The dredging on Alceseca was documented by a notary with multiple photos in May 2021, but the evidence was ignored by CONAGUA
Symbolic closure of the reported dredging in Alceseca beach area last May 2021. The photo shows the traces of the work recently done by the machinery. Photo: Archive.
Sofía Medeles (Ajijic).- The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) dismissed the complaint filed by activists from Ajijic, for the dredging of the federal territory of Lake Chapala on Alceseca beach.
The complaint was filed in June of last year, pointing out the dredging and extraction of sand for the construction of a floating dock.
At least four lawyers from Ajijic worked on the case for approximately ten months. The FGR and the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) dismissed the case since they found no evidence at the scene 6 months later despite evidence presented by the Ajijitecos.
«The complaint was filed at the regional FGR headquarters in Ocotlán. When the Investigative Police arrived to investigate in August, they told us that we had to go to CONAGUA to file a complaint,” said one of the citizens. CONAGUA is the governmental authority of Lake Chapala.
When a letter sent to CONAGUA was never answered, an injunction (amparo) was initiated. In December it was determined that the CONAGUA was obliged to carry out its investigations and to continue with the case,» said one of the lawyers.
The citizen interviewed by Laguna said that when CONAGUA conducted a tour of the area months after the incident, it claimed that nothing of what was accused was found. The Prosecutor’s Office decided that there was no crime to prosecute, ignoring the record of facts that a notary made the day the dredging was stopped and the multiple photographs, videos, and witnesses that documented the incident.
«This legal process was tiring in time and form. When CONAGUA representatives met with the protesters they encouraged the citizens to make the denunciation through legal channels. This encouragement was a contradiction of CONAGUA’s actions in this process,” said the citizen.
“The demand that activists utilize other legal channels indicates that the authorities do not care about environmental issues, and if federal institutions are not interested, municipal or state institutions are even less interested. The result is that the authorities refuse to intervene,» said one of the lawyers at the scene.
The dredging was documented on May 20, 2021, through social networks with videos that captured how several dump trucks were removing truckloads of sand.
The formal complaint to the FGR was filed in June 2021. In January of this year, it was announced that the amparo had been resolved, asking CONAGUA to collaborate to clarify the unlawful accusation. Recently, the case was dismissed because «there was nothing on the beach» where the dredging took place.
Translated by Nita Rudy
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