arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

The Plan Puebla Panamá (PPP)

What is it?

The PPP is a 25-year, $10 billion, development plan that seeks to physically and commercially connect the southern region of Mexico with the rest of Central America. It consists of 28 mega projects designed to increase investment and trade according to the neo-liberal model, thereby laying the groundwork for the U.S. goal of achieving a Central American Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and, by 2005, a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The PPP includes projects involving construction of highways, ports, airport expansion, a multitude of dams, electrical lines, telecommunications, oil pipelines, and investments in biotechnology and tourism.

Who is backing it?

Mexican president Vicente Fox initially proposed the PPP, although it has now received backing from the governments of all 7 Central American countries, including Guatemala. Financial donors include the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in conjunction with the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, and others.

How Will the PPP Harm Guatemala?

1; The possible exploitation of the natural resources of the northern Petén region by the biotech industry as part of its drive to exploit the coveted "Meso-American Biological Corridor".
2. An electrical interconnection agreed upon by Mexico and Guatemala. A corollary to this project is the very worrying plan to build ahydroelectric dam in the Usumacinta River, which would result in environmental damage and displace communities alongside the river. According to studies, these proposed damns would flood 10-12 million square kilometers, roughly one third of the Petén.
3. The plan calls for an oil pipeline to be constructed between Mexico and Guatemala, which would go through the protected Maya Biosphere, and possibly as far as Costa Rica.
4. Although Guatemala has 21,000 square miles of rainforest, almost half (9,000 square miles) is threatened by the PPP. Already, nearly 60% of the Laguna del Tigre National Park has faced adverse affects from construction of a highway. A road built in the 1980s to facilitate oil exploration also created an opening for a large-scale illegal logging operation.
5. The PPP would displace many indigenous people throughout Central America from their rural homes to cities. No doubt, it would also result in factories (maquiladoras) mirroring those that exist along with U.S.-Mexico border as a result of NAFTA. There would be little environmental and safety standards and workers would be subject to long hours with low pay.
6. Land privatization is a key component of the development plans of the PPP, facilitating the shift to a maquiladora development model in which indigenous populations are displaced and their former lands sold to large multinational corporations.

How do the Communities feel about the PPP?

One of the most troublesome aspects of the PPP is that much of it is being planned in secret. There has been very poor consultation with the communities affected by the plan, or with environmental activists concerned about its impact on a biologically diverse ecosystem. In fact, the Guatemalan government had planned an open forum to include community input on the plan, but cancelled it two days prior to the event.

The poor, largely indigenous communities, which the plan supposedly seeks to help, oppose the PPP. Their sentiments were reflected in the statement of Zapatista leader Marcos: "The isthmus is not for sale." In Guatemala, numerous indigenous and environmental groups have voiced strong opposition to the plan.