More than 500 people marched this Sunday in San Cristóbal to demand from the three levels of government the protection of the wetlands of María Eugenia and Kist, “every day more threatened” by urban expansion.
Within the framework of the commemoration of World Wetlands Day, the protesters demanded from the municipal government headed by Mariano Díaz Ochoa, that “stop the permits and authorizations for construction that villainize the urban letter, and the changes in land use”.
They assured that the wetlands of María Eugenia, of 115 hectares and of Kist, of 110, “represent 70 percent of the city’s water, and are a refuge for endemic species included in the Official Mexican Standard such as the popoyote fish, as well as migratory birds”.
More than 500 inhabitants of the 14 colonies that are grouped in the General Council of the South Zone and the Wetlands, left from the Cathedral Square and after walking more than an hour they concluded with a traditional ceremony in the Navajuelo river, located in the wetlands of María Eugenia, in the south.
“We went out to demonstrate in defense of water and wetlands, recently declared a protected area by the federal government; we are looking for awareness about the importance of protecting our natural resources”, said Nicolás Gómez Velasco, representing the General Council of the South Zone.
“Every year we do this celebration that for us is special because water represents life for the Jovel valley (San Cristóbal)”, he added, while pointing out that “the municipal government has been negligent. We have filed complaints with the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) for ecocide in the wetlands and they have not acted”, he said.
He added that there are also “complaints before the Attorney General of the Republic FGR, the Environmental Prosecutor’s Office and the Attorney General of the State of Chiapas, but” there is no response. We have been attacked for denouncing the damage to the wetlands because they are filling them and wanting to build in those protected areas”.
Gómez Velasco affirmed that “we are aware that this struggle is for life and that we are fighting against unscrupulous people who are only interested in money, without caring about leaving the population of the colonies without water and without a future”.
The also environmentalist León Enrique Avila, reported that on the 2nd of this month they filed a complaint with the Attorney General of the Republic and “it was requested that it be sent directly to the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Environmental Crimes” for a fire of two hectares that occurred on January 24 in the mountain wetland of María Eugenia.
The General Council of the South Zone and the Wetlands asked the state government to “stop the support of the officials to the groups that destroy the wetland and that the disappearance of files and complaints about the wetlands in the Attorney General’s Office cease”.
In the march, inhabitants of the colonies 5 de Marzo, Maya, Artículo 115, Anexos Altos de María Auxiliadora, Corral de Piedra and Cerrada el Bosque, among others, participated.
Source: La Jornada de San Luis
