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Throughout these years, the rights of autonomy and self-determination have progressed to enable indigenous peoples’ access to social, cultural and economic rights. In addition, the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) has designed the Indigenous Justice and Regional Development Plans.
With the purpose of analyzing the transition of indigenism from transversality to a public policy of autonomy and self-determination of peoples, Óscar Banda, current office manager of the Commission for Dialogue with the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico in the Ministry of the Interior, carried out an analysis that is part of the recent publication of the Demographic Situation of Mexico, 2025 of the National Population Council (Conapo). The full article can be found at https://www.gob.mx /cms/uploads/attachment/file/1019973/ Libro_LSDM_2025_02sep2025-85-96 .pdf
Since 2024, the second article of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States reaffirms that the multicultural composition of the Mexican nation is supported by indigenous peoples as well as their communities, their right to self-determination is recognized and the obligation of the three levels of government is established to eradicate the social disadvantages of indigenous peoples and communities, create institutions and public policies to ensure access to their rights and establish specific budget items in the Expenditure Budget. From 2002 to 2025, an exponential growth of the transversal budget of the order of 6,826 percent is recorded: from assigning 15,108 million pesos, it went to 221,033 million. Of the budget approved in 2025, the branch that presents the highest percentage of allocation is Welfare with 37 percent, followed by Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation with 25 percent, and Education, 14 percent.
Even with the budget increase, the circumstances of poverty and inequality of indigenous peoples continue to be adverse: in 2023, 8.3 million indigenous people were in poverty (70.3 percent of this population group) and 3.2 million (27.1 percent) were in extreme poverty. (National Council for Evaluation of Social Development Policy, Coneval, 2023).
There is no doubt that resources have been enhanced and progress has been made in these 23 years, but the lack of records of the indigenous people and communities who benefit from the programs has made it impossible to monitor and timely evaluate the impact they have on improving their living conditions.
The budgetary evolution of indigenous peoples during Vicente Fox’s six-year term was based on programs established years or decades ago, there is a lack of continuity in programs aimed at indigenous people, and almost no creation of specific programs for this population. In the 2006-2009 budget year, Óscar Banda, the author of the article, recognizes in 2010 that there were substantial increases in the Transversal Expenditures for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, and concludes that there are difficulties in accounting for the delivery of resources to this population, since their lists of beneficiaries do not identify their indigenous affiliation, which limits the evaluation of the impact of the resources on indigenous communities; and also points out that the participation of these communities in the execution of the programs based on their own forms of organization and participation, has remained an important constitutional provision that is barely applied, despite being one of the central cores of the rights of indigenous communities.
The constitutional reform of September 2024 recognizes indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples as subjects of public law and to receive direct public resources, without any intermediation, which places them in an unprecedented situation. With this orientation, the INPI promotes the Indigenous Justice Plans, an inter-institutional coordination that articulates actions and budgets to fulfill the commitments of the Mexican State by addressing its problems and building solutions in accordance with its aspirations. So far, 17 plans have been made, comprehensiveness and intercultural dialogue are the principles that guide these plans, and the work method consists of four stages: 1) analysis of the most pressing problems based on participatory diagnoses and the definition of viable and relevant solutions; 2) based on these proposals, public officials from the various government agencies dialogue directly and horizontally with the authorities of the indigenous peoples; 3) the agreements are implemented based on budgetary actions and joint execution between the different agencies that make up the inter-institutional coordination; and 4) community evaluation and oversight. To strengthen institutional coordination and the application of these plans, the Presidential Commission on Regional and Afro-Mexican Justice and Development Plans was created, established by presidential decree on January 17, 2025, effective as of September 30, 2030. Its objectives are to “design, agree, coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluate the Justice and Regional Development Plans with the purpose of guaranteeing the effective exercise of the rights of indigenous peoples and Afro-Mexicans, their well-being and comprehensive, intercultural and sustainable development, as well as the strengthening of their cultural and natural heritage.”
* Conapo technical secretary
