Legal Definitions - exidos

The term "exidos" is an alternative spelling or a common misspelling of ejidos.

Ejidos refers to a unique system of communal land tenure predominantly found in Mexico. Under this system, land is owned collectively by a community, known as an *ejido*, rather than by individual private owners. While the community holds the overall title to the land, individual members (called *ejidatarios*) are granted specific rights to use and cultivate designated plots within the ejido. This system was largely established after the Mexican Revolution to redistribute land to peasants and rural communities.

Key characteristics of ejidos include:

• Communal Ownership: The land belongs to the community as a whole.
• Individual Usage Rights: *Ejidatarios* have hereditary rights to use and benefit from specific plots, often for agriculture or housing.
• Limited Transferability: Historically, ejido land could not be easily sold or mortgaged. While reforms in the 1990s introduced mechanisms for *ejidatarios* to privatize their plots or for the community to sell communal land, these processes typically require significant community consensus and legal procedures.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of ejidos:

• Agricultural Community: In a rural area of Chiapas, a group of families forms an ejido that collectively manages a vast tract of fertile land. Each family, as an ejidatario, has a designated plot where they grow corn, beans, and coffee for their livelihood. Decisions about shared resources, such as irrigation systems, access roads, or communal grazing areas, are made by the entire community through an assembly, ensuring that the land benefits all members.

  This example illustrates how ejidos function as a collective landholding for agricultural purposes, with individual families having usage rights while the community retains overall control and makes decisions about shared resources.

• Urban Expansion and Development: On the outskirts of a rapidly growing city like Querétaro, there is an ejido that was once entirely agricultural. As the city expands, developers express interest in acquiring portions of the ejido land for housing projects or commercial centers. For this to happen, the ejido assembly must vote to approve the sale or lease of the land, and the land's legal status would need to be converted from communal to private property, a complex process designed to protect the community's interests.

  This scenario demonstrates how ejidos interact with urban development pressures, highlighting the communal decision-making process and the legal steps required to alter the traditional communal ownership structure.

• Coastal Tourism Development: Along the Yucatán Peninsula, an ejido owns a stretch of pristine coastline. A large resort company approaches the ejido with an offer to lease a significant portion of their beachfront land for 99 years to build a luxury hotel. The ejidatarios hold a series of meetings and votes to decide whether to accept the offer, negotiate terms that ensure economic benefits for the community, and establish agreements for local employment, all while navigating the legal framework for converting or leasing communal land for commercial use.

  This example illustrates how ejidos, even those with valuable natural resources, operate under a communal ownership model, requiring collective agreement and adherence to specific legal procedures when considering large-scale development projects.