Yucatán Farmers Win Land Battle in Cenotes Reserve

Yucatán, Mexico — Farmers in Yucatán have prevailed in a legal dispute against businessmen seeking to exploit 612 hectares of land within the Ring of Cenotes State Geohydrological Reserve. The ruling, issued by the Collegiate Court in Criminal and Administrative Matters of the Fourteenth Circuit, restores the land to the ejidatarios (communal farmers) of Chocholá after a decade-long legal battle.

A Decade of Legal Struggles

The conflict began on July 15, 2019, when a group of farmers filed a lawsuit before the Agrarian Court to nullify a 2012 ejidal assembly decision that approved a land-use change for approximately 612 hectares. According to a report by El Universal, the farmers successfully overturned the decision in 2023.

The disputed land had been allocated to businessmen who intended to extract construction materials (pétreos) and establish a salt factory. The court found that the legal requirement for a technical assessment from Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) had been ignored before the land registry process. This omission invalidated the transaction and exposed the attempted dispossession of the communal landowners.

Environmental and Health Risks Averted

The Ring of Cenotes Reserve is an ecologically critical area due to its connection to the region’s cenote system and underground aquifers. The proposed industrial activities would have caused significant environmental damage and posed health risks to nearby communities due to potential pollution.

The court ordered the restitution of the land after uncovering multiple irregularities in the registration process with the National Agrarian Registry (RAN).

Broader Implications

The case highlights ongoing tensions between agricultural communities and commercial interests in ecologically sensitive regions of Mexico. The farmers’ victory sets a precedent for legal challenges against unauthorized land-use changes in protected areas.