Villagers Denounce Pressure to Make Way for Controversial Jalisco State Dam Project Agencia EFE
go to original September 4, 2017

This is the controversial dam "El Zapotillo" located in Jalisco Highlands, western Mexico, and these are the places intended to be buried beneath its waters. (Altos Focus)

Residents of Temacapulin and two neighboring communities in the western Mexican state of Jalisco tell EFE that authorities have resorted to threats and harassment to force them to make way for the construction of the El Zapotillo dam.

The project is aimed at supplying potable water to 2.4 million people in Jalisco and neighboring Guanajuato state, but the new reservoir will submerge Temacapulin, Acasico and Palmarejo.

Most of the prospective beneficiaries are residents of Leon, Guanajuato’s capital, and Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco and Mexico’s second-largest city.

The National Water Commission (Conagua) has deceived some inhabitants into selling their homes and accepting what often turns out to be the empty promise of relocation, Acasico resident Luis Villegas told EFE on Thursday.

Those who refuse to sell are threatened with having their homes seized, he said.

“They came and said that if we don’t negotiate, they will provide a reason to expropriate us and once expropriated, they will pay what they please for our lands,” Villegas said, explaining that he is seeking a court injunction against the seizure of his property.

El Zapotillo, a joint initiative of Conagua and the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato, has been controversial since its start 12 years ago.

Read the rest at Latin American Herald Tribune

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