The detailed study of three large-scale business projects in Mexico, located in traditional territories of indigenous and campesino communities indicates that:

• They were decided upon by authorities that never consulted the people who were to be affected; this was clearly a top-down imposition.
• The projects continue to wreak grave damage on the communities’ territories and natural resources, as well as on their social fabric.
• Tactics of harassment and criminalization have been deployed against those who decided to defend their territory.

For those reasons, we recommend that the Mexican government: make the legislative changes necessary to guarantee indigenous rights to self-determination and self-identification; ensure that judicial and administrative decisions effectively protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples, and that such decisions are respected and that those who violate them are sanctioned; and guarantee that businesses respect the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination and to define their own developmental priorities, as well as the rights of campesino communities.

This study deals with three cases, all of which remain the subject of intense dialogue, negotiation and dispute in political and legal spheres.

• The Toluca-Naucalpan highway in the State of Mexico.
• Mexico City’s New International Airport (NAICM), in the State of Mexico.
• The planting of genetically-modified soybean in Campeche state.