Proceso Sur
October 27, 2001
By Regina Martinez

Xalapa, Veracruz. - For civil organizations and environmental groups of southeastern Mexico and Central America, the most dangerous aspect of the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) is the World Bank-financed Mesoamerican Biological Corridor "because it looks to exploit the vast natural resources of the zone for large transnational corporations."

According to critics of the project, transnational corporations could freely patent foods and medicines extracted from the enormous natrual resources of the region through biotechonology research and exploitation with the institutional permission of the nations involved in the PPP.

According to reports from forums of indigenous and campesino (rural small farmers) civil groups in the region, among the foreign companies interested in appropriating the genetic diversity of Cenral American jungles are Dupont, Grupo Pulsar, Monsanto, Novartis, Bayer and Diversa. These corporations have financed the development of new agro-biological technologies and improved seeds through a patent for the manufacture of fertilizers and insecticides.

This same report questions the fact that while the Mexican government promotes the PPP as development for southern Mexico and Central America, this past February 15th the Guatemalan Congress authorized the passage of "New Horizons," a collaborative project between the Guatemalan and U.S. armies in the El Peten area bordering the Mexican state of Chiapas.

At the same time, the aforementioned organizations indicated that within the framework of the Plan Puebla Panama, which includes the nine states of southeastern Mexico and six Central American nations, the Mexican portion of the Central American isthmus has recently been integrated into an ecological program of the World Bank called the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

These groups consider that projects such as this, though they appear unrelated, show coincidences not only in their declared environmental, civic and humanitarian purposes but also in their specific interest in the Mexican-Guatemalan border zone -- "which gives rise to questions in the area of economic and security interests."

It is widely known that the isthmus which extends from southern Mexico to Panama "includes zones of exceptional biodiversity." The region of southeastern Mexico and northern Guatemala is particularly rich in natural resources such as "forests, water sources and petroleum."

Referring to an internal document of the US embassy in Guatemala, "it is said that New Horizons is strictly a training and humanitarian aid mission, that is not an anti-narcotics operation and that the majority of the US soldiers will be from the Army Reserves or members of the National Guard, staying in Guatemala for only two weeks."

However, these civil society groups agree with the analysis of Cesar Montes, the secretary of the Democratic Left Party in Guatemala, that the possible arrival of 12,000 US troops to Guatemala -- as has been annonced by the heads of the Southern Army Command of Guatemala -- is technically "an invasion."

According to official sources, the application of strategic projects such as the PPP (which includes the states of Puebla, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco and Veracruz) will permit a flowering of regional diversity and richness and help overcome the extreme marginalization and inequalities of the area. But the civil organizations sustain that these projects are "incompatible with process of democratic consolidation" currently underway in Mexico.

Concentrated within this region is the biological wealth of Mexico and more than 90% of the nation's petroleum extraction. This area also has the best capability for generation of electrical energy. Critics of the PPP claim that "one of the obstacles for development of this plan is indigenous communities, for example the communities within the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve bordering the Guatemalan Peten."

According to the World Bank, the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor seeks to integrate conservation policies through the establishment of connections within the protected areas of southeastern Mexico, "to avoid the isolation of these areas and guarantee the equilibrium of the land and marine ecosystems, within a sustainable development framework."

The Biological Corridor is a seven year project already underway in Central American countries. Coincidentally, its objectives are "the same as the PPP" and the World Bank approved a $19.1 million dollar budget with the hope that Mexico would join the project.

The same World Bank, according to representatives of civil society groups, recognizes that the area covered by the Biological Corridor houses many indigenous communities and abundant flora and fauna. The World Bank affirms that although it represents only 0.5% of the total surface area of the Earth, the area contains 7% of all recognized biodiversity on the planet.