Mexico’s interoceanic corridor: alternative to the Panama Canal that sparks controversy

In the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow portion of Mexican territory where 300 kilometers separate the Pacific from the Atlantic, an interoceanic corridor is being built as an alternative to the Panama Canalwhich generates economic expectations, but also controversy.

The project, envisioned by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in the 16th century and pursued by Mexico for almost a century, is developed in a region of numerous ancestral indigenous peoples and extensive cultural wealth.

The work, which promises to complement the Panama Canal, rides on the popularity of the Mexican president, the leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose government has invested US$2.85 billion in freight and tourism trains to link two renovated ports.

The corridor could add between 3 and 5 percentage points to the Mexican GDP, according to the Executive.

Opinions are divided between those who hope it will attract investments and increase consumption and those who fear it will facilitate the activity of organized crime, in addition to generating serious social and environmental impacts.

“It is a project that is magnificent!“says Angélica González, a 42-year-old artisan in Ciudad Ixtepec (Oaxaca, south), one of the stops on the train that connects the ports of Salina Cruz, on the Pacific, with that of Coatzacoalcos, on the Atlantic coast (Veracruz, this).

González was five years old when he last traveled on the passenger train, which then disappeared, leaving only the cargo train active.

She is excited to sell the traditional garments she crochets to future tourists.

In September, López Obrador celebrated the return of passenger trains to the area, traveling on the railway to cheers from residents.

The business

Although tourism raises expectations, the business is logistical and commercial.

The Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT) expects to mobilize 300,000 containers a year in 2028, according to official data, and will increase to 1.4 million – an average of about 33 million tons of cargo, according to AFP estimates – when it reaches full operational capacity in 2033.

In 2022, the Panama Canal, then heavily affected by a drought, saw 63.2 million tons of containerized cargo cross, according to its administration. It is estimated that it mobilizes almost 3% of world trade, according to the same source.

Captain Adiel Estrada, operational coordinator of the CIIT – which will be administered by the Mexican Navy – said that the “runner’s spine” the thing is “It is complemented by the Panama Canal”.

With the tender for the first five industrial parks in the corridor, the government hopes to attract investments of US$ 7,000 million.

monumental work

The expansion of the port of Salina Cruz is monumental. Its new breakwater, which has already gained 1,000 meters from the sea and will extend up to 1,600 meters, requires 5.5 million tons of stone.

In Latin America “there is no other breakwater with this depth of 25 meters (…), it is a megaproject,” says Iván Santana, Navy engineer.

The work, started in 2020, generates 800 direct jobs and 2,400 indirect jobs, according to Estrada, energizing a region historically hit by poverty.

The population “Go to the corridor with great courage” and its promise of prosperity, recognizes Rafael Mayoral, an activist from Salina Cruz. But he warns that “does not delete” its environmental and social impact.

Southern Mexico is the gateway for thousands of irregular migrants, whose exodus attracts cartels dedicated to human trafficking and extortion.

Ciudad Hidalgo, on the border with Guatemala where undocumented immigrants arrive, will connect to the CIIT with the train that will arrive at Ixtepec. Another branch will link it with the tourist Mayan Train, also the work of López Obrador, marking new migratory routes.

Worry

Juana Ramírez, an activist from UCIZONI – a regional indigenous organization – sees the project as an imposition.

“How is the isthmus going to look? Polluted, with few animal and plant species and increasing violence“, predicts this indigenous woman of the Mixe ethnic group, from the municipality of San Juan Guichicovi.

UCIZONI maintains that the route failed to comply with international standards on indigenous consultation, presented flawed environmental studies and has displaced native communities.

The activist assures that members of the Navy “they repress and harass”, to the point that she was criminally denounced by the government along with 15 colleagues for “attacks on communication routes” after a protest in April.

“It is a clear example of criminalization“says Ramírez, who assures that if she is convicted she would be fined US$1.6 million. The AFP was unable to corroborate this sanction with authorities.

The woman also believes that with the work came the “organized crime”.

Furthermore, activists interviewed agree on an increase in land price speculation and the violent dispossession of properties in Salina Cruz and other municipalities, by mafias.

In July, the NGO Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) reported 21 cases of intimidation, 11 of physical violence and three homicides against territorial defenders between October 2022 and July 2023, all linked to the CIIT. The majority of the victims were indigenous.