1. INTRODUCTION
Peace and Dialogue Centers are community spaces.
1.1 PROJECT OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project is to investigate and strengthen the Peace and Dialogue Centers since they have made possible to resolve everyday problems like those of Rufina and mitigate the barriers, she faces in accessing justice. Rufina Vázquez, a native of the Santa Lucía community who lives in the San Juan Atzingo neighborhood, is of Tlahuica origin, bilingual, elderly, and experiences difficulty walking, so she uses a cane. Currently, she is facing a family and land boundary conflict, for which she needs to travel to Ocuilan, municipal seat, on a trip that lasts two hours, either by bus or public transportation, to go to the offices of a conciliating judge in hopes of having her case addressed.

Rufina Vázquez, user of the Peace and Dialogue Center at San Juan Atzingo, speaking in Tlahuica.
The obstacles that Rufina must overcome, for a simple knock at the door of justice, are numerous, including distance, cost, and possibly attitudinal, since people have historically referred to Sanjuanero locals as huarachudos. In other words, they face linguistic discrimination because they speak in their native Tlahuica language. Nevertheless, to address justice-related needs – and mitigate distance, cost, language barriers, stereotypes, and formalistic processes—these populations tend to activate a non-jurisdictional justice mechanism, either through a community level authority, religious leaders, or even a structured mediation or conciliation mechanism that caters to the social, cultural, and political organization of these communities.
This research addresses precisely one of these non-jurisdictional mechanisms, Peace and Dialogue Centers, which constitute a model where alternative justice by the State and community level justice interact.
These Centers operate independently of formal and jurisdictional structures, which allows for and prioritizes oral participation, flexibility, dialogue, the involvement of all participants, low costs, and, most importantly, the preservation of cultural relevance and, in some cases, even linguistic identity. This research offers a record of what these Centers are and how they function, as well as the community context where they are developed, in order to inquire about their importance in relation to expanding access to justice in a variety of local contexts. To highlight this model, the report contains a very important visual component to grant the Centers and, particularly, those individuals linked to them, greater visibility.
1.2 MODEL BACKGROUND
Conflict resolution through conciliations, in addition to other methodologies, is a traditional practice of indigenous communities. Therefore, the background for Peace and Dialogue Centers is the same as that of community mechanisms operated by community members.
Promotion and accompaniment of the Centers by the Judicial Branch of the State of Mexico (in Spanish, and hereinafter, PJEdoMex) initially result from translation and interpretation of Legislation for Mediation, Conciliation, and Promotion of Social Peace in the State of Mexico into the five indigenous languages spoken throughout the State of Mexico: Otomí, Mazahua, Náhuatl, Matlatzinca, and Tlahuica. Interpretation and translation became the starting point to transmit the law orally to indigenous people located in penitentiary centers. This interaction between the alternative mechanisms and indigenous communities triggered greater outreach with community authorities focused on conflict management through dialogue and preventing escalation; that is to say, avoiding “escalating” by going to different authorities, for example, seeking a conciliatory judge or the Public Prosecutor's Office. According to Guillermo Martínez, a PJEdoMex mediator and originator of this model, the aim was to return authority to community leaders, so they would be the ones managing the community’s own conflicts, resorting to peaceful dialogue. These actions led to open the first Center in Pueblo Nuevo, Acambay.
These initiatives culminated in 2019 with the opening of the first PDC in Pueblo Nuevo, a location with a predominantly Otomí population, under the promotion, at the time, of the delegate, the mediating officer, and the municipal president in turn, in conjunction with PJEdoMex mediator Guillermo Martínez.
Four more years passed before three additional Centers opened and, to achieve this, it was necessary for indigenous leaders of certain communities, led by the indigenous multicultural governor, to conduct outreach and management work with the Center for Mediation, Conciliation, and Restorative Justice of the PJEdoMex. The next Center to open was located in San Juan Atzingo, Ocuilan, in June 2023, one of the last municipalities with a Tlahuica language-speaking population. A few months later, specifically towards the end of August 2023, PDCs in Zinacantepec and San Miguel Almaya in Capulhuac, municipalities with Náhuatl and Otomí language-speaking populations, were inaugurated.

Guillermo Martínez, mediator from PJEdoMex
1.3 Methodology
This research is purely qualitative and was essentially based on semi-structured interviews conducted with those currently involved in the Centers, as well as with people involved in their creation and operation, both from the indigenous communities where they were opened, and from the PJEdoMex.
Fieldwork was conducted in four indigenous communities: Pueblo Nuevo, Acambay (Otomí); Zinacantepec (Náhuatl and Otomí); San Miguel Almaya, Capulhuac (Náhuatl and Otomí) and San Juan Atzingo, Ocuilan (Tlahuica), during the months of September and October 2023. During visits to the Centers, the profile and number of people interviewed in each community varied substantially for two main reasons: the length of time Centers had been operating and the community authorities involved in their operation.
Laureano Bibiano Delegate (Barrio II), Peace and Dialogue Center in Pueblo Nuevo, speaking in Otomí.