Residents of San Antonio Tlayacapan claim the deeds are fake and decided to intervene to demand that their public areas not be stolen.
Land located next to the San Antonio Tlayacapan boardwalk. Photo: Armando Esquivel.
Armando Esquivel(San Antonio Tlayacapan).- José de Jesús Arambul Solorio, a former PAN candidate for Congress, has been accused of corruption by local citizens for trying to subdivide land in a federal zone on the beaches of Lake Chapala, next to the San Antonio Tlayacapan boardwalk.
Claiming that Arambul Solorio used faked deeds and a corrupt notary, the citizens went to take back the public space on the afternoon of April 1. Arambul Solorio was also present accompanied by his subordinates.
About 50 people gathered on the San Antonio Tlayacapan boardwalk; men, women, children, young and old came to defend what they consider to be public spaces and began removing the metal fence poles. Jesús Arambul’s subordinates wanted to confront the demonstrators, but were told to «leave them alone» and just record the action.
As the activists shouted «raiders» and «invaders» and the crowd of citizens, many of them very angry, joined in to recover the spaces they consider public, the former candidate for local deputy for the National Action Party (PAN) chose to hide inside a trailer on in the property the group claimed he had illegally invaded.
One of the people accompanying the politician claimed that they were acting legally because they had a deed to the land. They said it was not fair for the neighbors to label them as outsiders parachuting “into the community to take public land.
One of Jesús Arambul’s subordinates offered a copy of a deed and tried to argue that it proved the claim to the land was legal. He asked “Who is the leader?” so he could dialogue with someone in charge, but the crowd answered that no one was a leader and that they all acted equally.
The photocopies of the deed presented show that Alvaro Guzmán Merino, notary public 126 of Guadalajara, issued the document, endorsing the purchase and sale of almost 5,104 square meters in front of the lake, with Gerardo Ponce Gómez as the seller and Jesús Arambul as the buyer. Those present said they never heard of Ponce Gómez
The title deed shown has an issue date of February 2021, but the Official Gazette of the State of Jalisco, July 24, 2020 , states that the notary in question could not practice because he was suspended. Additionally, Jesús Arambul’s subordinates did not present previous deeds; instead they argued that the property was owned by the seller since 1994 and that he had a concession from the National Water Commission (CONAGUA). No evidence of a concession was presented.
Jesús Arambul intends to subdivide the property for a luxury housing development and is already putting 11 lots up for sale, asking 6,500 pesos per square meter, legal deeds, supposedly with all the services, at the foot of the lake and with a fenced preserve.
CONAGUA representatives were not in evidence at the demonstration, following their failure to defend the shores of Lake Chapala which they are legally obliged to protect. The municipal government say sthat they have not neglected the issue and have reported invasions to the federal agency.
«They have told us that it is not a municipal issue, however, you are aware that we have entered (the disputed land), we have recovered spaces and we will continue working on the recovery of public spaces. I believe that the participation of the inhabitants is very important», Chapala President Alejandro de Jesús Aguirre Curiel said during an interview with the media, adding that the demonstrators should take care in their actions.
Two municipal police patrols were present on the day of the demonstration, but decided to withdraw before the protest started.
José de Jesús Arambul Solorio ran for local deputy for the XI district in Zapopan, using his political party, Acción Nacional, and lost the race. Arambul also served as coordinator within the Secretariat of Mobility of Jalisco, where he was disciplined for failing to file his asset declaration after leaving office. A politician with a law degree, he owns «Grupo AS Bienes Raíces», which is running ads on the internet offering large lots of land for sale in Chapala.
The fence built on this property was torn down and closure seals had been placed on the property by the authorities, but work has continued. Arambul Solorio promised not to make any moves until the situation is legally resolved, but the neighbors of San Antonio Tlayacapan, who were also accompanied by a group of people from Ajijic, said they do not believe him and fear that political influence could result in luxury houses on the shoreline and the exclusion of citizens to spaces they consider to belong to all.
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
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