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Facts About Chiapas
Natural Resources :
A Rich State with a Largely Poor Population :
Chiapas has considerable and strategic natural resources in its 73,311 km2 area, which correspond to 3.7% of the national surface area and tenth place compared to the surface of the other states. It has more than 300 km of coastline, a continental shelf of 67,000 km2, a vast hydrological system and a great wealth of flora and fauna.
Of the national surface area
Compared to the surface of the other states
Of coastline
continental shelf
Vast Hydrological System
Great Wealth of
Flora
Fauna
Water/Hydroelectricity :
30% of the country's surface water is concentrated in Chiapas (92 thousand cubic hectometres) and it is one of the ten regions in the world with the largest reserve of groundwater, with 2,500 cubic hectometres.
Chiapas has the two largest rivers in the country: the Usumacinta and the Grijalva.
Regarding energy services, it has four hydroelectric plants, which are: Belisario DomĂnguez (La Angostura), Netzhualcoyotl (Malpaso), Manuel Moreno Torres (ChicoasĂ©n, the largest in the whole country) and Peñitas.
In addition, in Chiapas, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) identifies 90 hydroelectric projects in the Planning Stage with an installed power of 9,060 Mw. There are also mini-dam projects: the Chiapas State Renewable Energy Institute considers that the mini-hydroelectric potential in the state is 2,000 MW with 20 projects, according to the âSpecial Program for the Development of Renewable Energies of the State of Chiapasâ.
Source: âLas Represas en Chiapas â RadiografĂa de la intervenciĂłn sobre las Cuencasâ, Otros Mundos, June, 2020)
Chiapas produces more than 40% of hydroelectric energy (first place at national level) although it is important to mention that hydroelectric plants in Mexico barely cover 20% of the country's energy production.
Source: INEGI 2015.
Minerals :
A total of 111 concessions have been granted in Chiapas as of March 2018 with a total of 1 million 122 thousand 991.42 hectares that represent 15.98% of the state territory (11,151,3044 Km2). There are concessions in at least 22 municipalities of the state and they are mainly concentrated in the municipalities of Pijijiapan, Acapetahua and Motozintla,
Sources: DirecciĂłn General de Minas/MĂ©xico, marzo de 2018; âMINERĂA EN CHIAPASâ, UniĂłn de CientĂficos Comprometidos con la Sociedad - Nodo Chiapas, May, 2016
The value of state mining production during the period January-December 2017 amounted to 4,729,996,804 pesos, participating with 1.75% of the total national value.
The state occupies eleventh place at national level in the production of stone aggregates, sixth place in limestone rock and hydrated lime; likewise, sulphur production is recorded in first place derived from the refining of hydrocarbons. There are no records of metallic mineral production, although exploration has been very popular in recent years. The minerals that are objects of exploration and/or exploitation are mainly gold, silver, magnetite, barite, lead, titanium, zinc, among others.
Sources: Panorama minero del estado de Chiapas, Servicio GeolĂłgico Mexicano, 2018.
Petroleum :
In 2018, Chiapas produced 13.1 thousand barrels per day (KBPD) of crude oil, equivalent to 0.7% of national production, with a downward trend when in 2000 it contributed 47 KBPD.
There are 116 wells in operation in the municipalities of JuĂĄrez, Reforma, Pichucalco and OstuacĂĄn.
In 2019, SENER reported that in Chiapas there is a remaining volume of 2,373 million barrels of crude oil equivalent (BOE), of which 24.5 million BOE are tested, 34.5 million BOE are probable and 43.2 million BOE they are possible.
Sources: SecretarĂa de EnergĂa federal (SENER) 2019.
Natural Gas :
In 2018, 55.3 million cubic feet per day (MCFD) of natural gas was produced in Chiapas, which represents around 3% of national production.
Sources: SecretarĂa de EnergĂa federal (SENER) 2019.
Agriculture / Forestry / Livestock / Fishing
The primary sector has an outstanding role in the economic structure of the state, since it absorbs 53.3% of the economically active population employed; However, its productivity and performance levels are still low, so its contribution to state GDP is only 6.86% of state GDP.
The cultivated area is 1,396,698 hectares, which corresponds to 19% of the state territory. Of the total area dedicated to agriculture, only 4% has irrigation infrastructure, so the volume and value of production largely depend on natural factors.
Chiapas is an important banana producer (first place in the country with 34.7% of production in Mexico), coffee beans (first place with 36.9%) and African palm (first place with 71.3%). Also noteworthy are the production of fruits such as mango (12.5% ââof national production), papaya (16.9%) and coconut, in addition to cabbage, sugar cane, cocoa and peanuts (10.7%).
Chiapas has an area of ââ7.48 million hectares, of which little more than half are still today, despite the destruction, covered with trees. It is one of the two states in the country with the largest area of ââforest and, due to its variety of climates and soils, one of the two with the most biological diversity. Forestry exploitation is based mainly on conifers and common tropical species, generating a timber production of 186,858 cubic meters, with a value of 54,511,000 pesos.
Cattle Raising
About three million hectares of pasture and meadows are dedicated to the livestock subsector. Of that total, 52% are cultivated and the rest natural. A characteristic of this activity is that it is mostly carried out under the traditional breeding system, extensive herd management and organized as family businesses. In addition to the exploitation of bovine cattle (third place in the country with 6.3% of the total production), pigs and poultry breeding is also practiced. These three species generate approximately 93% of the value of livestock production.
Fishing
The state has significant fishing potential. Its coastline offers important possibilities for the development and expansion of fishing, both capture and aquaculture, given the presence of bodies of water and rivers. The variety of aquatic fauna is very wide. However, at present, Chiapas is responsible for only with 2.9% of state production (tenth state).
Sources: ComitĂ© Estatal de InformaciĂłn EstadĂstica y GeogrĂĄfica de Chiapa, August, 2018; INEGI. Perspectiva EstadĂstica. Serie por Entidad Federativa. MĂ©xico; INEGI Encuesta Nacional de OcupaciĂłn y Empleo 2018.
Biodiversity
It has been estimated that ten countries contain between 50 and 80% of the planet's biodiversity. Mexico is one of them. The State of Chiapas includes about a third of the Mexican flora (about 8,000 different plant species) and 80% of the country's tropical tree species. Approximately 30% of the amphibians, 28% of the reptiles, 65% of the birds, and 55% of the mammals known to Mexico are found in Chiapas. This means that 44.5% of the terrestrial vertebrate species reported for the country exist in the state.
The biodiversity of Chiapas is concentrated in protected natural areas. One of the largest of these areas is the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. The Lacandon Jungle, the area in which this reserve is located, is one of the last tropical forests in the northern hemisphere in extension (600,000 hectares), where around 60% of the Mexican species of tropical trees have their home, 3,500 plant species, 1,157 invertebrates and more than 500 vertebrates. However, in recent decades, part of the Lacandon Forest has suffered severe degradation as a result of logging and livestock exploitation, as well as heavy human pressure on the land and, therefore, a large part of the species that it is home to are in danger of extinction.
Protected Natural Areas
The Protected Natural Areas are terrestrial or aquatic portions of the national territory that are representative of diverse ecosystems, where the original environment has not been essentially altered and that produce ecological benefits.
Chiapas is one of the four states of the country with the largest protected area in Mexico. It has 50 federal and state Protected Natural Areas (PNA), among which there are seven Biosphere Reserves. The federal PNAs cover an area of 3,825,352 hectares; while the 28 state PNAs total 164,719 hectares. Some outstanding PNAs are Montes Azules, El Triunfo and La Sepultura Biosphere Reserves; YaxchilĂĄn, Bonampak and ToninĂĄ Natural Monuments; and the Lagunas de Montebello, Sumidero Canyon and Palenque National Parks.
Sources: SEMARNAT 2018
Ecotourism
The Mexican government named 2011 “tourism year” in order “to align all sectors related to this activity so that actions are taken to allow more tourists to make Mexico their main travel destination.” While the increase in violence unleashed as a result of the war declared by Felipe CalderĂłn against drug trafficking has caused a decrease in the number of tourists in many parts of the country, the state of Chiapas continues to be an important tourist destination due to its natural beauties and cultural wealth.
Tourism in general, and more specifically alternative tourism and ecological, community or ecotourism tourism, have been promoted as an excellent opportunity for indigenous, peasant, remote and marginalized communities to escape from poverty. Ecotourism is seen by various conservation groups, international institutions and governments as a viable alternative for sustainable development. However, many peoples are not convinced of its supposed economic benefits and see it as a possible loss of control over their lands and lives. On the other hand, there are also divisions in communities when part of the population is in favor of the ecotourism project while another part resists its implementation. In this sense, an ecotourism project can have an impact on the community, since it does not necessarily benefit the entire population involved in an equal and equitable way.
The organization Otros Mundos Chiapas stated in 2011 that: âtourism has many effects: [âŠ] it affects local cultures that are required to put themselves at the service of tourism; it affects through the expenditure of millions of pesos in advertising that could be destined to schools and hospitals; it affects through the repression and militarization against the communities that do not want these activities and that fight to defend their land and territory and that seek real alternatives for survival.â
Sources: SIPAZ Report Vol.16 num. 4
In the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas, there are dozens of ecotourism projects already in place:
To the north, the LacandĂłn LacanjĂĄ Chansayab Camp, the Parador Vallescondido, the Escudo Jaguar Touristic Center.
To the south, the Tourist Centers, Las Guacamayas, Lacandonia and Escudo Jaguar.
Sources: SecretarĂa del Turismo (SECTUR) de Chiapas
Migration :
For decades and on a daily basis, the state of Chiapas has served as an exit, stopover, return or final destination for hundreds of migrants. Being the southern border of Mexico, Central American emigrants enter and pass through the state in search of a better life in the United States. Many of them are captured there by the Mexican authorities and are forced to return to their countries. Others manage to advance further north. In the end, a small part will manage to cross the border with the United States, facing realities very different from the “American Dream” that brought them to this country.
The migration of people from Chiapas to other states of the Republic or to the United States is a relatively new phenomenon in comparison. Starting in the 1930s and for several decades, the Lacandon Jungle served as an “escape valve” for the social tension created by lack of land. The neoliberal policies promoted since 1982 with the government of Miguel de la Madrid strongly limited the protection policies of the Mexican countryside. Later, the consequences of NAFTA, in force since 1994, and even more so the implementation of its agricultural clause in 2004 (eliminating tariffs on basic grains) weakened food sovereignty in rural areas and left several farm products without a commercial outlet. In a state where the primary sector predominates, this situation began to force thousands of people from Chiapas to abandon their communities and their lands in search of an economic solution.
Internal Migration :
It is estimated that approximately one hundred thousand people from Chiapas leave the state to live in another each year. In 2015 Chiapas more than doubled the loss of its indigenous population compared to the previous censuses. The flow from Chiapas is mainly oriented towards Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Baja California, with these three states being the ones that hold 61.8% of the indigenous emigrants from Chiapas.
Sources: INEGI 2015.
Migration to the United States of America :
According to the INEGI census in 2010, 0.5%of Chiapas residents lived in the United States, which represents 27th place at national level. After exponential growth at the beginning of the decade, the figures have been falling largely due to the economic crisis in the US and its immigration policies.
In 2018, the United States government carried out 11,528 deportations of Mexican migrants from Chiapas. It represented an increase of 45% compared to 2017. The state ranked fifth in the general classification in the matter.
Sources: Anuario de Migraciones y Remesas CONAPO 2019
Consequences on indigenous communities :
Economic âŠ
According to data from the Bank of Mexico, 996 million dollars of remittances from migrants from Chiapas in the United States reached Chiapas. Although remittances are initially a help and relief for families that remain in the place of origin, they are not a source of secure income, they do not eradicate poverty or contribute to social development. Another consequence is that in towns where everyone previously had a similar standard of living, remittance recipients suddenly have the resources to change their homes, buy a car, or other "luxury" products. This escalation in consumption encourages more and more young people to migrate.
Social ...
In Chiapas, 83.11% of emigrants are men and 16.89% women. The proportion of women who are heads of household continues to increase, from 16.56% in 2000 to 20.18% in 2010
The vast majority of migrants are men between the ages of 15 and 40. They leave behind “ghost townsâ where only children, women and the elderly remain. Some still received money from their husbands, but others did not, as their husbands had formed a new family there. Migration often leads to the disintegration of the family. At times, but not always, it has allowed for greater participation by women in community governance systems. It also has consequences for community organization. There are indigenous communities, with greater organization, where it is clear that returned migrants have to reintegrate into the community and they are offered positions so that they do not forget how to work collectively. Not all of them accept this.
Cultural ...
Changes are observed in clothing, language, food, drug use or the growth (mostly in the south of the state) of the âmarasâ (gangs). In rural areas, there is growing disagreement about life in the community.
Migrants in transit :
Since 1990, the Mexico-US migration corridor the biggest in the world, with
migrants in 2017
Since 1990, the Mexico-US migration corridor the biggest in the world, with 12.7 million migrants in 2017. According to data from the National Migration Institute (INM) from 2014, 68% of the documented crossings of non-resident foreigners in Mexico occur in the southern border of the country was made in Chiapas, that is, more than a million crossings; leaving the rest of the movements in Tabasco and Quintana Roo. The situation of extreme vulnerability in which the migrants find themselves and the violence they face on their way to the United States, mean that we speak today of a humanitarian tragedy in reference to their situation. In its report on migration, Amnesty International, in reference to migrants, points out that: âTheir journey is one of the most dangerous in the world. Migrants suffer extortion, discrimination, beatings, sexual violence, kidnapping, and homicide at the hands of criminal gangs. Many of the cases presented highlight the involvement of public officials in various abuses against migrants to some degree.â
A special CNDH report on migrant kidnappings documents the alarming number of these by criminal gangs and the abuses related to them. According to the report, most of the kidnappings and the most serious abuses take place in the states through which the freight trains of the main routes used by migrants pass, such as Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Veracruz and Tamaulipas. It must be remembered that due to their illegal situation and the complicity of public authorities in the violations of the rights of migrants, the number of complaints is well below the real number of violations.
Sources: Informe AmnistĂa internacional. âVĂctimas Invisibles. Migrantes en Movimiento en MĂ©xico.â 2010. Informe especial sobre secuestros de migrantes en Mexico,CNDH, 2011.
For many years, most of the arrests were made after crossing Chiapas, mainly in Tabasco, Veracruz and Oaxaca. That has been changing in recent years.
Given the risks when crossing Mexico, as of October 2018, Central American migrants began to mobilize in caravans of thousands of people. Although at the beginning, the recently inaugurated government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador facilitated the conditions for these people through humanitarian visas, as of June 2019 and under strong pressure from the US administration headed by Donald Trump, Mexico began to take measures to lower the level of migration that crosses its territory to reach the United States. One of the most questioned measures was the deployment of the National Guard in the border areas (with more than six thousand elements on the Southern Border), as well as the change of rules for migrants originating from Africa and Asia, as it stopped allowing them travel to the northern border with authorization. These changes have generated extreme concern on the part of national and international civil organizations, including the United Nations, since they have implied an upsurge in violations of the human rights of migrants.
The current agreement also includes another aspect that has generated controversy, the United States’ policy called “Remain in Mexico“, which means that migrants have to wait in Mexico during their asylum process.
Social organizations have criticized that the increase in police and military surveillance will not stop migration but will lead it to resort to more dangerous and risky routes for its safety and integrity.
Another problem related to the containment strategy has to do with the saturation of migratory refuges that are exceeded in their capacity, up to 400% with âovercrowded conditions, without sanitation or adequate food or sufficient access to health services.â
In 2019, with 186,750 detained migrants, the vast majority Central American, the highest number of the entire decade was reached (42% more than in 2018), according to information from the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB). Of those arrested, 80% were Central American. According to the National Institute of Migration, 70% of the arrests occurred in four states: Chiapas (81,351), Veracruz (22,080), Tabasco (17,339) and Oaxaca (8,619).
Between January and April 2019, 18,365 people applied for refugee status in Mexico, of which 11,219 did so in Chiapas. This represents an increase of about 300% for the same period of 2018. Between 2013 and 2019, the number of applicants increased by more than 5,000%. In April 2019, the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (COMAR) indicated that it had a total of 38,832 people awaiting their processing in the country, of which 21,325 were in the state of Chiapas.
Militarization :
For decades, the army has been present in Chiapas as the visible face of the federal government on the side lines. Beginning with the Zapatista uprising in 1994, the entire state was militarized under the National Defense Plan that legitimizes the action of the armed forces against an "internal enemy that threatens national security and sovereignty."
Basing its strategy on the Chiapas 1994 military plan, the Army played an active role in what was characterized as a Low Intensity War in the state under the following characteristics:
- Confusing public opinion at national and international levels (discourse of peace, army social work, limitation of army-to-army confrontations, rumors, use of the mass media, limitation of the possibilities of international observation, etc.).
- Maintaining an informational, military and paramilitary ring around dissident communities.
- Terrorizing the civilian population, possible support bases of the EZLN through selective and “exemplary” actions and hope that this will prevent a greater “contagion” of the insurgency to other parts of society and the country.
- âDivide to ruleâ and polarizing at the inter and intra community level, or through acts of repression and intimidation against social organizations
The Mexican Army has been denounced for human rights violations in Chiapas against civilians from communities belonging to the EZLN and other organizations or not; as well as the consequences that its omnipresence has had in the communities:
Harassment
Threats
Illegal land grabs
Executions
Torture
Forced displacement
Introduction of prostitution, alcoholism and drug addiction, which have produced fragmentation and destruction of the social fabric and violated the right of communities to enjoy and develop their own culture under conditions of equality.
Â
Militarization remains high to date. By 2010, the international organization Amnesty International claimed that 35,000 soldiers were affected at the national level in the fight against drug trafficking. It was a striking figure when, in April 2011, the commander of the seventh Military Region in the state, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, stated that there were 14 thousand military personnel deployed in Chiapas (he indicated that there were 40,000 in the 90s). At that time, he announced the creation of two new military bases, each with 600 elements on the Chiapas border with Guatemala, particularly in the region of the Frontera Comalapa, Chicomuselo and Jiquipilas municipalities. On this occasion, he stated that the strategy is part of a new stage in the fight against organized crime, which has shown a presence and activity in the area, an argument that is nothing new.
In recent years, the Army has justified its presence in Chiapas with reasons unrelated to the EZLN:
Implementation of the law on weapons and explosives
Flow of undocumented migrants
Trafficking in arms and timber
Social care in the face of poverty and natural disasters
Organized crime
With the arrival of AndrĂ©s Manuel LĂłpez Obrador to power in December 2018, the Security strategy went through the creation of a National Guard with the support of the armed forces. In 2019, there were 230,964 federal troops deployed doing âpublic securityâ work in the 32 states of the country. Notably when it comes to states where violence rates are not the highest in the country outside of Mexico City and the State of Mexico (because they are the headquarters of the federal powers and have the largest number of populations), the states where there is a greater presence of federal forces are: Veracruz, Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco and Oaxaca. There were 11,968 military and police personnel in Chiapas
Drug Trafficking :
Although there is not such a high incidence of crime on the southern border compared to other northern states, in 2019, according to official data from the Drug Control Administration (DEA) for 2019 in Chiapas, the presence of four criminal organizations linked to drug trafficking was recorded: the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.
In July 2020, the media published that, according to an intelligence report from the federal government, the main cartels would be those of Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) who are fighting for control of the municipalities near the Pacific coast and the border with Guatemala. Although weakened, the Zetas would continue to dominate the metropolitan area and central Chiapas. Federal authorities also detected the presence of the Mara Salvatrucha 13 and Barrio 18 youth gangs, dedicated mainly to homicides and drug dealing in 12 towns in Chiapas: Arriaga, CacahoatĂĄn, Escuintla, Frontera Hidalgo, Huixtla, Metapa de DomĂnguez, Mapstepec, Palenque, Pijijiapan, Ciudad Hidalgo and Tapachula.
According to SEDENA, drug trafficking in Chiapas ceased to be only a bridge for drugs that come from Central and South America for several years, to become a territory where the cultivation of poppies and marijuana has proliferated, since its geography lends itself to this type of cultivation and business.
The most prominent municipalities have been in the Center and The Highlands: Pueblo Nuevo, Solistahuacån, Rincón Chamula, Rayón, Chalchiuitån, Larråinzar and Chenalhó; in the Chimalapas region (adjacent to Oaxaca); in Las Cañadas and the Lacandon Jungle, Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Chanal, Nuevo Orizaba and El Ocotalito. The most vulnerable point continues to be the border with Guatemala (mainly Tapachula and Ciudad Hidalgo), also a nerve center for all kinds of illicit trafficking in addition to drug trafficking (weapons, trafficking in women, migrants, among others).
There is a huge range of forms and routes of drug trafficking. Some years ago air traffic was used predominantly. Later, in response to the interception operations, they opted for the drug âbombingâ system, and even the use of commercial flights. Drug trafficking organizations also resort to the transfer of drugs by land, the so-called “ant trafficking.” Finally, drug traffickers use the sea routes. Criminal groups have been changing their strategies to protect their interests.
Although Chiapas tends to be among the safest states in the country, there has been a continuous increase in the perception of insecurity by the population over 18 years of age, with a total of 71.37% expressing feeling unsafe in 2018. The most frequent crimes have been robberies or assaults on the street or on public transport, extortion, fraud and robbery at home.
Sources: Encuesta Nacional de VictimizaciĂłn y PercepciĂłn sobre Seguridad PĂșblica (Envipe), INEGI 2026, 2017, 2018.
Presence of Transnationals in Chiapas :
Between 2012 and 2018, direct foreign investment in Chiapas decreased by 45.6%, going from 121.1 to 65.9 million dollars. Chiapas ranks 26th among the states that most attract this type of investment.
These investments were mainly distributed in the secondary sector (especially in oil and gas extraction, the chemical industry, manufacture of pharmaceutical products, cleaners and toilet products); and to a lesser extent, the tertiary sector was positively impacted (especially in commerce, information in the mass media, telecommunications and financial and insurance services)
Sources: Informe EstadĂstico sobre el Comportamiento de la InversiĂłn Extranjera Directa, SecretarĂa de EconomĂa, 2018.