Frontera NorteSur April 2001

The environmental situation at the La Escondida Lagoon in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, across the border from McAllen, Texas, is the reverse for residents of the Lázaro Cardenas neighborhood and people living in surrounding areas. Years ago, men and women saw terrain created from solid waste and old cars dumped into a polluted lagoon as a good place to build homes. Now the Reynosa city administration wants to clean up La Escondida, add tourist and recreational facilities and remove the neighborhoods that have been built on and around the lake. In response to the project Lázaro Cardenas residents are asking that their backyard be cleaned up but that they be allowed to stay where they are during and after the clean up.

Background

Driving into or out of Reynosa on a busy, chaotic, six-lane highway that is the city's main transportation artery one sees a large lagoon whose banks are a few hundred meters from the road. Jutting out into the shallow-looking lake is a group of ramshackle homes built on what appears to be compacted garbage. These homes join up with a neighborhood that runs for some way along the side of La Escondida and extends back in to the surrounding land.

People that grew up in Reynosa in the 1950's and 1960's have fond memories of going to La Escondida (which means "The Hidden Lagoon") to picnic as they looked out over an important wetland for migrating birds. Over the following years solid waste such as garbage and old cars were thrown into the lagoon and Pemex and other factories dumped petroleum-related chemicals into the water. At times the lagoon was allowed to dry up completely, according to the Comité Ecológico de Reynosa (CER).

At some later point Reynosa began insuring a water supply to the area and took renewed interest in La Escondida for recreational purposes. Located between the highway and the lagoon is a large sport facility including many basketball courts that go down to the water's edge.

On a Wednesday afternoon there were only four or five people at the facility and as one moves on to the lower, empty basketball courts the stench of raw sewage from an open canal that runs around the lagoon's edge is almost unbearable. In times of heavy rain the canal frequently overflows into La Escondida's water.

On May 31, 1997 La Laguna La Escondida was declared to be a "natural, protected area" and a plan was made to restore the area for tourism, recreation and sports use. While little has been done over the past four years at La Laguna, the area's condition is once again being discussed in the press and the CER is advocating for the commencement of restoration work. According to Lázaro Cardenas residents lagoon restoration appears to be contingent upon some sort of cash-flow generating, economic development in the area.


Another Reynosa lagoon filled with illegally dumped garbage.

The restoration plan

According to an article in El Norte (Tamaulipas) on March 6, 2001, the restoration of the lagoon will begin with the removal of 140 tons of garbage and the clearing of waste from the bottom of La Escondida. Next, a water-treatment plant will be built to clean the 800,000 cubic meters of water in La Laguna. A pumping system will also be constructed in the area to move sewage out of the low-lying area to an already existing treatment system nearby. At some point during this process five hundred families and businesses will be moved out of the protected area and structures or barriers will be created to prevent future dumping. The area will be reforested with native plant species and once water quality is high enough fish will be reintroduced to the lagoon.

Laguna residents react

Holding signs and standing in a crowded room in the Palacio Municipal (city hall) waiting to speak with the mayor of Reynosa, the residents of the threatened Lázaro Cardenas neighborhood are the largest, most visible group in attendance. Their signs, in Spanish, say such things as "Don't take away that which cost us so much effort to achieve," "Save the laguna but don't take away our land," "We don't want to be relocated," and "Don't evict us--what we have was built from sacrifice and struggle."

Today is Wednesday, the day of the week when anyone in Reynosa may come to city hall, take a number and wait to meet with the mayor. Some people have been here since 6:30 a.m. and it's now 1:00 p.m. The mayor is currently meeting with individual or group number 20. The Lázaro Cardenas group says they are number 75 or so. They don't anticipate speaking with the mayor today.


Laguna residents protest inside the Reynosa city hall while they wait
to speak with the mayor.

While waiting for their designated spokesperson to return, colonia residents Soledad Limas and Isidro Salinas begin to say why they do not want to move, "We have a good neighborhood with electricity, telephone lines, pavement and drainage. We have been here 15-25 years. Why won't the city restore La Laguna for us?"

This last question arrives at what is the heart of the environmental justice issue. While it appears that the city won't clean up La Laguna for the Lázaro Cardenas people it seems that the Reynosa government is not opposed to allowing others to develop the area. The people from the colonia believe that once they are gone a golf course will be built in the area along with a subdivision for US citizens.

While Frontera NorteSur has not been able to find any part of the restoration plan which specifically talks about future developments around the lagoon, the protected area's 1997 mandate clearly mentions tourist, sport and recreational use of the area.

Conversations with the Comité Ecológico de Reynosa (CER) also seem to confirm the future development of a US-style subdivision and golf course at La Escondida. Group leader Bertha Gómez, speaks positively of such development and stated that the city already has a new location selected for the people living on or around La Escondida. Obviously the CER is not siding with the homeowners on their campaign to remain where they are. Go to http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/feat3.html for an in-depth look at the CER.

While the thought of US citizens flocking to a previously contaminated lake within earshot and sight of a tremendously busy and polluting highway is hard to imagine, especially given the troubles surrounding US land tenancy in Mexico, perhaps the Lázaro Cardenas neighborhood's fear of the arrival of rich gringos is an extension of their fear or knowledge that moneyed investors could very well make off with their land.

And the land is theirs, the colonia residents say. Group spokesperson María Juliana López stated that the Mexican Constitution guarantees that if people live for five years or more on a piece of land without their tenancy being questioned, the land then belongs to them. As most of the homes in these well-developed neighborhoods have been around for 15-25 years according to López, the city cannot challenge their ownership.

López states that the mayor of Reynosa, in September, 2000, made a promise to look into the neighborhood's case and to get back to them on the subject. Until this time they say that he has not done so and this greatly angers the citizens group. FNS could not reach the mayor for comment.

Finally, while residents do not want to be relocated they say that the few hundred dollars that they are being offered would not even allow them to buy anything like the sorts of homes they have added on to over the years.

A fair plan

No one in Reynosa seems to be against the restoration of La Laguna La Escondida. Neighbors of the lagoon would like to see its waters clean again as would people that remember the area's previous beauty. Both the local environmental group, the CER, and the city appear to be behind the restoration as well.

What remains to be seen is how the city's people will share in the benefits and costs of the restoration. Admittedly the lagoon will not be turned into a pristine refuge for wildlife. Sports, athletic and commercial developments appear to be planned for the area. What long-time area residents want to know is why there cannot be a vision of the restoration which allows them to stay in their homes.