Indigenous municipalities and experiences in the exercise of self-government in Morelos, Mexico

Abstract

In 2014, the government of the state of Morelos presented a bill to amend Article 40 of the local constitution and thus facilitate the creation of indigenous municipalities. The towns that were transformed into municipalities were: Xoxocotla, Hueyapan, Coatetelco, and Tetelcingo, being noteworthy that, since the issuance of their decrees, there have been a series of conflicts related to their municipalization process

This paper shows how such conflicts affected the exercise of self-government in municipalized towns. To succeed, a documentary review was conducted on the background of the municipalist struggle, the reforms to the legal instruments issued, and the conflicts that arose in the towns after their municipalization. The results of this research confirm that the indigenous municipality’s legal scope and the organization of peoples itself can give way to innovative forms of self-government.