By Lilia López
Early this month, a land dispute that has left approximately 400 people dead in the southern Sierra region of Oaxaca finally came to an end.
The municipal assembly of Santo Domingo Teojomulco agreed to accept the terms of a state brokered agreement to end dispute over 6,000 hectares (14,820 acres) of land at the center of a 70-year-old conflict with a neighboring community, San Lorenzo Teojomulco. An essential aspect of the conflict’s resolution was a government offer to provide $2.3 million (US) for public works and community development projects to Santo Domingo Teojomulco, who rescinded its claims to the sizable portion of land.
The agreement was brokered by several high-profile Mexican officials including: the Secretary for Agrarian Reform, Florencio Salazar Adame, Oaxaca governor Ulises Ortiz Ruiz and the head of the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Communities, Xóchitl Gálvez.
Unfortunately for both state and federal pocket books, the resolution came with a bit of a price tag, something to the tune of $9.3 million (US). In addition, Xochitl Galvez authorized an additional $10 million (US) for a variety of social works and Ortiz Ruis, about $4 million (US) for the same purpose.
While the agreement delineated definitive land borders, the primary point of dispute, both communities admitted there were many issues, “still pending,” such as payment for damaged materials and the investigation of the numerous dispute-related homicides that occurred over the years.
After signing the agreement, Salazar Adame proclaimed only three major land conflicts now remained in all of Mexico, in the states of Chiapas, Michoacán and Sonora.
