The Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development (Sedatu) reported yesterday that it has returned 9,000 hectares to indigenous communities this year as part of the justice plans promoted by the Mexican government. These actions, carried out through the sale of national lands and the Program for Addressing Agrarian Conflicts, are part of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s commitment to addressing the historical demands of indigenous communities, the ministry stated in a press release.
The agency, headed by Edna Vega Rangel, detailed that five communities belonging to three Indigenous groups benefited. The Wixárika people had more than 5,956 hectares returned to them; the Tarahumara (Rarámuri/Ralámuli), 3,000 hectares; and the Ódami, more than 500 hectares.
The justice plans include the Wixárika peoples in Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas and Durango; the Sierra Tarahumara in Chihuahua, which includes the Rarámuri, Ódami, Oichkama and Warijó peoples, as well as the Yoreme Mayo and Yaqui peoples in Sonora; Chichimeca Otomí in Guanajuato and Querétaro; Chinanteco and Mazateco in Veracruz; P’urhépecha in Michoacán; communities of the Guerrero Mountains, and Yumano and Cochimí peoples in Baja California.
The Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) highlighted that, as a result of this inter-institutional work, five communities obtained recognition of their ancestral territory after decades of dispossession. To continue addressing these issues, the agency is developing analysis and conciliation processes to advance the restitution of lands to the Mala Noche community of the Rarámuri people and to the Yaqui people through the free and collective transfer of national lands.
Likewise, in 2026, the restitution of land to the community of San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán and its annex Tuxpan, of the Wixárika people, as well as to the community of Cruz del Palmar, is expected to continue in the context of the Chichimeca Justice Plan.
These actions advance the compensation, restitution, and titling of territories, which will allow communities to exercise their right to use, care, and manage their lands in accordance with their normative systems, according to the agency.