The Indigenous World 2026: Mexico

Written on 22 April 2026. Posted in Mexico

According to data from the Population and Housing Census of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography 2020 (INEGI), there are 126,014,024 citizens in Mexico, of whom 23,200,000 aged three years and over identify as Indigenous.^[i] Of this population segment, 7,345,645 respondents aged three years and over reported speaking an Indigenous language (87.2% speak Spanish plus one Indigenous language and 11.8% speak just one Indigenous language). The country has 68 native languages, of which Nahuatl is the most widely spoken (22.4%), followed by Mayan (10.5%) and Tseltal (8.0%).

 The languages with the lowest percentages of speakers are: Totonac, with 3.5%; Ch'ol, with 3.5%; and Mazatec, with 3.2%. It should be noted that 19.1% of the Indigenous population aged 15 and over are illiterate, while the equivalent percentage of non-indigenous population in the same age group being 2.8%. Furthermore, the states with the highest percentages of Indigenous population are: Oaxaca (26.3%), Yucatan (24.3%), Chiapas (22.4%), Guerrero (13.5%) and Quintana Roo (12.9%). Mexico will have new information on its Indigenous population in 2026, as the Intercensal Survey 2025 has updated the geospatial and sociodemographic data. Mexico voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007, has signed ILO Convention 169 and, at the national level, Article Two of the Federal Constitution recognizes and guarantees the right of Indigenous Peoples and communities to self-determination and autonomy.^[i] In March 2025, the General Law of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples and Communities was presented to the Congress of the Union, and is currently in the process of being approved.

This article is part of the 40th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2026 in full here

Peace and security, an historic demand of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Mexico

The Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples of Mexico continued their struggle throughout 2025 to transform the regulatory framework that governs their rights and peacebuilding. Legal advances in this area, however, coexisted alongside persistent violence, territorial dispossession and major official limitations to incorporating the legal and political knowledge of the peoples themselves. The tensions between formal recognition and territorial reality are seriously restricting the possibilities of building an effective and lasting peace in Indigenous territories.

Legal recognition and institutional reality: the light and shade of reform

The Reform to Article Two of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States^[1] –published at the end of 2024– opened a new era of recognition of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples as subjects of public law, strengthening their legal visibility. This change created significant expectations regarding autonomy and the direct exercise of collective rights. However, the first year of its implementation clearly exposed the gap between regulatory recognition and its practical application, as well as the institutional inertia that continues to hinder its effective implementation.

Among the main outstanding issues are the lack of the right to territory in a broad sense –replaced by notions of biocultural heritage or habitat–, which weakens the defence against extractivist projects; the lack of recognition of community security in contexts marked by violence and organized crime; and the risk that prior consultation will be reduced to a bureaucratic procedure with no binding effects. Added to this is the need for a regulatory law that clearly defines the levels of self-government, as well as pending advances in intercultural gender perspectives, Indigenous self-identification, and political representation beyond party-political logic, all key elements for ensuring that the reform does not remain merely declarative.

Now, in an unprecedented move, the Mexican population has directly elected the nine members of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, a lawyer of Mixtec origin, was elected Chief Justice of the country's highest constitutional court, a position last held by an Indigenous representation during the second half of the 19^th century. With extensive experience of defending Indigenous Peoples and their collective rights to territory and resources, and with a background in public service, Aguilar Ortiz’s arrival as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has generated high expectations among the Indigenous and social movements, in a context in which the Mexican State is seeking to reshape the legal framework for Indigenous Peoples on the basis of recent constitutional reforms.

Defending the territory in the name of peace: a persistent contradiction

During 2024 and 2025, the differing contexts of Indigenous Peoples in Mexico were marked by a human rights crisis in which extractivism, institutional violence and the expansion of illicit economies converged. The lack of full recognition of territory in the Constitutional Reform has left communities highly vulnerable to megaprojects, extractive economies and the advance of organized crime, deepening processes of dispossession that were already structural, as demonstrated by recent assessments and data compiled in the PUIC-UNAM MEZINAL 1 Atlas.^[2] This violence is not only armed, it is also territorial and economic, and is reproduced in contexts where militarization is presented as a security strategy, without resulting in the real conditions for peace.

In this scenario, the defence of territory and community autonomy are often met with criminalization, harassment and militarization, demonstrating that State security does not always protect Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples but often merely increases their exposure to violence. In Mexico, murders of territorial defenders increased by 25% during 2024,^[3] and almost half of the lethal attacks (43 cases) affected Indigenous people or people from agrarian communities, many of whom were community authorities or local leaders opposed to megaprojects or collusion between political and business actors and organized crime. This violence has differing impacts: Indigenous women face dual victimization due to their leadership and gender; children and youth suffer from the fragmentation of the community fabric; and community leaders continue to be the main target of lethal attacks, thus weakening self-government structures and deepening insecurity and dispossession.

Between governance and community justice: the limits of State peace

Regional Justice and Development Plans^[4] were announced in 2025 as the Mexican State’s main instrument for addressing the historical demands of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples. To date, 18 plans are being implemented and six are under development, in operation across 13 states and serving 27 Indigenous Peoples made up of 1,373 communities. These include the Yaqui, Seri Comcaac, Guarijío Makurawe, Yoreme Mayo, Wixárika, O'dam and Au'dam; Náayeri and Mexikan; Chichimec and Otomí; Chinantec and Mazatec; Ralámuli, Oichkama (Pima), Warijó, Yumanos-Cochimí, Xhidza, Xhon and Zapotec, among others. These Plans revolve around a State concept of peace that ranges from the resolution of specific grievances –especially as regards territories and water– to the social dissent which, for years, affected State governance. This introduces tensions with the restorative justice approaches of internal normative systems and with the Indigenous forms of conflict resolution.

Although these actions are a step forward, one of the main challenges for the Mexican State continues to be transforming the way it conceives of law, justice and peacebuilding. Institutional frameworks persist that render invisible the normative systems, community justice practices and Indigenous forms of mediation, sanction and reparation that have historically enabled conflict resolution and the reproduction of collective life. This tension is expressed in spaces where traditional authorities participate in a consultative capacity, with a voice but without real decision-making power, reproducing a notion of peace centred on conflict control and the maintenance of order rather than on processes of reparation and social transformation. Recognizing this knowledge and these rights today is key to building a more legitimate, sustainable and inclusive peace capable of confronting the structural violence that affects Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous Peoples: peace and security

Against this backdrop, Mexico’s Indigenous Peoples are currently struggling to ensure that peace and security prevail in their territories by overcoming the historical structural barriers that limit their development; achieving their integration into today's society based on respect for their specific cultural differences, their identity and their collective rights as peoples with independence and freedom; and ensuring that it is their own perspectives that define their development projects, as full political subjects. This is essential given that their living conditions continue to be characterized by exclusion, poverty, low social development, and high to very high marginalization, as confirmed by official studies published by INEGI^[5] and other analyses that reveal the profound conditions of social inequality in which Indigenous Peoples still find themselves.^[6]

In addition, Indigenous territories are affected by the presence of organized crime, drug trafficking, climate change, and the implementation of megaprojects, among other things that generate violence in their communities and violate their rights. These issues have even led to forced displacements and high levels of internal and international migration as a strategy for survival, all of which affects the peace and security of the country's Indigenous Peoples and communities and violates their rights to a just, sustainable and lasting peace, as noted by UNESCO.^[7] Added to this is the persistence of racist and discriminatory practices that affect them in different areas of social life, and which denote a lack of respect for their cultures and identities, as well as a lack of knowledge about them in society, as they are considered a guarantor of peace.^[8]

Notwithstanding the above, there has been progress in the State's response to the situation of Mexico's Indigenous Peoples. Among these are the actions promoted by the Federal Government in 2025, within the framework of the Constitutional Reform that, in 2024, recognized Indigenous Peoples and communities as subjects of public law; in this regard, the promotion of the aforementioned Justice Plans is noteworthy. According to information from the National Institute for Indigenous Peoples (INPI),^[9] these plans will enable action to be taken to address the Indigenous population’s issues regarding their living conditions, among other things. In addition, they will have monitoring mechanisms by means of indicators that will make it possible to assess their impact in Indigenous areas. The same source reports that the traditional authorities collaborated in their development through their own governance and decision-making mechanisms, thereby expanding opportunities for social participation aimed at strengthening the dialogue with Indigenous Peoples and communities when defining policies and action programmes that involve them.

However, the Indigenous Peoples and communities continue to demand full participation in these procedures as part of the peacebuilding process in their territories. In this regard, in 2025, forums were organized in the Purépecha region of Michoacán^[10] to work on the preparation of the Justice Plan. These included people from four Indigenous regions of the state (Meseta, Cañada, Ciénega and del Lago) who, together with the federal and state governments, defined actions to be developed based on 11 themes, including peace and security in the face of situations of extreme violence. Peacebuilding for the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico is likewise related to processes of resistance that can be described as peaceful,^[11] and which are expressed in parallel to the emergency through their own forms of social organization, such as self-defence groups. Undoubtedly, the building of peace and security in Mexico’s Indigenous regions will need to be reflected in the resolution of the problems that have historically affected them, both those derived from social development and those arising from the modern world.

Institutional Development Plan

The Federal Government presented the Institutional Development Plan 2025-2030^[12] in 2025 and, according to INPI data, this is the result of work carried out with the participation of people belonging to Mexico’s 68 Indigenous Peoples.^[13] It should be noted that, among its proposals, it states that “the policies, programmes and actions of the Mexican State must incorporate a collective rights approach, under the principles of self-determination, autonomy, interculturality, effective participation, substantive equality and social justice”, aspects that are among the main demands of the Indigenous Peoples and communities. Compliance with these principles could contribute to building peace and security in their territories. This year was also declared the Year of Indigenous Women,^[14] which is why INPI, together with other institutions, promoted actions to recognize the role of women in the struggle for emancipation and the defence of human rights in their communities.

Carolina Sánchez García is Director of the University Programme for the Study of Cultural Diversity and Interculturality at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (PUIC-UNAM).

Juan Mario Pérez Martínez is Technical Secretary of PUIC-UNAM.

Emanuel Rodríguez Domínguez is Academic Secretary of PUIC-UNAM.

This article is part of the 40th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2026 in full here

Notes and references

^[1] Martínez Ruíz, Diana Tamara, Orlando Aragón Andrade, and Luis Alejandro Pérez Ortiz, coords. Proyecto Pluriversos: Relatorías y propuestas. Hacia la Ley Reglamentaria del Artículo 2º en materia de derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas y Afromexicanos. Morelia/Mexico City: ENES Morelia, UNAM / Laboratorio de Antropología Jurídica y del Estado, 2025.

^[2] Rodíguez, Nemesio. J., coord. Atlas MEZINAL I. Megaproyectos en zonas indígenas y negras de América Latina. PUIC-UNAM, 2018.

^[3]Mexican Environmental Law Centre Informe sobre la situación de las personas y comunidades defensoras de los derechos humanos ambientales en México 2024. Mexico City. CEMDA, 2025.

^[4] National Institute for Indigenous Peoples. Decreto por el que se crea la Comisión Presidencial de Planes de Justicia y Desarrollo Regional de los Pueblos Indígenas y Afromexicanos. Government of Mexico, 2025.

^[5] INEGI. Statistics on the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, press release 115/25. INEGI, 6 August 2025. https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/aproposito/2025/EAP_PuebIndig_25.pdf

^[6] Sánchez García Carolina. "Desigualdad en poblaciones indígenas y afromexicanas. Revista UNAM Internacional, 2025. https://revista.unaminternacional.unam.mx/nota/11/desigualdad-en-poblaciones-indigenas-y-afromexicanas-dimensiones-multiples-en-la-configuracion-de-la-desigualdad-social

^[7] UNESCO. La paz es un derecho. https://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/document-2800

^[8] Report of the United Nations Development Programme. (2004). file:////Users/unam/Desktop/INFORME%202004%20PNUD.pdf

^[9] INPI. Planes de justicia. INPI. https://www.inpi.gob.mx/planes-de-justicia/

^[10] INPI. “Gobierno de México acuerda con las autoridades comunitarias las aaciones 2026 del Plan de Justicia Purépecha”. INPI, 2025. https://www.gob.mx/inpi/prensa/gobierno-de-mexico-acuerda-con-las-autoridades-comunitarias-las-acciones-2026-del-plan-de-justicia-del-pueblo-p-urhepecha-413056?idiom=es#:~:text=El%20Plan%20de%20Justicia%20del,voces%20de%20los%20pueblos%20ind%C3%ADgenas.&text=Santo%20Tom%C3%A1s%2C%20Chilchota%2C%20Michoac%C3%A1n.&text=Santo%20Tom%C3%A1s%2C%20Chilchota%2C%20Michoac%C3%A1n%2C,voces%20de%20los%20pueblos%20ind%C3%ADgenas

^[11] Sánchez García Carolina, Jorge González and Ma. Antonieta Melo. “Prácticas de resistencia intercultural en América Latina y el Caribe”. University Programme for the Study of Cultural Diversity and Interculturality, UNAM, 2025....

^[12] The National Development Plan 2025-2030 can be consulted in the Official Gazette of the Federation at the following link: https://goo.su/CfSaI

^[13] INPI. “Gobierno de México acuerda con las autoridades comunitarias las aaciones 2026 del Plan de Justicia Purépecha”. INPI, 15 November 2025. https://secihti.mx/sala-de-prensa/gobierno-de-mexico-acuerda-con-las-autoridades-comunitarias-las-acciones-2026-del-plan-de-justicia-del-pueblo-purhepecha/

^[14] Presidency of the Republic. “Anuncia gobierno de México que 2025 será el año de la mujer indígena”. Presidency of the Republic, 23 December 2024. https://www.gob.mx/presidencia/prensa/anuncia-gobierno-de-mexico-que-2025-sera-el-ano-de-la-mujer-indigena

Tags: Land rights, Human rights, Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Defenders