Las comunidades de la Sierra Norte de Puebla, México, frente a los megaproyectos de minería

This paper analyzes the opinions of the residents of the studied communities on the possible development of mining in their region and existing perceptions on the subject. A descriptive cross-section study was conducted under a qualitative and quantitative variable methodology. Furthermore, primary sources were used with instruments such as surveys and interviews in order to obtain socioeconomic data of the families, their opinion and the perspective that the population has regarding gold mining exploitation and its possible impacts, the communities' fighting strategies, and the strategies designed by the mining companies. It was found that the majority of the communities of Santa Maria de Zotoltepec, Tuligtic, La Canada, and Tetela de Ocampo Centro reject open-pit mining and their perception is negative in regard to the impacts that mining exploitation would have, in addition to feeling vulnerable with respect to the mining projects and the federal government.