Martha Rodríguez García dedicated her recognition to the people who have fought for the defense of the hills El Junco and El Cántaro.

D.Arturo Ortega (Chapala).- For her activism in community-strengthening, her environmental defense of the territory and traditions of her community, Martha Rodríguez García, a native of Santa Cruz de la Soledad, Chapala, was recognized with the «Hermila Galindo Acosta» award, granted by the Commission for Substantive and Gender Equality of the Jalisco State Congress to outstanding women from Jalisco, in the framework of International Women’s Day. Hermila Galindo Acosta (1886-1954) was an early Mexican feminist, suffragist and writer. 

On March 8, Rodríguez García received recognition along with nine women from Jalisco and a Civil Association. She has been fighting for eight years to defend El Junco and El Cántaro hills from private interests that seek to divide this natural area.

«I am happy to have received this recognition for the eight-year struggle. We have fought for the environment, for young people, children and the elderly,» said Rodríguez García from the sofa in the living room of her house, who is perhaps the only one with a security and video surveillance system in Santa Cruz de la Soledad.

Since 2014, people outside the community deceitfully bought several properties from residents and “ejidatarios” or communal landowners, with money diverted from the Pension Institute of the State of Jalisco (IPEJAL) for the purpose of building 3,066 single-family homes, 812 duplexes, 400 homes for the elderly, a hotel, clubhouse, golf course, area for horseback riding activities and a hospital contemplated in the luxury megaproject to be built in the hills of El Junco and El Cántaro, in Santa Cruz de la Soledad, thanks to the creation of a trust that would benefit the company «Santa Cruz Inmobiliaria S. A. de C.V.»

Ejido or communally-owned lands are governed by an Ejidal Committee in charge of executing and enforcing the agreements, as well as the representation and administrative management of the ejido.

As Ejido Commissioner, Rodríguez García was able to foresee that the ejido lands would cease to exist, so most of the ejidatarios refused to cede El Cántaro and El Junco. This has meant a battle for the territory that has entailed «stress and  fatigue, even for my own children and we always live with the worry of them doing something to us,» she said.

However, it has not only been hardships that Rodríguez García describes, because in spite of all the circumstances and the sacrifices she has had to face, with a serene and calm look; she mentioned that she has also obtained some satisfaction. 

The case of the dispute over the hills has been at a standstill since 2016, when two members promoted the suspension of the 2015 Ejidal Committee, and then with police removed the committee that Rodríguez García presided as commissioner. A new Ejidal Committee was then formed in the multipurpose room of the temple of the Virgen de la Soledad.

Receiving the «Herminia Galindo Acosta» award at the State Congress.

Once the 2015 Ejidal Committee was removed, an election was called again and in 2018 Rodríguez García was again elected as commissioner, but the National Agrarian Registry did not want to deliver the credentials for that period because there were acts of suspension registered for that period, so, since then the ejido has not met.

Currently they are waiting for a new election to form a new commissariat, but the Agrarian Prosecutor’s Office does not want to deliver the new list of ejidatarios in order to be able to hold the election and seek the least possible obstacles to nullify the elections by the State Government, and some ejido members whose businesses would not be favored by this new slate. 

For this reason, it is necessary to wait for the Agrarian Tribunal to request the updated list of ejidatarios in order to carry out the election of the new Ejidal Committee, which process would be carried out in the presence of agrarian organizations, in addition to the Agrarian Attorney General’s Office, which would call for this new election.

Currently there are 177 ejidatarios or registered owners of communal land, of which 55 have passed away and another 44 live in the United States, leaving only 78 ejidatarios living in Santa Cruz according to the latest registry.

Since September 2021 and thanks to the efforts of the Intermunicipal Association for the Protection of the Environment and Sustainable Development of Lake Chapala (AIPROMADES), El Junco has been registered as part of a project to increase water catchment in 252.59 hectares of that territory (about 625 acres) with the support of the United Nations (UN), Coca-Cola and Arca Continental.

Rodríguez García, 67, is a woman of work more than words, and works in El Junco making paths as protective borders. In a few weeks she will reforest with endemic trees such as mesquite, guamúchil, huaje, tepehuaje, palo dulce, papelillo, tepame, osote, among other species to prevent landslides and increase water catchment in the Santa Cruz dam. 

She recalls that as a child she always accompanied her parents in their farm work. At that time there were not so many houses, the town was smaller and many of the people supported their families by farming; that is why the hills of El Cántaro and El Junco are so important to her, but the most important thing is to preserve the space as a protected natural area for future generations.

Translated by Kerry Watson