Asamblea General Permanente del Pueblo de San Gregorio Atlapulco
The Asamblea General Permanente del Pueblo de San Gregorio Atlapulco (the Permanent General Assembly of the People of San Gregorio Atlapulco) is a community body representing the Nahua indigenous people of San Gregorio Atlapulco, in the Xochimilco municipality of Mexico City. It is a non-partisan space in which unique forms of community governance and collective decision-making are practised in a territory with a long history of defending human rights. Its work focuses on defending collective rights, particularly those of the indigenous peoples of Xochimilco in the face of imposed projects, cultural rights, as well as the right to the environment, territory, water and the protection of the chinampas (floating gardens).
The Asamblea General Permanente del Pueblo de San Gregorio Atlapulco is made up of various sectors of the community, such as communal landholders, chinampa farmers, women, young people, teachers and residents who participate in the community’s decision-making. It emerged as a space to address conflicts over water projects such as the Actopan Collector and the Integral Water Plan, as well as for the defence and recovery of community spaces such as the Tlamachtiloyan People’s Library/House, particularly from 2022 onwards when members of the Assembly gathered in a pacific protest were repressed due to the various demands they made to the local authorities. Among their activities, they organise community meetings and assemblies to discuss and collectively decide on projects that affect them. They also promote actions to defend their territory, including peaceful protests, information sessions, community bonfires, support for legal proceedings, and the recovery of community spaces They also coordinate with broader spaces such as the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de los Derechos de los Pueblos (People's Front for the Defence of People's Rights) and Asamblea Nacional por el Agua y la Vida (National Assembly for Water and Life), where they connect with other communities and organisations in defence of water and the commons.
The Asamblea General Permanente del Pueblo de San Gregorio Atlapulco and its members face a high-risk situation due to their work in defence of water, the territory and the collective rights of the indigenous people. In recent years, they have been subjected to multiple attacks, including the excessive use of police force during operations to disperse protests, criminalisation through legal proceedings against defenders, smear and desinformation campaigns, physical attacks and dead threats by shock groups linked to partisan interests.
The work of the Asamblea General Permanente del Pueblo de San Gregorio Atlapulco has been acknowledged and raised as a matter of concern by the Mexico City Human Rights Commission, which, in Recommendation 01/2026 issued on February 2026, documented, human rights violations occurring in the context of the protest on 5 September 2024, including the excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions and infringements on the right to social protest exercised by members of the Asamblea General Permanente del Pueblo de San Gregorio Atlapulco. This resolution highlights the legitimacy of their defence of the territory and water, and further emphasises the need to adopt structural measures to ensure that such attacks against them do not happen again.
