Multiple crises, neo-developmentalism, and megaprojects in Mexico’s southeast region

Abstract

This article analyzes the extractivist and dispossession modalities in the Mexican neodevelopmental proposal to face the multiple crises accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the qualitative narrative method applied to social processes, four infrastructure and extractivist megaprojects are analyzed. Neodevelopmental policies of the current government insist on carrying out works as a strategy to create jobs, reactivate the economy, and promote well-being, especially for the southeast region with high rates of socioeconomic inequality. The fi ndings point to an increase in investment and job creation and a rejection by various communities and organizations that consider that their ways of life are being threatened by the eff orts of the neodevelopmental government to build megaprojects before and during the pandemic