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Chronology of the Ejido of Tila
of the Ch’ol Indigenous People

• 1910-1917

  Mexican Revolution

  The constitution of 1917 established a legal framework for the creation of ejidos at the national level, a form of social land ownership that resulted from the campesino movement. Today, ejidos make up around 52% of the national territory, according to the National Agrarian Registry.

  In Chiapas, unlike in other states of the country, the agrarian reform was blocked by local landowners. This situation is one of the key factors for understanding the Neo-Zapatista armed uprising that would take place decades later, in 1994.

  Nonetheless, in the decades following the Mexican Revolution, in Northern Chiapas, some groups of Ch’ol Indigenous campesinos managed to free themselves from debt peonage. Through their organizational strength, they managed to recover part—but not all—of their ancestral lands and succeeded in evicting some landowners.

• July 30, 1934

  The Ejido of Tila was granted land through a presidential decree. This land grant was later expanded in 1958 and 1970.

  Each year, on this day, the ejidatarios take to the streets and walk through the town center to celebrate the anniversary of the presidential decree – in their words, “the greatest inheritance left to us by our great-grandparents, who walked for forty years from Tila to Tuxtla” to legalize their lands.

• June 2, 1961

  The Agrarian Advisory Council approved an implementation plan for the land granted to the Ejido of Tila, a Ch’ol Indigenous pueblo, that served to establish the geographical location and boundaries of the allotted ejido lands.

  Nonetheless, in 1966 this same authority made an annotation indicating a fundo legal on the map, that is, a portion of land designated for the foundation and construction of the town, where public service buildings would be established. This led to one of the first amparo lawsuits filed by the ejido in 1977, aimed at undoing this appropriation of its lands.

• December 17, 1980

  The 54th Legislature of the State of Chiapas issued Decree 72, declaring 130 hectares of the urban area (the settlement) of the Ejido of Tila a fundo legal, turning these ejido lands into municipal assets. In opposition to this action the Ejido of Tila filed amparo lawsuit No. 259/1982 – the landmark case that would later reach the Supreme Court.

• July 20, 1984

  The Ejido won amparo case 890/1977 in which the annotation made by the Agrarian Advisory Council in 1966 was declared unconstitutional. This ruling recognized that the lands in question belong to the Ejido of Tila. That annotation was declared void in 1994.

• 1994-1996

  Tila is located within the conflict zone as part of the 1994 Zapatista armed uprising. In this municipality the paramilitary group Paz y Justicia was formed by various government agencies to weaken the Zapatista insurgency. This paramilitary group carried out executions and forced displacements in the municipalities of Tila, Sabanilla and Salto de Agua. The Tila municipal government has been identified as one of the group’s operators, acting in coordination with the Mexican army.

• October 17, 2008

  The First District Judge of the State of Chiapas granted amparo case 259/1982 in favor of the ejido, to prevent the application of Decree 72 (issued in 1980) and to halt any actions that might result in the dispossession of ejido lands, such as their subdivision into urban lots. With that ruling, it reaffirmed that the 130 hectares are ejido property and must be restored to the possession of the Ejido.

• December 16, 2015

  The Ejido Assembly, the community’s highest authority, decided to exercise its right to Indigenous and ejido autonomy by expelling the municipal government, in response to the State of Chiapas’s repeated refusal to comply with the amparo ruling. This decision marked the reconfiguration of community governance through forms of self-governance, territorial defense and autonomous justice. In response, the state deployed the criminal justice system against the autonomous ejido authorities, issuing arrest warrants for rioting and offenses against public order.

• September 12, 2018

  Since the restitution of the Ejido of Tila’s lands was not carried out, the case was brought before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, where the noncompliance proceeding 1302/2010 was resolved. The case included several Amicus Curiae briefs, including one from the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, and expert reports in anthropology, legal anthropology, urban engineering and economics.

  The court ordered that compliance with amparo ruling 259/1982 be rechanneled, requesting information from state authorities regarding the measures to be taken for the restitution of the 130 hectares to the Ejido of Tila.

• 2020-2023

  During this period, the Ejido of Tila faced an increase of violence and internal division. In 2023, several murders occurred related to internal disputes and drug trafficking took place, along with arson attacks in the town center, and acts of intimidation by armed groups like “Karma”, which threatened members of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI). In November of this year, the town suffered power outages and disappearances. The National Guard intervened, but without success, and conditions continued to deteriorate.

• January 12, 2024

  The murder of Carmen López Lugo, active member of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and former authority of the Ejido of Tila.

• March 14, 2024

  The murder of Domingo Lugo Ramirez, active member of the CNI and former authority of the Ejido of Tila.

• June, 2024

  The conflict escalated with ambushes, burning of houses and the forced displacement of more than 2,000 people, in addition to arbitrary arrests of members of the local water committee.

• 2025

  During the first months of 2025, attempts were made to reach a civility pact between the State, the Ejido and non-ejidatario residents, seeking to contain the violence and restore peace in the region. However, the reconciliation was incomplete, as some expressed their distrust of the pact.

  The Ejido of Tila is fragmented, battered by the wave of violence from organized crime, state authorities, and paramilitary groups. Members of the CNI, who have historically led the legal and political struggle within the Ejido, now fear for their lives and freedom due to possible arrest warrants issued against them following the public stigmatization of the Ejido’s autonomy.

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