José María Morelos, Q.R. — Landowners have denied offers of purchase to Mennonites looking to buy in José María Morelos. While some of the land simply cannot be sold due to its location in protected areas, others are refusing the offers due to recent illegal logging issues.
Landowners in the community of San Isidro Poniente have rejected a recent offer by a group of Mennonites to purchase land. Landowner Bernardo Paat Canché explained that San Isidro Poiente is located within the Balam K’aax reserve and therefore cannot be sold.
He says they are aware of land being deforested illegally for agro-industrial monocultures by the Mennonite communities, and that while they do not have any record of such forest felling in their area, others ejidos do.
Ejido land in Piedras Negras was one of the Mennonite communities shut down between June and August by federal inspectors from Profepa (Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection). According to Paat Canché, since the discovery of more than 2,500 hectares of illegally cleared land this summer, inspectors are still seen in the area.
He says since the incident in Piedras Negras, the Mexican Army and personnel from the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp), have been conducting inspections.
Following Profepa’s initial operations in José María Morelos, Bacalar and the Bala’an K’aax this summer, ejidos from San Isidro Poniente have not sold land to Mennonites nor have they recorded any logging on their plots.
In September, federal inspectors said from June 15 to August 31, 2025, they shut down 17 Mennonite properties for illegal land clearing. All 17 land closures, which total over 3,700 hectares, are in the Yucatan Peninsula.
The Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (Profepa) reported that the forest had been illegally cleared to allow the planting of agro-industrial monocultures, primarily by Mennonite communities.
Of their inspected areas, Quintana Roo had the most devastation in the communities of José María Morelos, Bacalar and the Bala’an K’aax reserve where 2,531.1 hectares had been illegally cleared. Of the 17 area shut down, 13 Mennonite communities are facing criminal complaints by the federal government.
