Plan Puebla Panama
Encyclopedia
The Puebla-Panama Plan is a multi-billion dollar development plan formally initiated in 2001, which is intended to "promote the regional integration and development" of the nine southern states of Mexico
(Puebla
, Guerrero
, Veracruz
and points south) with all of Central America
and Colombia
. The initiative was championed by the then president of Mexico, Vicente Fox
, and agreed to by the governments of the respective participating nations.
projects such as highways, air and sea ports, and electric and telecommunications grids. It consists of eight initiatives:
According to the Presidency of Mexico, the percentage of funding allocated for each of these projects is: Transportation, 85.2%; Electrical, 11.1%, Tourism, 1.3%, Human Development, 0.8%, Disasters, 0.7%, Trade, 0.6%, Sustainable Development, 0.4%; and Telecommunications, 0.03%.
These projects are to take place along five principal axes (or corridors) of development:
According to a study by the US-based nonprofit InterAction, $7.7 billion in funding for the Plan Puebla Panamá had been designated as of March 2005; the amount is eventually expected to rise as high as $50 billion. Of this funding, 35% comes from national governments in the region, 24% from the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB), 15% from the private sector
, 7.5% from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), 5% from the World Bank
, 6.3% from other sources (the remaining funding could not be determined).
s over those of local communities and the environment. According to critics, the true goals of the PPP include the privatization
of land (including farmland), water and public services, and the control of the region by foreign interests. In addition, they argue that Plan Puebla Panamá is destroying fragile rain forests and displacing indigenous peoples
who have little voice in the development effort.
Much criticism of Plan Puebla Panamá is related to criticism of free trade agreements
(FTAs), including the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA). Critics argue that the PPP and related projects serve to lay the physical infrastructure that allows FTAs to operate:
"On the one hand, FTAs rewrite the region’s laws and policies for the benefit of transnational corporations and the region’s elites, while on the other, the PPP provides a network of physical infrastructure, easy access to natural resources and a new army of cheap labor for 'development' of the Isthmus of the Americas."
According to the US-based group Root Force
, the PPP and related infrastructure projects are essential for supplying the First World
with access to cheap resources, thus maintaining a "colonialist" global economy.
In 2002, following protests that forced the cancellation of a planned airport
in San Salvador Atenco
, Mexico State, along with persistent troubles in securing financing for PPP projects, a moratorium was declared on official comments regarding the plan, and its website was taken down. During the year-and-a-half moratorium, the IDB
hired the US-based advertising agency Fleishman-Hillard
to revamp the PPP's image.
In July 2003, Subcomandante Marcos
of the Zapatista National Liberation Army announced that "implementation [of the PPP] will not be permitted for any reason" in Zapatista territory.
In March 2004, Fox officially announced the relaunch of the PPP. Among the changes made were the removal of all hydroelectric dam
s and the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor
from the project, and a new emphasis on the aspects of the plan relating to social concerns. Many of the projects removed from the PPP are still proceeding under different auspices.
Several Mexican governors are formulating rival plans.
. In other cases, PPP projects have been cancelled entirely.
Two well-known, ongoing PPP projects are the Electric Integration System for Central America (SIEPAC
) and the Mesoamerican Transport Integration Initiative, or International Network of Mesoamerican Highways (RICAM). SIEPAC
involves the construction of 2,100 kilometers of energy line from Mexico to Panama, costing an estimated $390 million. One of the goals of the project is to be able to sell electricity generated in the region to the United States
.
The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor
was formerly in the scope of the PPP but is no longer classified as such.
Initially, the PPP included plans for an airport
in San Salvador Atenco
, Mexico
. These plans were abandoned after a nine-month struggle by farmers protesting the expropriation
of their land for the construction.
The Anillo Periférico
highway in San Salvador
, El Salvador
, was part of the initial PPP, but since 2003 the IDB
has maintained that it is no longer included in the plan. The same phenomenon has occurred with La Parota Dam in the Mexican state of Guerrero
. Both projects are still being promoted by their respective national governments.
States of Mexico
The United Mexican States is a federal republic formed by 32 federal entities .According to the Constitution of 1917, the states of the federation are free and sovereign. Each state has their own congress and constitution, while the Federal District has only limited autonomy with a local Congress...
(Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
, Guerrero
Guerrero
Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....
, Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
and points south) with all of Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. The initiative was championed by the then president of Mexico, Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican former politician who served as President of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected...
, and agreed to by the governments of the respective participating nations.
Goals and financing
The Plan Puebla Panamá is purportedly intended to remedy a lack of investment and stimulate trade in the region by building or improving large infrastructureInfrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
projects such as highways, air and sea ports, and electric and telecommunications grids. It consists of eight initiatives:
- Energy Sector Integration
- Transportation Integration
- Telecommunications Integration
- Trade Facilitation
- Sustainable Development
- Human Development
- Tourism
- Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
According to the Presidency of Mexico, the percentage of funding allocated for each of these projects is: Transportation, 85.2%; Electrical, 11.1%, Tourism, 1.3%, Human Development, 0.8%, Disasters, 0.7%, Trade, 0.6%, Sustainable Development, 0.4%; and Telecommunications, 0.03%.
These projects are to take place along five principal axes (or corridors) of development:
- The Pacific Axis, which bears the majority of trade in the region
- The Gulf of Honduras Axis, to develop trade between the Pacific and the cities in the CaribbeanCaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
region - The Petén Axis, which runs from Puerto CortésPuerto Cortés-Geography:It is on the Caribbean Sea coast, north of San Pedro Sula and east of Omoa, at 15.85° N, 87.94° W. It has a natural bay.It is Honduras's main sea port and it is considered the most important seaport in Central America...
, HondurasHondurasHonduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
to VillahermosaVillahermosaLike most of the Tabasco, Villahermosa has a tropical climate. The city specifically features a tropical monsoon climate. Temperatures during spring and summer seasons reach upwards of 40°C , with humidity levels hovering around 30% during the same period...
, MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... - The Mexico Trans-systemic Axis, consisting of the Isthmus of TehuantepecIsthmus of TehuantepecThe Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route...
. - The GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
/YucatánYucatán PeninsulaThe Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
Axis
According to a study by the US-based nonprofit InterAction, $7.7 billion in funding for the Plan Puebla Panamá had been designated as of March 2005; the amount is eventually expected to rise as high as $50 billion. Of this funding, 35% comes from national governments in the region, 24% from the Inter-American Development Bank
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
(IDB), 15% from the private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
, 7.5% from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), 5% from the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, 6.3% from other sources (the remaining funding could not be determined).
Criticism
The Plan Puebla Panamá has drawn criticism for its adherence to a neoliberal model of development, which critics say favors the interests of multinational corporationMultinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s over those of local communities and the environment. According to critics, the true goals of the PPP include the privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of land (including farmland), water and public services, and the control of the region by foreign interests. In addition, they argue that Plan Puebla Panamá is destroying fragile rain forests and displacing indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
who have little voice in the development effort.
Much criticism of Plan Puebla Panamá is related to criticism of free trade agreements
Free trade area
A free trade area is a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement , which eliminates tariffs, import quotas, and preferences on most goods and services traded between them. If people are also free to move between the countries, in addition to FTA, it would also be...
(FTAs), including the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA), Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas
Free Trade Area of the Americas
The Free Trade Area of the Americas , , ) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas but Cuba. In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal...
(FTAA). Critics argue that the PPP and related projects serve to lay the physical infrastructure that allows FTAs to operate:
"On the one hand, FTAs rewrite the region’s laws and policies for the benefit of transnational corporations and the region’s elites, while on the other, the PPP provides a network of physical infrastructure, easy access to natural resources and a new army of cheap labor for 'development' of the Isthmus of the Americas."
According to the US-based group Root Force
Root Force
Root Force is a biocentric, decentralized, international direct-action campaign devoted to "[dismantling] the system that is killing and enslaving [the] planet and its people." The campaign seeks to interfere with the expansion of global trade infrastructure in Latin America by targeting the...
, the PPP and related infrastructure projects are essential for supplying the First World
First World
The concept of the First World first originated during the Cold War, where it was used to describe countries that were aligned with the United States. These countries were democratic and capitalistic. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the term "First World" took on a...
with access to cheap resources, thus maintaining a "colonialist" global economy.
History
The Plan Puebla Panamá was first announced by Fox on March 12, 2001 and officially launched on June 15, 2001.In 2002, following protests that forced the cancellation of a planned airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
in San Salvador Atenco
San Salvador Atenco
San Salvador Atenco is the municipal seat of Atenco, in the Mexican state of Mexico.The name "Atenco" comes from a Nahuatl phrase meaning "place on the edge of water". -The town:...
, Mexico State, along with persistent troubles in securing financing for PPP projects, a moratorium was declared on official comments regarding the plan, and its website was taken down. During the year-and-a-half moratorium, the IDB
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
hired the US-based advertising agency Fleishman-Hillard
Fleishman-Hillard
Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the world's largest public relations agencies, with a global network of offices as well as offices in 22 cities in the United States. It is a part of Omnicom Group Inc....
to revamp the PPP's image.
In July 2003, Subcomandante Marcos
Subcomandante Marcos
Subcomandante Marcos is the spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation , a Mexican rebel movement. In January 1994, he led an army of Mayan farmers into the eastern parts of the Mexican state of Chiapas protesting against the Mexican government's treatment of indigenous...
of the Zapatista National Liberation Army announced that "implementation [of the PPP] will not be permitted for any reason" in Zapatista territory.
In March 2004, Fox officially announced the relaunch of the PPP. Among the changes made were the removal of all hydroelectric dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
s and the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor
Mesoamerican Biological Corridor
The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor is a large habitat corridor in Mesoamerica, stretching from Mexico southeastward through most of Central America, connecting several national parks. It was started in 1998 to keep 106 critically endangered species from going extinct...
from the project, and a new emphasis on the aspects of the plan relating to social concerns. Many of the projects removed from the PPP are still proceeding under different auspices.
Several Mexican governors are formulating rival plans.
Associated projects
The governments and institutions involved in the PPP have refrained from releasing specific information about which highways, electric lines, etc. are part of PPP initiatives. In some cases, projects formerly considered a part of the PPP have been removed from the plan, although the projects themselves have proceeded, often under the funding of the BCIE rather than the IDBInter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
. In other cases, PPP projects have been cancelled entirely.
Two well-known, ongoing PPP projects are the Electric Integration System for Central America (SIEPAC
SIEPAC
SIEPAC is a planned interconnection of the power grids of six Central American nations...
) and the Mesoamerican Transport Integration Initiative, or International Network of Mesoamerican Highways (RICAM). SIEPAC
SIEPAC
SIEPAC is a planned interconnection of the power grids of six Central American nations...
involves the construction of 2,100 kilometers of energy line from Mexico to Panama, costing an estimated $390 million. One of the goals of the project is to be able to sell electricity generated in the region to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor
Mesoamerican Biological Corridor
The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor is a large habitat corridor in Mesoamerica, stretching from Mexico southeastward through most of Central America, connecting several national parks. It was started in 1998 to keep 106 critically endangered species from going extinct...
was formerly in the scope of the PPP but is no longer classified as such.
Initially, the PPP included plans for an airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
in San Salvador Atenco
San Salvador Atenco
San Salvador Atenco is the municipal seat of Atenco, in the Mexican state of Mexico.The name "Atenco" comes from a Nahuatl phrase meaning "place on the edge of water". -The town:...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. These plans were abandoned after a nine-month struggle by farmers protesting the expropriation
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
of their land for the construction.
The Anillo Periférico
Anillo Periférico
The Anillo Periférico is the name given to the outer beltway of Mexico City. The beltway gained major media attention when the Mexico City mayor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, started a project to turn a southern section of the ring into a two-story highway...
highway in San Salvador
San Salvador
The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, was part of the initial PPP, but since 2003 the IDB
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
has maintained that it is no longer included in the plan. The same phenomenon has occurred with La Parota Dam in the Mexican state of Guerrero
Guerrero
Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....
. Both projects are still being promoted by their respective national governments.
See also
- Mesoamerican regionMesoamerican regionThe Mesoamerican region is a trans-national economic region in the Americas that is recognized by the OECD and other economic and developmental organizations, comprising the united economies of the seven countries in Central America — Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,...
, an economic territory defined by the OECD, with the same membership scope as the PPP, excepting Colombia - The Trans-Texas CorridorTrans-Texas CorridorThe Trans-Texas Corridor was a transportation network that was discontinued in the planning and early construction stages in the U.S. State of Texas. The network, as originally envisioned, would have been composed of a network of supercorridors up to wide to carry parallel links of tollways,...
, extending from the US-Mexican border through the entire United States along I-69 and into CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
via Port HuronPort Huron, MichiganPort Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administratively autonomous. It is joined by the Blue Water Bridge over the St. Clair River to Sarnia,...
in MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
; may be viewed as a U.S. counterpart to Plan Puebla Panamá transportation initiatives. - Initiative for the Integration of South American Infrastructure, conceptually a follow on or expansion to the Plan Puebla Panamá and Trans-Texas Corridor initiatives, linking those roadways and reducing barriers to the flow of people and goods throughout much of North and South America.
External links
- Official site of PPP (archived)
- http://portal2.sre.gob.mx/ppp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=21
- http://www.rootforce.org
- http://www.iadb.org/ppp
- http://www.americas.org/item_10043
- http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2004/16.html
- http://www.iadb.org/