The new extractivism in Mexico: Rent redistribution and resistance to mining and petroleum activities

This article analyzes shifts in the political economic conditions of extractive activities in Mexico during the twentieth century until the present, with a focus on the current era and the first months of López Obrador’s presidency. The center of attention is on the mining and petroleum sectors, not only because of their strategic importance for economic development, but also because of the large and growing number of eco-territorial conflicts that have emerged around projects in these two sectors across the country. The paper points to the ways in which Mexico’s laws and public policies have been reoriented in recent years to capture rent derived from mining and petroleum activities in order to finance social policies and infrastructure development, focusing spending on regions where extractive activities take place. In what ways does this policy reorientation reflect the “new extractivism” practiced differentially by progressive governments in South America since the first decade of the new millennium? What is “new” about these policies in the historical context of extractive and industrial development in Mexico? How do recently introduced programs to finance local development projects seek to resolve conflicts around extractive activities? Based on an extensive literature review combined with over ten years of ongoing field research on extractive industries and social environmental conflicts in Mexico, this article discusses how focalized rent-redistribution programs have been implemented alongside reforms to open the petroleum and mining sectors to private and foreign investment, in an effort to accelerate extraction rates. It finds that, while these programs seek to compensate directly affected populations and thereby garner their support for extractive projects, they do not address the most fundamental demand of most community-based resistance movements, which is to effectively exercise the right to decide whether or not to accept these projects.