Plan Puebla-Panamá (PPP) Resource List

Plan Puebla-Panamá (PPP) Resource List
en Español

The Plan Puebla-Panamá (PPP) is a mega-development project for Southern Mexico and Central America promoted by the governments of the region and the Inter-American Development Bank. It has garnered strong opposition in the region. This web list includes resources in both English and Spanish.

The * symbol represents a site we find particularly useful.

III Semana de Diversidad Biológica y Cultural - III Week of Biological and Cultural Diversity (http://foroshonduras.org.hn/biod.htm)
Honduras: Spanish. Website for this July 2003 Forum. Includes information from various previous forums.

IV Foro Mesoamericano por la Autodeterminación y Resistencia de los Pueblos - IV Mesoamerican Forum for Self Determination and People's Resistance (http://www.4foromesoamericano.com/)
Honduras: Spanish. Website for this July 2003 Forum. Includes information from various previous forums.

* ACERCA (Action for Community and Ecology in the Rainforests of Central America)
(http://www.asej.org/ACERCA/ppp/ppp.php)
U.S.: mostly English, some Spanish. This website is a great place to start. It has a booklet on the PPP as well as the declarations from regional conferences on PPP in English and Spanish. It also has a NoPPP action packet and articles on the PPP. Learn about and join the No PPP Network (Network opposed to the Plan Puebla Panama) which covers the U.S. and Canada. ACERCA is a project of ASEJ (Action for Social and Ecological Justice).

* Americas Program (http://www.americaspolicy.org)
U.S.: mostly English, some Spanish. Select "PPP Spotlight" for excellent background information and articles on the PPP. Maintained by the Interhemispheric Resource Center.

Bank Information Center: Plan Puebla-Panamà General Information (http://www.bicusa.org/lac/PPP.htm)
U.S.: English. Summary of each PPP initiative, with contact people, primarily in the Inter American Development Bank (IDB). Last updated June 2002.

Cáritas Panamá (http://www.caritaspanama.org)
Panama: Spanish. Organization of the Panamanian Episcopal Conference (CEP) (Conferencia Episcopal Panameña). Regularly updated information on the Coordinadora Campesina Contra los Embalses (CCCE) (Peasant Coordination Against the Artificial Ponds/Dams). This is a struggle against the mega project modernizing the Panama Canal.

* The Center for Economic and Political Research for Community Action (CIEPAC) (http://www.ciepac.org)
Mexico: English and Spanish. CIEPAC, a Chiapas based non profit, incorporates the collaboration of professionals in sociology, communications, psychology, and economics. Members of CIEPAC carry out research and analysis on the economic, political, social, and military situation in Chiapas in its national and international context. These bulletins, "Chiapas al Día," are distributed by electronic mail in English and Spanish. Many past bulletins have been on the PPP and related issues. The website also includes numerous documents written on issues affecting the region, including the PPP and a list of their publications which can be ordered. This includes an excellent book on the PPP. Has a search function. Although you cannot look for a phrase, you can change how the results are organized. Or you can press "Que es el PPP" and get links to key documents (including from the Mexican government), declarations and organizations, primarily in Spanish.

Chiapas Independent Media Centers - Centros de Medios Independientes Chiapas (http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/)
Mexico: There is material in English and Spanish, with a quick translator tool on the site. The search engine allows you to search by type of source, subject, language and words or phrase. There are no direct links to PPP information, but you can find information via the search function. This site includes denunciations of repression and conflict in southern Mexico. You can quickly upload information: text, photos, videos.

Diversidad Biológica - Diversidad Cultural / Biological Diversity - Cultural Diversity (http://www.laneta.apc.org/biodiversidad/)
Mexico: in Spanish. News, analysis as well as information from the Foro por la Diversidad Biologica y Cultural that took place in Chiapas in June 2001.

Foro Xelajú, en Guatemala 2001 (http://usuarios.lycos.es/xelaju/xela.htm)
Guatemala: in Spanish. The website for this Mesoamerican meeting. Includes final declaration, presentations, notes from working groups.

Green Tropics - Trópico Verde (http://www.tropicoverde.org)
Guatemala: Spanish, minimal English. An organization based in Guatemala dedicated to defending the environment focusing on such things as forests and mangroves. Includes three documents on the PPP, one on the potential environmental impact of the PPP, one on the strategy behind the PPP, and the most recent on the Mundo Maya Project, that promotes tourism.

Grupo Solidario de Acción y Propuesta de Petén - Peten Action and Proposal Solidarity Group
(http://www.unq.edu.ar/revista-theomai/numero5/artileanavalenzuela.htm)
Guatemala: in Spanish. Good article from Revista Theomai, 2002, by Ileana Valenzuela of Associación de Comunidades Forestales de Petén (Association of Forest Communities in Petén) on the PPP and the counter response in the Petén, Guatemala which led to the formation of the Grupo Solidario de Acción y Propuesta de Petén.

Inter-American Development Bank Civil Society Initiative (http://www.interaction.org/idb)
U.S.: English, minimal Spanish. Initiative of InterAction, the American Council for Voluntary International Cooperation. The goal of the Inter-American Development Bank-Civil Society Initiative is to promote institutional reform of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) by increasing civil society participation in its lending process. The E-Bulletin is posted about every six months, providing updates based on information gathered through meetings with the IDB, and information received for organizations in the region.

International Rivers Network (IRN) (http://www.irn.org)
U.S.: English, some Spanish. IRN supports local communities working to protect their rivers and watersheds. They work to halt destructive river development projects, and to encourage equitable and sustainable methods of meeting needs for water, energy and flood management. Go to Latin America section. Includes the Citizens Guide on the World Commission on Dams (http://www.irn.org/wcd/wcdguide.pdf, en espanol tambien http://www.irn.org/wcd/wcdguide-s.pdf), and declarations from communities affected by proposed dam projects.

Network Opposed to the Plan Puebla Panama (NoPPP) http://www.lasolidarity.org/noppp/
English, Spanish. Includes monthly Spanish summary of news related to the PPP, NoPPP Booklet "PPP: Battle over the Future of Mesoamerica", international declarations against the PPP, how to contact the network, and useful links.

* Mesoamerica Resiste (http://www.mesoamericaresiste.org)
Mexico: Spanish. Website of Union de Comunidades Indígenas de la Zona norte del Istmo - UCIZONI (Union of Indigenous Communities in the Northern Zone of the Isthmus), and Group de Trabajo Colective del Istmo- GTCI (Isthmus Collective Working Group). Network of Mixe, Zapoteca, Zoque, Chinanteca, Barreña, Mixteca and Mestiza communities in the Tehuantepec isthmus region of Oaxaca. Leading player in the citizen's movement in resistance to the PPP. Regular news updates and analysis. Extensive directory with contact information of Mesoamerican groups working on the PPP at http://www.mesoamericaresiste.org/primeras/segundas/directorio.html.

Mexican Free Trade Action Network - Red Mexicana de Acción Frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC): Plan Puebla-Panamá (http://www.rmalc.org.mx/ppp/index.php)
Mexico: Spanish. Leading Mexican nonprofit working on trade, development, the environment, human rights and related issues including PPP. Extensive PPP information on website. Has the declarations from 2003 Honduras Forum and 2002 forums on PPP as well as the declaration and presentations from the forum in Tapachula, Chiapas in May 2001.

Rural Research: Everything on Puebla Panama Plan and Latin Resistence - Investigación Rural: Todo sobre el Plan Puebla Panama y la Resistencia Latina
(http://www.geocities.com/investigaccion_rural/ppp.htm)
Mexico: Spanish. This website is a little difficult to follow. There is some good analysis, documents and news. The site includes Mexican government's May 2002 PPP plan for Mexico.

INTER GOVERNMENTAL SITES

Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) - Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica (BCIE) (http://www.bcie.org)
Honduras: Spanish, English to come. Large funder of PPP projects in Central America. New website under construction with little information.

General Secretariat of the System for Central American Integration - Secretaría General del Sistema de Integración Centroamericano (SICA) (http://www.sgsica.org)
El Salvador: Mostly Spanish, some English. SICA is supposed to carry out and coordinate the mandates coming out of the Central American Presidential Summits and the decisions of the Council of Foreign Ministers. The site includes a news section, and a list of upcoming events focusing on regional meetings and international government investors. Includes current and back issues of bimonthly bulletin. Detailed English and Spanish section on the Alianza en Energía y Ambiente con Centroamérica (Energy and Environment Partnership with Central America project), a three year project funded by Finland. Under Instituciones and then Secretarias Tecnicas, has links and information on such bodies as CCAD- Comision Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo, SITCA- Secretaria de Integracion Turistica Centroamericana, and SISCA- Secretaria de la Integracion Social Centroamericana.

* Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) / Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID): Plan Puebla-Panamá (http://www.iadb.org/ppp)
U.S.: English and Spanish. Portion of the Inter-American Development Bank - primary promoter of the PPP - website devoted to promoting the PPP. Includes documents explaining projects and regularly adds documents often produced for or as a result of specific meetings. Organized by basic documents, monthly reports (which don't come out regularly), initiative, country and institution/author. You can organize the documents by title, author, date or sub-sector.

Mexican Government PPP Website / Gobierno Mexicano Sitio PPP http://ppp.sre.gob.mx/
Mexico: primarily Spanish. Documents from meetings, information on the implementation of the PPP in Mexico, statistics on Mesoamerica.

Secretaría de Integración Económica Centroamericana - Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) (http://www.sieca.org.gt)
Guatemala: primarily Spanish. Select "Sistema integrado de Información." SIECA primarily assists the Council of Ministers of Economic Integration, facilitating and preparing the themes and technical documentation as well as logistics for their meetings. This website covers different aspects of integration: intellectual property, trade, foreign affairs, customs, free trade, transportation and the labor market. Under "bases de datos" you can find recent articles from the press in the Central America region on various aspects of integration that can be searched by country, source, theme and key words. One can also find, in English and Spanish, statistics on Central American trade.

Maps of Mesoamerica
Interaction- detailed Mesoamerican map (http://www.interaction.org/library/detail.php?id=1946)
CIEPAC - various maps of Mesoamerica (http://www.ciepac.org/maps/categoryindex.htm)
Mexican Tehuantepec Isthmus: various maps
(http://www.laneta.apc.org/oaxaca/final/indexmeg.html, http://www.laneta.apc.org/oaxaca/megaproyecto/mapaschicos/Mcuadro2/mapasc2.html, http://www.laneta.apc.org/oaxaca/megaproyecto/mapaschicos/Mcuadro1/mapa06.html)