Indigenous Communities in Playa del Carmen Seek Input in New National Law

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Representatives of indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities in Playa del Carmen are gathering proposals on territorial recognition, native language preservation, community schools and social infrastructure to bring into the national debate over Mexico’s proposed General Law on the Rights of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples.

The demands are being collected during a community dialogue, with the input to be forwarded to the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), said César Uuh Chi, head of the municipal Indigenous Affairs Unit.

“The idea of this assembly of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples is to strengthen all indigenous communities, and this is where we will collect proposals for this initiative,” Uuh Chi said. He added that anyone with comments, participation or proposals — even changes to the initiative itself — will have their input recorded and sent to the INPI.

Participants include community leaders, civil associations, collectives and representatives from communities such as Punta Laguna and Campamento Hidalgo.

One of the priorities is official recognition of community territories. Uuh Chi described that as a key issue from prior fieldwork. “One of those actions is the territorial issue — recognizing these communities as pluricultural,” he said.

The city’s rapid growth and migration patterns have brought people from many different indigenous communities to Playa del Carmen, so strengthening recognition and preservation of native languages is also on the agenda.

The local discussions follow a constitutional reform to Article 2 that expanded recognition of indigenous rights, including recognizing indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples as subjects of public law with legal personality and their own assets, as well as broader provisions on self-determination, autonomy and participation.

Uuh Chi also pointed to the needs of indigenous children and adolescents and the strengthening of community schools. Another proposal calls for mechanisms that would give communities access to social infrastructure funds. “We also want to strengthen community schools and have the Social Infrastructure Contributions Fund begin to implement these mechanisms so communities can integrate,” he said.