Nahua Del Alto Balsas was a UNPO member between 2004 and 2013. 

The Nahua communities of the Alto Balsas (Guerrero, Mexico) have long contended with political underrepresentation, threatened land and natural resource rights, and limited control over development in their territory. Their principal voice has been the Consejo de Pueblos Nahuas del Alto Balsas (CPNAB), a non‑governmental, community-based organisation formed in October 1990 by more than 22 local Nahua authorities.

CPNAB’s early mobilisation focused on resisting the San Juan Tetelcingo dam, a hydroelectric project that threatened to inundate large swathes of Nahua land along the Balsas River. Through sustained protests, legal action, and popular assemblies, they successfully pressured authorities, ultimately contributing to the project’s suspension. Beyond hydropower, the Nahua of Alto Balsas continue to face mining pressures: in 2017, eight Nahua communities agreed to mobilize against gold mining concessions that encroach on their ancestral lands. Economically, many communities suffer from extreme marginalisation, with inadequate infrastructure and limited public services.

The Alto Balsas Nahuas maintain a distinctive cultural identity rooted in Nahuatl language, agricultural traditions, artisanal handicrafts (such as amate‑paper painting, ceramics, alfarería), and a worldview deeply tied to the river, mountains and forests of their territory. Their social practices include milpa agriculture, huertos de humedad (irrigated gardens by the river), and collective labour systems, which are part of their communal identity and ritual life. The language serves as a vessel for transmitting myths, cosmology, specialized environmental knowledge, and cultural values, yet it is under pressure from Spanish, migration, and changing economic realities.

The Nahua of the Alto Balsas, located in the Balsas River valley and adjacent highlands of Guerrero, Mexico, have inhabited this region for many centuries, forming part of the broader Nahua linguistic and cultural family with deep Mesoamerican roots. Their precolonial history was shaped by riverine and highland settlement patterns, agricultural practices such as milpa cultivation, and cultural exchanges with neighboring Mesoamerican groups. The arrival of Spanish colonialism in the 16th century brought epidemics, land dispossession, and disruptions to traditional governance, yet the Nahuas preserved key aspects of their language, social organisation, and ritual life. 

In modern times, their political mobilisation intensified in 1990 with the founding of the Consejo de Pueblos Nahuas del Alto Balsas (CPNAB) in response to the proposed San Juan Tetelcingo hydroelectric dam, which threatened to flood ancestral lands and disrupt cultural and ecological systems. Through sustained advocacy, the CPNAB successfully contributed to the suspension and eventual cancellation of the dam by 1992, establishing a model of Indigenous resistance and community-led governance. Since then, the Nahuas have continued to defend their territory, resist mining and development pressures, and institutionalise their Plan Alternativo de Desarrollo Sustentable y Autónomo, emphasising sustainable, culturally grounded development. Contemporary efforts also focus on cultural preservation, language revitalisation, and ecological knowledge transmission, alongside ongoing political engagement, such as the 2025 regional assembly advocating for a “Plan de Justicia” and the creation of a dedicated municipality. Their history reflects a continuous struggle to assert autonomy, protect ancestral lands, and sustain cultural identity amid social, economic, and environmental challenges.