Find Freedom from the Illusion…of Rain
Last summer it was announced that the Mexican Federal Government, with the collaboration of the State of Morelos and the City of Tepoztlan, would expand the two lane highway that has served to unite the small city with the adjoining Cuernavaca since the 1966. It will become a four to six lane toll road to accommodate the semi-trailers that currently have difficulty negotiating the small mountainous highway and the increased number of cars bringing more people to Tepoztlan as it becomes more of a commercial center and less of a Magic Pueblo.
The apparent purpose is to create a conduit for the merchandise that arrives in the western port of Acapulco and neighboring Pacific ports; it will be possible to deliver goods within eight hours to the City of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. The expanded highway will serve as a Panama Canal made of asphalt. Most of the products are reportedly Chinese, and many Mexicans will be glad to have cheaper products available to them.
Curiously, the small city of Tepoztlan is not an ideal passage for the 4 to 6 lane freeways. It’s a winding route and actually out of the way with a more obvious highway located near Cuernavaca, but according to Manuel Contreras of Tepoztlan, “… the other (much shorter and more environment friendly routes) are not “toll” roads and the government will not be able to build “toll stops” (“casetas” en español mexicano). We have official information that states that in a period of 74 months, from Cuautla to DF* (where you have to cross 3 casetas and pay around 15 US dollars to reach from Cuautla to DF) the government has got an income of 6,700 million pesos (558 US million dollars) and it has spent in maintenance only 1,500 million pesos (125 US million dollars) , so the revenue is about 433 US million dollars. With the lane expansion the toll grows as well. Good business, isn’t it? Of course the expansion opens possibilities to big chain stores, massive tourism and other extra gains for investors. “
*Mexico City
This reasoning would make the Mexican federal government a major financial winner in the highway/toll road expansion. I have also heard that the larger government bodies want to compromise the cultural richness of the Tepoztlan community which has resisted strongly any incursions of Big Business. The introduction of various chain stores and small factories might be desirable to the current population which no longer cherishes ancient traditions with the same enthusiasm. This may sound preposterous…that powerful political forces would want to shove Walmart down the throats of a highly unified and proud pueblo, but the current governor of Morelos, Graco, was party to the construction of a Walmart very near the precious ruins of Teotihuacan. That he would encourage the development of another one should not be surprising. There were also indications of corruption within the Mexican Walmart management at that time.
In 1995-1996, the community of Tepoztlan became famous throughout Mexico and even other parts of the world when the people of the pueblo, resisted the construction of an enormous resort and golf course which would have included box hotels and veniculares (cable cars) up the sides of the gorgeous mountains. The strong resistance then engaged much of the population, reportedly including grandmothers who physically blocked the main highway to stop the construction. Although there is considerable, similar resistance currently in Tepoztlan the road crews and their enormous machines have already downed several centennial trees in the wide creeks and destroyed the pasture lands near the roadways.
Again according to Contreras, “The government has done lots of work to misinform the people. The government is corrupted and it has economic interests in the expansion. (All the authorities of all levels are involved in the corruption). The recently TV Cable (there are no TV broadcast in this area) with all its rubbish has helped to keep people quiet. The system has made people to believe that “progress” means wide roads, TV, and supermarkets.” There was a type of community referendum lately in which several thousand people “voted, ” mostly in favor of the expansion. However, for weeks previously, the municipality of Tepoztlan had been handing out food as a type of incentive to vote for “progress.” And, as mentioned above, many people desire changes in the simple Tepoztlan economy; they anticipate greater economic opportunities.
Tepoztlan is beautiful. It is a federal nature conservancy, and the expansion would seriously impact it. Perhaps the word conservancy is used very loosely in Mexico. Apparently the presidential decrees that established the parks are being ignored by officials.
All of these developments are probably related to the Huexca Thermoelectric plant that they are building less than 20 miles from Tepoztaln. The government and private investors involved in the massive undertaking are unknown because the Mexico’s laws allow this kind of anonymity. In other words, it is hard to trace the money behind the projects to its source.
I will try to send post more information as I get it and understand it.
Read Full Post »
Tepoz Tales 