The water crisis has led to water being sold in different parts of the country. Photo: Cuartoscuro / Gabriela López.
By: Abigail A. Correa Cisneros
In the midst of the water crisis in this country, there are citizens who exploit loopholes that still exist in the National Water Commission (Conagua) enforement.
This corruption, which has been targeted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration from its beginning, takes the form of illegal wells and the diversion of the most important resource for life, water.
The names of some private individuals who diverted water to their ranches in Nuevo León have just come to light. Fernando González Treviño and Luis González Treviño took for their sole use enough water to supply 140,000 inhabitants. Recently, the State Government reported the existence of clandestine water intakes in various rural municipalities. One of them is connected to a ranch hotel that took water from the San Fernando River; the second is a property in Hualahuises, Nuevo León, which used gates and a dam to restrict the flow of water and divert it for irrigation.
The State also found and closed a reservoir inside a ranch where water was illegally extracted from a pipeline that connected to the El Cuchillo dam in Nuevo León.
Water is no longer a national asset; it is now monopolized by companies and one or two individuals who plunder it with impunity, leaving the neediest without it. Since 1992, the concession system has allowed leaks, and the governments that have come to power have turned a blind eye. This system does not accurately record how much water is extracted or what it is used for.
There are thousands of concession titles for agricultural use when in fact it is used for other purposes, which means a diversion of the subsidy and therefore a crime. In addition, according to the law, those who have concessions for agricultural use are not required to pay for the water they use. Large companies such as mining, soft drink and beer companies among others, have been identified as responsible for taking water away from communities. Several of these corporations benefit from tax write-offs and subsidies intended for rural areas.
Illegal wells have been reported for years, but to no effect. In Chihuahua alone, ejidatarios (owners of communally-owned land), farmers and members of the El Barzón organization ( a movement of working and lower-middle-class private business and farming interests in Mexico) have been denouncing this activity for at least a decade. Those affected did their investigation,, since Conagua showed no interest, and discovered close to 1,500 illegal wells in the state.
When the complaint was made during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto, Conagua suddenly came up with 395 registration certificates that were delivered to producers in the municipalities of Cuauhtémoc, Riva Palacio and Namiquipa (Cuauhtémoc and Santa Clara aquifers); areas where the illegal wells had been found.
What is particularly deplorable is that when the farmers denounce illegal activity or seek to have their rights recognized, they are treated as troublemakers and criminals, and even face death threats. For example, in the case of Chihuahua where the complaint was made a few decades ago, the authorities – instead of defending citizens – allowed the arrest of about twenty people for protesting the electrification of illegal wells that are depleting the aquifers.
Since 2012, several agricultural producers with legal concessions to extract water from the hydrological basin of the Río del Carmen, have noticed that their harvests have decreased in volume due to the depletion of the aquifers. They started a movement to demand that the authorities cancel the more than 400 illegal wells in the basin. Illegal overexploitation not only affects families who have concessions to plant their plots and produce food, but also causes irreversible damage to natural resources.
In 2012, Ismael Solorio and Manuela Solís were murdered for defending the right to water. In the time period 2021 to 2019, there have been 83 murders of environmental and territorial defenders, who mostly fought for access to water for their communities.
FROM THE CENTER
The Summit of the Americas, held this year in Los Angeles, recently ended. One of many topics discussed was the uncontrollable migration in the region. In addition to steps such as allocating more financial support to Central American countries, the Sting program was highlighted. The plan, which is aimed at dismantling migrant caravans, is subject to criticism in terms of human rights violations. While it combats coyotes (human smugglers), it also treats migrants as criminals. In an interview with CNN, the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas, spoke of the program. He said the Sting program will deploy hundreds of agents in Latin America to dismantle the «human smuggling» network dedicated to organizing the caravans of thousands of migrants that have become a headache for the United States and other governments in the region, Mexico included.
The first 6,700 tons of ammonium sulfate arrived in Mexico. This shipment will help meet the demand of commercial agriculture at competitive prices, as well as increase the country’s agri-food productivity to combat the global crisis caused by the conflict in Eastern Europe. According to Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, these measures to increase the availability of fertilizer to Mexican farmers are part of AMLO’s Plan against inflation and shortages (PACIC). The Plan eliminates the compensatory quota for ammonium sulfate previously in effect.
Translated by Rebecca Zittle
Trucks stuck on Colón street in Ajijic.
Editor.- It was not his day. The owner of a recent model white pickup truck was very unlucky. On Friday, June 10, he left his large vehicle parked on Colón street in Ajijic, almost at the Carretera. He did not count on a bottled water delivery truck getting stuck with his pickup, and even though the Bonefont delivery drivers tried to unblock the vehicles, they were unable to do so.
The pickup truck had scratches on its side, while the water delivery truck barely showed any scratches. The white truck was towed away from the site, but while traveling through El Tempisque, it broke loose from the tow truck, rolling downhill in reverse until it stopped when it hit the corner of the fence of a wine shop.
Translated by Paul Weeks
The accused and the weapon used to shoot. Photo: Jalisco Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Jaime G., a senior citizen accused of shooting at a group of children playing outside his house and killing a three year old girl, will remain in preventive custody until his legal situation is resolved.
Arrested on June 3 for the girl’s murder, Jaime G. is also accused of attacking the deceased minor’s father with a firearm, when the father attacked him after his daughter was shot. The home is located on Lauro Caloca street at the intersection with Francisco Dávalos Flores, in Tizapán El Alto on Chapala’s south shore.
The father was wounded in the back of the head and right shoulder after lunging at Jaime G., who was himself injured in the chest. Jaime G. then took refuge in his home, where he was captured by police and a 9mm handgun was recovered.
The house arrest proposed by the defendant’s counsel was opposed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office because of the danger that Jaime G. represents to the victim’s father as well as to the neighborhood’s inhabitants. Instead, the judge ordered him to stand trial for the aggravated murder of the child as well as the attempted homicide of the victim’s father, and the judge ordered that Jaime G. remain in preventive detention in a penitentiary for one year.
Translated by MaryAnne Marble
Goretti Chavira, photographed outside. Credit: Courtesy of the artist
Alma Serrano (San Juan Cosalá).- Goretti Chavira is a 29-year-old artist born in Guadalajara, currently living in San Juan Cosalá. Despite many difficulties, she taught herself how to paint, and practiced whenever she could. She improved her skills quickly, moving around Lake Chapala. Her motivation has always been to try new things, new methods, new materials, to get closer to her goal of becoming her best as an artist.
She started making art when she was five by doing portraits of her relatives. Between the ages of six and seven, she made and sold her first work. This experience at such a young age activated her passion for what she has been doing for the past 22 years. Although Goretti has worked in different jobs throughout her life, she never gave up her dream of making a living from her art.
She experiments with techniques and styles, from different periods. In most of her works she includes herself symbolically. When asked about where she gets her inspiration, Goretti says she gets most of her ideas from dreams. Her paintings and clay sculptures all contain an air of magical realism.
In 2020, she decided to dedicate her life fully to her art. These days Goretti regularly exhibits her work in art exhibitions around Lake Chapala. She works in various media including oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors, pencil drawings, clay sculptures and tattoos.
In addition to painting, she also works with children at the Voz al Viento Gallery in San Juan Cosalá. She says her work with children is very important to her, because she wants to give them opportunities she never had when she was their age. It’s important to her that they have a strong role model as a person, and an artist, «as an artist I feel a responsibility to show that we are all capable of expressing ourselves and creating more sensitive minds. Whether it’s seeing a work in which we see ourselves, or seeing someone else summon the courage to take the first step, we never know how far our dreams can go.»
Translated by Amy Esperanto
The symbolic cross fell after a strong storm, now only the base can be seen. Photo: Gilberto Padilla.
Jazmín Stengel (Chapala).- A strong storm on June 9 knocked down the legendary Cross of San Miguel Hill in Chapala. Legend says if this happens, there will be no protection to keep the dragon asleep.
For hundreds of years, the locals considered San Miguel hill, across from the municipal capital’s main plaza, a place where evil hides. Rubén Pulido Hernández, author of the book “Chapala entre las Fábulas y Leyendas” (Chapala’s Fables and Legends), says that’s why there are traces of ancient civilization only at the foot of the hill itself, not at the top.
According to Pulido, the ancient natives and the first Franciscan missionaries who arrived in the Chapala area around 1524, sometimes saw flames on the hill. That prompted numerous legends.
Hundreds of years later, Pulido said, a geologist discovered minerals and gasses on the hill that are flammable when in contact with oxygen. That’s what caused the fires to be visible at night.
According to the legend, the greatest friar of the Franciscan order decided to go up the hill and fight this fire-breathing demon. Upon reaching the top of the hill, which is not very high, the missionary built a hermitage just above where gasses or minerals came out. This somehow managed to prevent the fire from “appearing” out of nowhere. To honor this father who “defeated the devil” and lived to tell the tale, the first cross was placed on the hill of San Miguel, probably made of wood.
The date of its construction has not yet been determined. Local inhabitants estimate that it was between 1920 and 1930, made of stone and cement. It fell before it was a hundred years old.
Over time that belief became the legend of the sleeping dragon. Some believe that the hill is hollow, and a river of thermal water flows at the bottom of its entrails. Others think it is a volcano that never erupted. But what they all share is that the cross symbolizes protection.
The shape of the Dragon
Sailors on Lake Chapala used the hills as a reference and began to say that it has the shape of a dragon. The tip of San Miguel Hill is the head and the body continues between what is now the area of Riberas del Pilar and the Ajijic Highway.
The cross symbolized a sword stuck in the head of the beast, which kept it still so that it could not harm the people. “The interesting thing is to know what is going to happen now,” asked Rubén Pulido.
Translated by Mike Rogers
Personal de la delegación reparando un profundo bache en la calle Priv. Ocampo, al poniente de Ajijic. Foto: Delegación Ajijic 2021-2024.
Sofía Medeles.- En el abandono. Ciudadanos denunciaron falta de mantenimiento y deterioro en los empedrados de las calles del Pueblo Mágico de Ajijic.
Son varias las vialidades principales, como la de Colón, Revolución y Ocampo, en las que se pueden observar profundos baches que tienen algunas semanas en ese estado, situación que aqueja a conductores y usuarios del transporte público. Solo unos cuantos socavones han sido atendidos por las autoridades.
Laguna consultó a 12 conductores para conocer su opinión sobre el estado de los empedrados, mismos que coincidieron en que están muy “abandonados”.
“Una cosa es que la gente de SIMAPA escarba y ya no arregla o dura meses en acomodar, no dan mantenimiento, y, además, el paso de camiones repartidores, o el camioncito que no tiene un límite de velocidad. Debería haber una cuadrilla que solo se dedique a las calles de Ajijic, para que realmente se vea como el Pueblo Mágico que dicen que es”, manifestó Adán, uno de los entrevistados.
Otro de los cuestionados, de nombre Mario, comentó que no sólo da una mala imagen, si no que los automóviles también sufren daños, ya que se tienen que estar cambiando constantemente bujes y amortiguadores, además, sugiere que se tendría que hacer una reparación profunda, con una cimentación firme y después el empedrado, para que no cambien ni la imagen de Ajijic ni el clima de la delegación.
Por otro lado, también los usuarios del transporte público entrevistados, mencionaron que sienten que es un problema para ellos, ya que los camiones van a alta velocidad por las calles, y en algunos baches, podrían lastimarse con los movimientos abruptos que tiene el vehículo al pasar por el área dañada.
Maximiano Macías Arceo, el encargado de despacho de Ajijic, comentó que están al tanto de esta problemática, y que de momento se están encargando de los baches más críticos con empleados de la delegación, porque las cuadrillas se encuentran trabajando en otras delegaciones del municipio.
“La cuadrilla de Obras Públicas está trabajando en otras delegaciones, porque también están muy deterioradas. Por ahora, vamos por partes, atendiendo los más críticos”, informó el funcionario.
José González Valenzuela en el podio de la carreta Ultra Maratón de Tapalpa. Foto: Jou Valenzuela.
Sofía Medeles.- El maratonista de Ajijic, José “Chabelo” González Valenzuela también conocido como “Jou”, volvió a subirse al podio en una carrera estatal, realizada en Tapalpa el pasado domingo 19 de junio.
Fue en el Ultra Maratón de Tapalpa donde Jou participó en la categoría de 100 kilómetros y alcanzó el tercer lugar. Su compañero de equipo y amigo, Filiberto Pérez Vega, participó en la categoría de 30 kilómetros, pero no logró completarla, ya que sufrió una lesión durante el trayecto.
Ambos calificaron la competencia como buena, con muy buena organización y preparación por parte del staff, y aunque aún no tienen seguro cuáles serán sus próximas carreras, los deportistas compartieron que esperan que la mayoría del “Team Jou”, que es su equipo, participe en la carrera local Xupinaya Pro este próximo 31 de julio.
El tramo de 400 metros que fue reparado recientemente. Foto: Cortesía.
Jazmín Stengel.- La calle Niza de la cabecera municipal de Chapala que sufrió graves daños debido al tránsito de camiones de carga pesada durante la construcción del fraccionamiento Punta Niza ya fue reparada; pero, solamente en los 400 metros de su curva principal, ya que dicha calle mide poco más de un kilómetro y medio de longitud.
La obra tuvo un costo 150 mil pesos y fue financiada mediante la recaudación municipal del predial 2022; constó de 35 metros cúbicos de cemento, en los cuales se ahogó la piedra que ya se encontraba en el lugar, informó el director de Obras Públicas, Juan Julio Novia Sandoval, quien puntualizó que realizar dicha obra sin reciclar el empedrado hubiera aumentado su costo.
Aunque la calle Niza es una de las arterias principales en la cabecera municipal, que desahoga el tráfico de las avenidas Hidalgo y Francisco I. Madero, el tramo norte y sur de la calle continúan en mal estado.
Desde el cruce con la calle Lourdes hasta el tramo recién reparado, aún se observan grandes baches y desniveles sobre la cera, de acuerdo con un recorrido por Semanario Laguna.
Esta vialidad es en gran parte más terracería que piedra, en su punto más alto une al barrio de Lourdes con la barranca, el Tepehua y San Miguel, entre otros.
Por su parte, el alcalde de Chapala, Alejandro de Jesús Aguirre Curiel, dijo preferir para esta calle la piedra ahogada en cemento, ya que esté tipo de materiales no ceden tan fácilmente con las lluvias.
Funcionarios en atención a la ciudadanía. Foto: Gobierno de Jocotepec.
Redacción.- El Gobierno de Jocotepec busca acercarse más a la sociedad con el “Día ciudadano”, en el que el presidente municipal, personal del Ayuntamiento y del sistema DIF, escucharon inquietudes de la población.
En la cabecera municipal, en el que estuvieron atendiendo temas referentes a movilidad, desarrollo económico, asistencia social, seguridad ciudadana entre otros.
Esta estrategia de acercamiento ya es y ha sido utilizada por otros gobiernos, en el que la idea es tener mayor cercanía con la población para escuchar directamente las quejas o solicitudes.
El “Día ciudadano” llegará a otras delegaciones, aunque por el momento se desconoce si habrá un día en especial y la frecuencia de las visitas a las poblaciones del municipio.
El Lago de Chapala. Foto: Héctor Ruiz.
Por: Daniel Jiménez Carranza
Nuestra ubicación geográfica, al lado de la mayor potencia mundial en el siglo XX, nos ha condicionado a ocupar un rol dependiente y sumiso, frente a los embates políticos y expansivos de nuestro vecino del norte desde la época post independiente, situación que ha sometido a nuestros gobernantes, a seguir las pautas que nos han marcado, con honrosas excepciones, donde se ha sabido mantener la dignidad de un pueblo autónomo de su destino, de sus recursos, tal fue el caso de la nacionalización petrolera, en época del general Lázaro Cárdenas, quien se enfrentó a los intereses y represalias de las compañías transnacionales norteamericanas, y que gracias al apoyo popular, logró mantener la regencia de los recursos petroleros en beneficio del país, mismos que posteriormente fueron dilapidados y entregados a través de una ridícula y encubierta “Reforma Energética” por gobernantes de la llamada ola neoliberal, cuyo propósito consistía en el desmantelamiento del país para llenar sus bolsillos, por medio de la entrega de nuestros recursos a esas potencias.
Nuestro actual presidente, ha sabido retomar la dignidad de nuestro país y su pueblo, rescatando algunos de esos recursos, por las faltas en que han incurrido en el cumplimiento de obligaciones derivadas de esas concesiones y regalos que incrementaron bolsillos y cuentas bancarias de los ex gobernantes; asimismo, se ha plantado cara a los abusos de todas aquellas concesiones que continuaban operando impunemente en el país al abrigo de la colusión de ex gobernantes, y nula supervisión de sus actividades, hasta en tanto no intervino directamente el titular del actual ejecutivo.
La posición adoptada por el actual presidente respecto a la soberanía y autonomía en el manejo de los recursos, es sin duda, de notable envergadura, pues reafirma la convicción clara de la rectoría del país sobre sus recursos, la valoración de lo que ellos representan en el contexto internacional, en donde muchos de ellos, constituyen una gran baza de negociación de nuestro país, frente a otros, incluyendo a nuestro vecino del norte, o cualquier otra potencia, pues ello representa un elemento de valor para negociar y obtener beneficios, lo cual reivindica nuestra dignidad y nos posiciona con claridad como una nación como la que somos, rica en una diversidad de recursos, que tantos otros países carecen, somos un pueblo con historia, con talento, creativo, trabajador, que existiendo las condiciones necesarias para afincarse en su lugar de origen, se evitaría la emigración hacia el norte; cuando logremos esto, seremos una potencia en toda la extensión, por ello, debemos saber elegir a nuestros próximos
gobernantes, porque a través de ellos se construye el modelo de país que deseamos para nosotros y nuestros hijos, este periodo de selección inicia ahora, ya existen prospectos de candidatura por el partido gobernante, ahora es el momento en que debemos auscultar y seguir con detenimiento la trayectoria de cada uno de ellos, el desarrollo de su actual actividad, los problemas y logros a los que se enfrentan, la forma en que los resuelven, y el beneficio que aporta a la sociedad pues el periodo de la elección se aproxima, y debemos estar preparados para hacer la adecuada selección.
© 2016. Todos los derechos reservados. Semanario de la Ribera de Chapala