Vetagrande es un pequeño pueblo minero ubicado a 6 km al norte de la ciudad de Zacatecas. En 2020 tenía una población de mil 113 habitantes. Sus calles y edificios están enclavados en una colina, en cuya cima se encuentra el Templo del Calvario, una pintoresca iglesia católica construida en 1890. La estética del pueblo es tan atractiva que ha servido como escenario para la grabación de varias películas, tendría mucho potencial para desarrollarse como atracción turística, si no fuera por los graves problemas de contaminación.

This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the policies and modes of governance driving the acceleration of construction mineral extraction rates in Mexico, through a case study of a controversial development project that resulted in hundreds of thousands of tons of unused concrete: El Zapotillo Dam in the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. It analyzes the types and volumes of materials extracted for the construction of El Zapotillo Dam and for the housing infrastructure meant for displaced families, the subjects involved in the extraction and transformation of these materials, and the socio-environmental impacts. Information was obtained through Mexico's National Transparency Platform and by reviewing environmental impact assessments, academic texts on the conflict around the dam, newspaper sources and data available on the Internet. Primary sources include the application of interviews and direct observation during a series of visits to the affected territories and the dam site between August 2022 and June 2024. In accordance with extractive tendencies on the national and global levels, the findings of this research illustrate how - even in the case of a high-profile development project - poor regulation can combine with the emergence of hybrid forms of governance to expand the extractive frontier.

Based on an analysis of the struggles of the Nahua peoples of Milpa Alta in Mexico City, this article addresses the following question: How has it been possible to conserve large extensions of forest and agricultural land in a demarcation that is part of one of the largest cities in the world, in rapid expansion since the middle of the last century? The explanation articulates two key categories: reconfigured communality in Milpa Alta through historical struggles that continue to unfold to date; and the social metabolism of human-nature exchanges mediated by the work of various agencies, whose projects come into conflict at different times. We argue that the re-creation of indigenous forms of organization and collective practices have made it possible to curb the extraction of raw materials (wood and water) and land-use change for development projects promoted by government agencies and private companies; in addition to contributing to the conservation of small-scale agricultural practices. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews that were carried out between 2016 and 2020 with inhabitants of Milpa Alta and on a systematic review of bibliographic, newspaper, statistical, and online sources.

Con base en un análisis de las luchas de los pueblos originarios nahuas de Milpa Alta en la Ciudad de México, este artículo aborda la siguiente pregunta: ¿Cómo ha sido posible conservar grandes extensiones de bosque y tierras agrícolas en una demarcación que forma parte de una de las ciudades más grandes del mundo, en rápida expansión desde mediados del siglo pasado? La explicación articula dos categorías clave: la comunalidad reconfigurada en Milpa Alta por medio de luchas históricas que siguen desenvolviéndose hasta la fecha; y el metabolismo social de los intercambios humano-naturaleza mediados por el trabajo de diversas agencias, cuyos proyectos entran en conflicto en distintos momentos. Argumentamos que la recreación de formas de organización y prácticas colectivas indígenas han permitido frenar la extracción de materias primas (madera y agua) y el cambio de uso de suelo para proyectos de desarrollo impulsados por agencias gubernamentales y compañías privadas; además de contribuir a la conservación de prácticas agrícolas de escala pequeña. El análisis se basa en entrevistas semiestructuradas que se realizaron entre 2016 y 2020 con habitantes de Milpa Alta y en una revisión sistemática de fuentes bibliográficas, hemerográficas, estadísticas y documentos en línea.

In this chapter, the authors critically analyse Mexico's extractive policies and mega-development projects during the first three years of the administration of the current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). Mexico is often portrayed as an exemplar of extractivism in its classical form of silver and gold mining in the context of European colonialism and extractive imperialism. While a number of governments in South America turned away from the neoliberal policy agenda in the search for an economic model based on a 'progressive' form of extractivism (neoextractivism, as it is referred to—a so-called 'pink tide' of regime change—Mexico continued to hoe the neoliberal line of free market capitalism, with a consequent failure to participate in the progress achieved by these 'progressive' regimes in terms of poverty reduction. However, in 2018, with the election of AMLO Mexico also seemed to have joined this left-turn in politics and policies. In an analysis of the policies implemented by AMLO over the past three and a half years, the authors address the question as to whether or not this is the case—whether his policies fit into the category of 'progressive' (neoextractivism).

This article seeks to explain the multiplication of social environmental conflicts in Mexico as a consequence of expanding and intensifying extractive activities. It examines how the Mexican state has provided private and foreign capital greater access to the country's natural resources in the transition from state-led import-substituting industrialization to export-oriented market-led development. This, it argues, has led to accelerating material extraction rates in the context of rising global demand for primary commodities; while the negative environmental and social impacts have in turn led to a growing number of conflicts involving the inhabitants of directly affected rural communities, who organize to resist. Based on standardized procedures for material flow analysis, it presents the results of an investigation into the domestic extraction rates of minerals, metal ores, biomass, and fossil fuels from Mexico, between 1990 and 2018. It finds that domestic extraction rates increased significantly during this period, with the exception of fossil fuels, which peaked in 2006, declining thereafter due to the exhaustion of the country's most important oil reserves. The evolution of domestic extraction rates is juxtaposed with the emergence of related social environmental conflicts by drawing on multiple databases of conflicts around extractive activities in Mexico.

This chapter analyzes agave and tequila production in Mexico. It seeks to challenge the notion that only forms of agricultural production that receive little to no domestic processing can be considered agroextractive. Corporate controlled agave production should also be considered a manifestation of agroextractivism, the chapter argues, even though agave biomass is domestically processed into tequila. This is because industrialized tequila production is heavily polluting, thereby accentuating the extractive nature of the entire value chain, while creating relatively few jobs. The analysis in this chapter traces the flows of materials, contaminants and money through agave and tequila production, from the colonial period until the present, with a focus on the current neoliberal era. It takes into consideration ownership, exports, company-farmer and company-worker relations, technologies, relevant public policy and environmental and social impacts. It finds that, since the 1990s, exports have soared as transnational companies consolidated their control over the agave-tequila value chain, increasing biomass extraction and leading to severe forms of environmental degradation, deteriorating conditions for agave field workers, and the marginalization of smallholder farmers. Finally, the chapter briefly examines traditional mezcal production as a socially and ecologically sustainable alternative model.

This article analyzes processes of resistance displayed by the inhabitants of Milpa Alta, who have used the term pueblo originario (native or indigenous people) in a discourse that includes certain communities of the rural periphery of Mexico City. It starts with a characterization of indigenous peoples and their relationship with their territory. It is argued that the process of resistance enacted by the people from Milpa Alta, beginning in the 1970s, when these rural groups staged struggles for the defense of their collective goods, reactivated previously existing forms of communal organization. The forms of communality reproduced by several rural groups in Milpa Alta are analyzed, as is the prevalence of agricultural activity as part of their peasant way of life. The recent process of territorial reappropriation and its defense are analyzed from a sociocultural perspective. The analysis is based on a review of relevant documents and literature and of the testimonies of local informants in order to understand these communities' processes of socio-territorial organization.

This chapter seeks to provide a brief guide to four critical issues regarding human–nature relations from an eco-Marxist perspective. The first section outlines Marx's view of how capitalism develops through human–nature relations. The second theorises processes of capital accumulation driving the enclosure of the commons, as well as struggles to defend and recreate common goods linked to collective practices. The third analyses capitalism's contradictions to nature; and the fourth examines the concept of metabolic rift in the age of Capitalocene. With reference to key texts in an abundant and rapidly growing body of ecological Marxist literature, this guide seeks to point readers to landmark contributions and to ongoing debates that can provide the basis for theorising human–nature relations from a critical perspective, and for engaging in the collective praxis of building sustainable alternatives from below.

What are the political economic conditions that have given rise to increasing numbers of social environmental conflicts in Mexico? Why do these conflicts arise in some local and regional contexts and not in others? How are social environmental movements constructed and sustained? And what are the alternatives? These are the questions that this book seeks to address. It is organized into three parts. The first provides a panoramic view of social environmental conflicts in Mexico and of alternatives that are being constructed from below in rural areas. It also provides an analysis of the recent reforms to open the country’s energy sector to private and foreign investment. The second is comprised of local-level case studies of conflict (and no conflict) in diverse geographic locations and cultural settings, particularly in relation to the construction of wind farms, hydraulic infrastructure, industrial water pollution, and groundwater overdraft. The third explores alternatives from below in the form of community-based ecotourism and traditional mezcal production. A concluding chapter engages comparative and global analysis.

This article seeks to challenge the notion that the concept of agro-extractivism be restricted to crops destined for export with little or no processing. Based on a study of agave and tequila production in Mexico, it argues that the domestic processing of biomass does not change nor necessarily compensate for the negative social and environmental impacts of upstream agricultural activities; it can in fact add to them. We seek to demonstrate this to be the case for industrialized agave-tequila production by adopting an approach that traces the flows of materials, pollutants and money, taking into consideration the degree to which transnational companies control the agave-tequila value chain, the portion of tequila that is exported, technologies, company-farmer and company-worker relations, relevant public policy, and environmental and social impacts. We analyse the polluting consequences of industrialized tequila production and show how the expansion and intensification of agave production since the mid-1990s has been characterized by increasing volumes of biomass extraction, the emergence or exacerbation of different forms of environmental degradation, the marginalization of small-scale agave farmers, and deteriorating working conditions for agave-field workers. In addition, we briefly discuss traditional mezcal production as a socially and ecologically sustainable alternative model.

En el artículo se analizan los conflictos socioambientales en torno a dos grandes proyectos mineros en Mazapil, Zacatecas: Peñasquito y Tayahua. El objetivo es ilustrar la compleja trama de relaciones políticas entre los actores involucrados en estos conflictos y cómo éstas evolucionan con el tiempo. La metodología se centra en la observación participativa y emplea la técnica del mapeo de actores. Los resultados revelan que los grupos organizados de pobladores locales han asumido diversas posturas y estrategias frente a la megaminería en Mazapil, desde la oposición hasta la negociación y colaboración. Se concluye que las posturas de oposición, negociación y colaboración frente a la megaminería pueden coexistir en tensión dentro del mismo territorio. Por tanto, se introduce la categoría conflictos socioambientales complejos de múltiples posturas para superar las limitaciones de los esquemas clasificatorios que buscan categorizar dichos conflictos de acuerdo con el binomio de oposición versus negociación. Una limitación de esta investigación es que no explora las alternativas de desarrollo en el ámbito local, lo cual queda pendiente para futuros proyectos.

El 17 de marzo de 2019, menos de cuatro meses después de haber llegado a la presidencia de México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador declaró el fin del neoliberalismo en el país. En sus palabras: «Ya se terminó con esa pesadilla que fue la política neoliberal, declaramos formalmente desde Palacio Nacional el fin de la política neoliberal». La pregunta abordada en este artículo es: ¿de qué manera y en qué medida esta declaración se ha traducido en reformas concretas para regular las actividades extractivas y mediar los conflictos socioambientales en torno de ellas?

Este artículo propone un análisis sobre los procesos de resistencia de los habitantes de Milpa Alta, empleando el término pueblo originario en un discurso que incorpora a comunidades de la periferia rural de la Ciudad de México. Se parte de una caracterización de los pueblos originarios y su relación con el territorio. Se argumenta que el proceso de resistencia de los pueblos milpantenses a partir de la década de 1970, cuando estos grupos rurales protagonizaron luchas por la defensa del territorio, reactivó formas de organización comunal que tenían esos pueblos. Se analiza la forma de comunalidad reproducida por grupos de Milpa Alta, así como el mantenimiento de la actividad agrícola como parte de su modo de vida campesina. Se estudia el proceso reciente de reapropiación del territorio y su defensa a partir de elementos socioculturales. El análisis se basa en el empleo de información bibliográfica y documental, la cual es complementada con testimonios de informantes de los pueblos para comprender los procesos de organización comunal de estos pueblos y comunidades.

This article analyzes programs to convert agricultural activities to barley in Zacatecas, where the world's largest brewery is located, owned by Anheuser Busch Inbev through its subsidiary Grupo Modelo. What are the results of these programs in productive, environmental, social and political terms? Based on a review of documents and on field research that includes visits to sites of interest and interviews with farmers, public officials and representatives of Grupo Modelo, it is observed that the production of barley has a low yield and it is concluded that, although the environmental impact of this production is less severe on water resources compared to the industrial production of the brewer, this is the main beneficiary of the government subsidies, while small agricultural producers have to assume all the risks, without bargaining power over the conditions of production and the sale of barley. In addition, through these programs Grupo Modelo projects an image of corporate social responsibility.

Políticos e investigadores asumen que el crecimiento económico es imprescindible para reducir la pobreza, puesto que redunda en la creación de empleos y de financiamiento de las políticas sociales. Si bien en la posguerra el crecimiento contribuyó a reducir la pobreza, las políticas sociales ya no pueden subordinarse al imperativo del crecimiento económico debido a los límites ecológicos y los conflictos socioambientales. De ahí la relevancia de pensar en alternativas poscapitalistas. En las últimas décadas se advierte que la dinámica de acumulación de capital ha generado rupturas metabólicas en el nivel planetario y múltiples problemas ambientales en los ámbitos nacional y local. Las propuestas de decrecimiento postulan el posdesarrollo a escalas local y subnacional y el posestructuralismo enfocado en el discurso, los valores y la cultura. La perspectiva marxista sobre el decrecimiento alude a los cambios estructurales necesarios y la cuestión de agencia. Los conflictos socioambientales en México se han multiplicado desde la aplicación en 1992 de reformas estructurales diseñadas para liberar la tierra, el agua y los demás recursos naturales a las fuerzas del mercado. Las demandas, propuestas y alternativas de las luchas socioambientales mexicanas constituyen puntos de referencia insoslayables para pensar en las formas de organización y las políticas públicas requeridas con el fin de empezar una transición hacia modos de producción y gobernanza que exhiben racionalidad socioecológica y diversidad biocultural, y que están orientados a la satisfacción de las necesidades básicas de todo el mundo.

This article analyses resistance movements to large-scale mining projects in Mexico, particularly the case of sustained organized resistance to the San Xavier Mine, in the central north state of San Luis Potosi. As one of the first struggles in Mexico against Canadian mining projects after the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the leaders of this movement pioneered strategies of resistance on the legal front and were instrumental in building anti-mining alliances and networks on the national and international levels. Now that the excavation process has finished and the mine is closing down, this article seeks to draw on the case to illustrate the complementarity of three approaches for interpreting resistance to mining: class struggle, ecological distribution conflicts, and the clash of cultural valuations over territorial vocation. The argument is that these approaches are not mutually exclusive; they can be combined to explain the multiple dimensions of specific struggles, whose shifts in emphasis at different moments of the struggle are conditioned by - and condition - the phase of a mine's development. By contextualizing the case study in a broader analysis of social environmental conflicts around mining in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, the analysis seeks to illustrate the ways in which the struggle against the San Xavier Mine is representative of broader trends, as well as its peculiarities. On the local level, we find the struggle has more to do with defending conditions of social and cultural reproduction than protecting the means of production that sustain traditional livelihoods. This pertains, not just to a non-contaminated living environment and the availability of clean water for human consumption, but also to the conservation of natural and architectural patrimony with historic and cultural significance.