Tepoztlán No Se Vende: A Small Town in Mexico Resists
A little over 80 kilometers south of Mexico City lies the small town of Tepoztlán; a town rich with indigenous culture, history and resistance, from fighting previous plans for a golf club to now trying to block the expansion of a highway. Jose Olivares and Jacob Jacoby report from Tepoztlán for the Reynolds Sandbox with maps, historical documents, photography and interviews with local residents and underground resistance organizers.
Revolution Avenue Leads to an Aztec god and Resistance
One of the main cobblestone streets leading through Tepoztlán is Revolution Avenue, which houses numerous family-owned ice cream, coffee, and souvenir shops. The end of the road stops at the base of a mountain, leading up to the Tepozteco, an ancient pyramid and the alleged birthplace of Quetzalcoatl — one of the most important Aztec gods. The Tepozteco overlooks Tepoztlán and its surrounding area, which has recently come under duress amid expanding tourism.
In the heart of the city next to Café Revolution, Osbelia Quiroz sits at her dining room table surrounded by books and documents pertaining to the town’s current and previous resistance movements.
Solidarity and Success of Indigenous Movements
Next to one of the many bookshelves in her home, Quiroz proudly displays a frayed black-and-white photo of Subcomandante Marcos — one of the leaders of the Zapatista liberation army — wearing a balaclava, riding a horse, and smoking a corncob pipe.
Quiroz describes the day Marcos rode through Tepoztlán in the mid-1990’s, in solidarity with their own indigenous resistance movement. During that time, the movement in Tepoztlán fought against a proposed golf course and luxury club they said would cause harm to the ecology of the surrounding area; a battle that was won by the Tepoztecos.
“Indigenous organizers have intervened since the era of ‘No to the Golf Club’ and they’re still here,” Quiroz said. “Some have died, others have continued. Tepoztlán has saved itself from many things. We’ve saved ourselves from the golf club, from the highway, and from the cableway.”
Fighting Against a Highway Proposal
Now, the Tepoztecos are fighting against the expansion of a highway that would cut right through Tepoztlán. The new proposed road is seen as destructive to their environment and a continued commoditization of their land.
The expansion was originally proposed in the late 1990s but it did not come to fruition after Tepoztlán’s previous mayor rejected it.
But in 2011, the highway expansion project was renewed. The expansion is part of a plan to better connect the state of Morelos to Mexico City. The federal government proposed the expansion to increase the number of people traveling from Mexico City to the south of Mexico.
Plans for corporate expansion are already falling into place south of Tepoztlán. One of the most notable expansions is the construction of a Six Flags water park near the town of Huastepec; another similarly-sized municipality in the state, southeast from Tepoztlán. Another large mega-project is the construction of a thermoelectric plant in the town of Huexca, about an hour away further south.
A Protest Camp Once Disbanded
“In 2011, when they decided to expand the road, we organized the committee to go and protect the communal land,” Quiroz said. “And that is when a protest camp was organized, called the Caudillo del Sur.”
In April of 2013, however, the camp was disbanded by riot police.
“But we continue with our struggle,” Quiroz said. “Because although we cannot compete with [the Federal Government], we cannot remain silent.”
Now, the organized resistance body of Tepoztecos, called the Tepoztlán Defensive Front, is waging a legal battle against the government Ministry of Communication and Transportation to stop the expansion of the road.
The lawyer representing the resistance requested anonymity for this story. He has previously been threatened by construction workers for his fight against the expansion of the road and says he is not able to enter the town of Tepoztlán anymore for the sake of his safety. He lives in Cuernavaca, the largest city in Morelos and the capital of the state.
A Resistance Organizer Speaks Out
“People are not thinking about the individual and collective health of the entire world,” he said. “In the judicial system of Mexico, in the first, second and fourth articles of the [Mexican] constitution, it says every person in the national territory of Mexico has the right to live in a healthy environment and with proper health.”
In 1937, former President Lazaro Cardenas signed a presidential decree that declared the Tepozteco and the areas surrounding Tepoztlán and Morelos to be considered a national park. In doing so, the order demands perpetual conservation over the ecological landscape and archaeological sites of the area.
An Ongoing Legal Battle amid Construction
The Tepoztecos and their legal counsel took the fight to a low-circuit court. One judge sided with the resistance movement, and the other two declared the expansion of the road to be legitimate — despite prior legal concerns.
The decision was appealed by the resistance, and on April 26th they took the fight to the Mexican Supreme Court. The justices rejected the appeal, once again siding with the expansion of the road.
Construction crews in the area are continuing their duty to expand the road, and the resistance movement is continuing to organize. The expansion has been split up into six parts, with six different private companies working on their respective segments.
One of the main worries of the Tepoztecos is that plans for the luxury golf club will also be revived, and its development will be expedited by the expansion of the road — allowing an influx of construction supplies and workers.
“If we do not raise our voices, it is better for them,” Quiroz said. “They want us to be submissive people, but no. For them, it is called progress. For us, it is destruction.”
