2. Communities
The Centers provide assistance to Otomí, Náhuatl and Tlahuica ethnic groups.
2.1 COMMUNITY CONTEXT
Pueblo Nuevo
Municipality: | Acambay de Ruiz, Castañeda |
Location (km from Toluca): | 94 km from Toluca |
Population: | 70,814 inhabitants: 48.5 % men 51.5 % women |
Indigenous population: | 15.6 % (11,090 indigenous people) |
Ethnicity(ies) with greater presence: | Otomí |
Degree of marginalization | Medium degree of marginalization 50.8% live in poverty, 42.5% in moderate poverty and 8.3% in extreme poverty. |
Economic activities: | Corn, wheat, barley, beans, lima beans, pear, peach, sapote, prickly pear, prune, and plum trees grown for self-consumption and trade. |
San Miguel Almaya
Municipality: | Capulhuac de Mirafuentes |
Location (km from Toluca): | 31 km from Toluca |
Population: | 16,635 inhabitants, 48.6 % male and 51.4 % female |
Indigenous population: | 0.83 % (138 indigenous people) |
Ethnicity(ies) with greater presence: | Otomí, Mazahua, Náhuatl |
Degree of marginalization | Very low degree of marginalization; 60.0 % live in poverty, 54.2 % in moderate poverty and 5.8 % in extreme poverty. |
Economic activities: | Sale of tacos, clothes, and other products in tianguis; and as agricultural activities, planting corn. |
San Juan Atzingo
Municipality: | Ocuilan |
Location (km from Toluca): | 58 km from Toluca |
Population: | 37,446 inhabitants, 40 % male and 51 % female |
Indigenous population: | 0.81 % (305 indigenous people) |
Ethnicity(ies) with greater presence: | Tlahuica |
Degree of marginalization | Low degree of marginalization; 64.6% live in poverty, 52.5% in moderate poverty, and 12.1% in extreme poverty. |
Economic activities: | Corn, beans, peas, oats, and beans are grown. Almost seventy percent of the population are merchants, bricklayers, laborers, carpenters. |
Zinacantepec
Municipality: | Zinacantepec |
Location (km from Toluca): | 14 km from Toluca |
Population: | 207,236, inhabitants, 49.3% male and 50.7% female |
Indigenous population: | 0.48 % (1,005 indigenous people) |
Ethnicity(ies) with greater presence: | Otomí, Mazahua, Náhuatl |
Degree of marginalization | Very low degree of marginalization 52.5% live in poverty, 42.7% in moderate poverty and 9.7% in extreme poverty. |
Economic activities: | Grow potatoes, corn, lima beans, corn, squash, and quelites for their own consumption and trade; a large part of the population is involved in commerce, seafood, and other businesses. |
2.2 COSMOVISION
Although we were unable to go deeper into the worldviews of interviewed individuals, three important elements were mentioned and emerged: language, sense of community, and history. Language, though fewer people speak it, is an important component of identity, and also a factor for cohesion in communities.

Marcelino Domingo Barragán, Grand Chief, Pueblo Nuevo
A sense of community transcends much of the community’s social and cultural organization. An example of this becomes evident through chores, which consist of community work distributed among members of the community, ranging from planting trees caused by illegal logging to improving roads. The tasks are seen as an obligation and reflect a sense of cooperation according to Grand Chief, Marcelino Domingo Barragán López. These sanctions reflect a sense of community, as they are focused on giving back to the community, either by planting trees in locations registering illegal logging, or by cutting the grass at the school.
Laureano Bibiano and Hortensia Martínez, Delegate and Subdelegate (Barrio II) of the Peace and Dialogue Center of Pueblo Nuevo, speaking in Otomí.
These interviews addressed the history of our country, particularly with regard to the periods from the Conquest and Colonization, highlighting, significantly, the ancestral presence of native people, who inhabited these lands before the Spanish arrived. The native people, according to Grand Chief Lucina Hernández, have plenty of history to recover, what was taken from them, in addition to what continues to be prevailing discriminatory treatment and violation of their rights.
Lucina Hernández, Grand Chief, Capulhuac.
2.3 INTERNAL ORGANIZATION
Community authorities
Delegates
Duration: | 3 years |
Type of charge | Honorary |
Elected by: | Community Assembly |
Main tasks | Liaison with City Council to carry out different programs (infrastructure and education); |
Grand Chiefs
Duration: | Lifetime in some communities |
Type of charge | Honorary |
Elected by: | Community Assembly |
Main tasks | Representative of each native people; looks after life and interests of the people. |
Council of Elders/Seniors
Duration: | Lifetime in some communities |
Type of charge | Honorary |
Elected by: | Community Assembly |
Main tasks | Support the Delegate and the Grand Chief |
* Another relevant authority for the San Juan Atzingo PDC is the Commissary of Communal Property, as they oversee the entire land-related nucleus that belongs to the community, from territories to forests and water.
2.4 INTERSECTIONALITIES
People from indigenous communities face structural discrimination and have been marginalized in areas such as health, education, justice and employment. This discrimination creates significant barriers to guaranteeing their rights (CONAPRED, 2023).

Hortensia Martínez Subdelegate (Barrio II), Peace and Dialogue Center at Pueblo Nuevo.
During the interviews, community leaders frequently emphasized their experience of discriminatory treatment, as indicated by Lidia Ángeles Doroteo: “they address us as 'Indians' and 'guarines' and so on”, referring to people from the municipal seat of Ocuilan who address them in a derogatory manner.
In addition, women face multiple discrimination due to their gender and the roles they play in their communities and in society in general. Interviewees noted that there are often no options for addressing violence against women, and that key rights are frequently denied. For example, in Mazahua communities, women are denied land tenure, while in Otomí communities, they are denied the right to inheritance.
From an intersectionality approach, indigenous women face greater barriers to exercising their rights, since gender and ethnic inequality reinforce each other.
Nevertheless, some women serve as Grand Chiefs or hold other leadership roles in indigenous communities, which has highlighted their right to participate in decision-making. This involvement has been crucial to the progress of Peace and Dialogue Centers. Because of different factors, there was no access information related to other populations, including those who are Afro-descendants or the diversity community, because of the challenge entailed in identifying them and openly addressing issues of sexual and gender identity.