Forty years ago the site was looted and has left a cultural legacy of mistrust with the Tzeltal people that inhabit the area. This project is a cultural project to restore the damage that has been done and reclaim artifacts that were stolen. Chiapas is the poorest state in Mexico. There are about six million indigenous people in Chiapas that basically constitute the modern Mayan population. There is virtually no industry in Chiapas with the exception of some oil production and mining to the North and some light and heavy industry in Tuxtla Gutierez.
Many rural households operate without the benefit of electricity or modern plumbing.
This agrarian society is struggling with the encroachment of industrialized society of the centrist Federal District as well as tourism in the northern most part of the state, which is centered around restored Mayan ruins in Palenque, and to a further extent in the state of Campeche. The heavy geographic prohibitions of the heavily eroded steep mountains create a natural boundary around several modern language groups in this area, which is the basis for academic interest. Much can be done to shepherd an agrarian society through industrial encroachment by means of the exchange of ideas. Ideas are a commodity this community can afford. Military occupation has created the general tensions associated with the presence of imposed authority.