mines and hydroelectric projects.
They are particularly skeptical of the wealth that is promised them, stating that the social and environmental costs of extractive industries far outweighing any financial benefits.
They do thank the government for one thing — the threat of unwanted development is so extreme that it has united all Zoques for a common cause, the first time in modern history that this has happened.
Source: Sin Embargo (Mexico)