In December of last year, I posted a note to a number of lists urgently
requesting letters in support of the Mexican government's closure of gypsum
mining in the Protected Area of Cuatro Cienegas, Coahuila, Mexico. The
conservation issues prompting that closure were explained in my message
(more about Cuatro Cienegas at
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/tnhc/.www/fish/dfc/cuatroc/), but the issue had
moved into the courts where the owner of the mine had managed to have the
government's closure over-ruled. The government needed support, and many of
you provided that. IN NO SMALL PART AS A RESULT OF THE MORE THAN 200 LETTERS
RECEIVED IN SUPPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT'S CLOSURE OF THE MINE, I am happy to
copy below the communication from Dr. Rodolfo Garza G., Director of Ecology
for the state of Coahuila. Dr. Garza concludes with "APPARENTLY EVERYTHING
INDICATES THAT WE HAVE TRIUMPHED! Monday January 23 at 2:00 PM the last
truck left the dunes apparently forever." Since this closure was imposed by
the Mexican federal Attorney General for the Environment at the request of
the federal Secretary of the Environment, it is very unlikely that such a
high level decision will be over-ruled.
For those interested in details but who do not read spanish, I'll provide a
brief paraphrased translation, followed by the original message from Dr.=
Garza.
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP! Please pass this to friends and colleagues to
whom you may have forwarded the request for letters. I am posting this to
DFC-L, Consbio and ACN-L, the three lists where I originally posted the
request for letters, but I know others circulated it beyond those lists.
Dean Hendrickson
* more than 200 letters were received supporting the government's closure of
the mine.
* the court hearing had been postponed, and most recently moved to Feb 4.
* On 13 January the federal judge, the state delegate of SEMARNAP, the
delegate of PROFEPA and the state Director of Ecology met to bring together
information relative to the Feb 4 hearing.
* On the same day there was a meeting with the ejiditarios (rural community
of 26 persons) who own the dunes, to inform them of the closure. They
informed that PROYESO, the mining company, paid them $450 US per month (to
split among 26 persons) in 1996 for rights to remove the gypsum from their
property. The fee they received from 1993 - 1995 was $64 US. per month.
Before that the dunes were mined for 20 years without payment to the locals.
* On Friday January 20 Secretary Carabias gave final orders to the federal
Attorney General for the Environment to do everything in his power to
suspend exploitation of the dunes.
* Four months after the first closure and subsequent re-opening of
exploitation by PROYESO the dunes were again closed.
The original communication from Dr. Garza follows:
>* Se han recibido m=E1s de 200 cartas apoyando al gobierno en la clausura =
de=20
>las mina de yeso
>* Debido a que la ultima audiencia con el juez federal que estaba =
prevista=20
>para el 27 de diciembre no se llev=F3 a cabo y se pospuso para el d=EDa 4=
de=20
>febrero,
>* El pasado d=EDa 13 de enero tuvimos una junta con el juez federal el =20
>Delegado de la SEMARNAP, el delegado de PROFEPA y el Director de Ecolog=
=EDa=20
>del estado, para aportarle informac=ED=F3n que pueda ser de beneficio en=
la=20
>desici=F3n de la audiencia del 4 de febrero,
>* El mismo d=EDa 13 de enero se tubo una reuni=F3n con los ejidatarios=
due=F1os =20
>de las dunas, para informarles de la situaci=F3n legal de la clausura y =
nos=20
>informaron que la empresa PROYESO les ha estado pagando $ 3,500.00=20
> ( $450 Dlls ) mensuales para 26 ejidatarios. Esta fu=E9 una oferta que=
=20
>les hicieron en 1996, despues de que les estaban pagando $ 500 pesos/mes (=
$=20
> 64 Dlls/mes ) de 1993 a 1995. No le pagaron nada en los 20 a=F1os=20
>anteriores !=20
> * El viernes 20 de enero la Secretaria Julia Carabias tuvo una reuni=F3n =
con=20
>el Procurador federal del Medio Ambiente y le di=F3 ordenes terminantes (al
Procurador) de=20
>ejercer toda su autoridad para que se suspendiera la explotaci=F3n de las=
=20
>dunas.
>* Despues de 4 meses de que reabri=F3 PROYESO la explotaci=F3n de las dunas=
y =20
>que saque=F3 el area habiendo efectuado un destrozo irreparable,
> EL LUNES 23 DE ENERO A LAS 2 PM. SALIO EL ULTIMO CAMION DE LAS DUNAS=20
>APARENTEMENTE DE MANERA DEFINITIVA
>* lAS MAS DE 200 CARTAS DE APOYO FUERON UN FACTOR IMPORTANTE PARA EJERCER =
=20
>PRESION EN LAS AUTORIDADES DE EJECUTAR LA ACCION DE LA JUSTICIA EN =20
>BENEFICIO DE LOS RECURSOS NATURALES DE CUATROCIENEGAS, QUE SON PATRIMONIO=
=20
>DE LA HUMANIDAD
>* APARENTEMENTE TODO PARECE INDICAR QUE ! TRIUNFAMOS ! =20
-- Dean A. Hendrickson, Curator of Ichthyology, Texas Natural History Collection, R4000, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-1100, U.S.A.; phone/FAX (512)471-9774 / 9775; e-mail: deanhend at mail.utexas.edu; http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~deanhend/ TNHC data bases etc.- http://www.utexas.edu/depts/tnhc/.www