Let’s clean up the Carretera
By: Patrick O’Heffernan
Back in November 2021, our reporter in Jocotepec, Héctor Ruiz Mejía, wrote a story about the trash problem in San Juan Cosalá. He described garbage trucks with no gas, rats invading homes, a school with weeks’ worth of garbage stacked in front of its gates, and more.
Part of the problem is the refusal of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos to allow Jocotepec to continue dumping in the GEN landfill, a problem which the municipality is working on. But something else has come to my attention: the deterioration of the Carretera into the landfill that Jocotepec sorely needs.
If you drive from Ajijic to Joco and pass through the happy gauntlet of touts directing your attention to the seafood restaurants that line the lakefront, you won’t notice the piles of garbage lining the highway across from the eateries. In fact, one restaurant even has a large billboard announcing its presence astride a growing pile of garbage and debris.
Garbage, construction debris, junk, and old furniture now l fill open areas of the roadside of the Carretera practically from the county line to Jocotepec. Garbage trucks have nowhere to put what they collect . But people have to put it somewhere and the roadside is the easiest and most available place.
But do you really want to take your out of town visitors to any of the great restaurants along the lake when you have to drive through a smelly field of trash? Maybe not – after all there are so many great restaurants in both Chapala and Jocotepec on clean, trash-free streets. Some even have great lake views.
To be fair, you can’t blame the Jocotepec municipality for the problem of the lack of a landfill and you have to cheer them for trying to solve it. The Carretera – Highway 23 – is Federal property; neither the state nor the municipalities have the authority nor the funds to clean it. And it is not fair to ask businesses along the Carretera to clean up the piles every day; that is what they pay taxes for. And where would they put it?
Perhaps the solution lies in the kind of collaboration and citizen action we have seen in Ajijic and Chapala. Until Jocotepec acquires a landfill, Expats and Mexican citizens and local businesses can raise funds, purchase a dedicated garbage truck, lease a piece of land, fence it and clean up the highway until Jocotepec has the funds and a landfill.
Yes, the Carretera Federal is managed by the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes, SCT) and it is the Federal government’s responsibility. But let’s face it, the garbage would completely block the highway before the SCT got around cleaning the roadside.
In Chapala, expats have purchased fire trucks for the Bomberos. Why not a garbage truck for the Jocotepec Carretera? In Ajijic, the delegado has organized citizens to fill potholes; why not similar brigadistas in Joco to load trash from the roadside into the truck and haul it to a properly fenced and managed leased site.
This is a temporary solution to be sure, but the investment and the collaboration will last a long time and give the Jocotepec government and people an opportunity to show how well they care for their community . And might even pay for itself in increased business to the lakeshore restaurants.
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