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| Tixtla, Guerrero (Photo: José Luis de la Cruz) |
Tixtla, Guerrero - One month after the flood in the Valley of Tixtla caused by Tropical Storm Manuel, the Mirror of the Gods is shattered, and the water overflowing the mythical lagoon continues to flood one-third of the historic village.
Faced with the government's neglect, citizen anguish has been converted into anger and resentment. Citizens say that official aid has not been effective, and social conflicts are increasing in proportion to the official paralysis in this place where chaos and disorder reign.
"The devil is asking for ten souls to dry the lake, and we are thinking of bringing him ten politicians starting with Mayor Gustavo Abarca Alcaraz," says a citizen in the neighborhood of El Santuario, referring to the prehispanic legend of the Battle Between Saurín and El Mayantli.The Saurín, a wise little man and protector of the dwellers of Teoixtlán, as the ancient Nahuas called the Valley of Tixtla, triumphed over the bad and famine by turning the Mayantli into stone. In this way, the Cave of Amatitlán emerged, known today as the Cave of the Devil located on a hill facing the lagoon, and which forms a natural drainage area that serves to maintain the natural balance of the ecosystem.
The hunger and devastation now experienced in Tixtla forced PRD [Party of the Democratic Revolution] Mayor Gustavo Alcaraz Abarca, to make an offering to Mayantli at the Cave of the Devil, in an act that epitomized government inaction in the face of the tragedy.
The Tixtlecos, furious with the authorities, demand that human sacrifices be made of the politicians responsible for the tragedy, who encouraged, tolerated and allowed human settlements at the edge of the lake, and for not periodically dredging the area.
Media coverage of Governor Ángel Aguirre, who one week after the disaster went to the scene of the flood accompanied by a Televisa cameraman who interviewed with water up to his chest, as well as the attitude of reporters who have used the vessels assigned for rescue work to tour the lake, have further enraged the citizenry.
So far, most of the 1,500 houses affected in the neighborhoods of Santuario, Cantarranas, El Camposanto [The Cemetery], San Isidro and San Antonio--all located in the eastern zone--remain flooded. Several buildings have collapsed, and the official record reports 7,500 victims. This flooded strip makes up one-third of Tixtla's territory, which is inhabited by at least 30,000 people.
The programs supported by the state government in order to try to reverse the effects of the disaster--i.e., temporary employment and a [prepaid] card of 10,000 pesos [USD$762.50] to purchase household goods--have simply failed.
"The Secretariat of Social Development has not delivered prepaid cards to thousands of the homeless, and it owes two weeks [pay] to citizens who lost their homes and who formed cleaning brigades in order to have economic support," charged Jorge Luis Basilio Dircio.
For this work, the state government pays 61 pesos [USD$4.65] for four hours a day to nearly one hundred people in the brigades who performed their work without security measures.
"The authorities only gave us a T-shirt," said Basilio Dircio, who pointed out that most of his colleagues work wearing sandals amid stagnant water, without protective measures; thus, they are vulnerable to infection one month after the flood.
In this regard, the PRD Mayor acknowledged that the strategy implemented by the National Water Commission (Conagua) to drain the water may be delayed another forty (40) days. The federal agency is attempting to extract 13 million cubic meters of muddy water out of a total of 26 million cubic meters inundating this population.
In an interview at Town Hall, he said that so far they have expelled 2 million cubic meters using a pump installed on the north side, which spills black waters into a ravine that crosses the indigenous community of Atliaca and the municipality of Martyr of Cuilapan before emptying into the Balsas River. This release has reduced the level of water in some houses by 63 centimeters [24.8 inches], but meanwhile the flooding in the critical zone reaches a height of two meters [six feet, seven inches].
In an interview at Town Hall, he said that so far they have expelled 2 million cubic meters using a pump installed on the north side, which spills black waters into a ravine that crosses the indigenous community of Atliaca and the municipality of Martyr of Cuilapan before emptying into the Balsas River. This release has reduced the level of water in some houses by 63 centimeters [24.8 inches], but meanwhile the flooding in the critical zone reaches a height of two meters [six feet, seven inches].
On this subject, the president of the Commission of Communal Goods for Atliaca, Victoriano Iglesias Alarcón, warned that this Thursday they foresee 800 comuneros [indigenous people living on lands owned and worked communally] demonstrating to demand that the contaminated water of the lagoon not be poured directly into the ravine in order to avoid contaminating area wells. Therefore, he insisted to the authorities that the piping of the emitter [pump] be extended [beyond their lands]. He also requested financial support to reverse the effects of the spill of water from the lagoon onto their lands.
Thus for one month the flooding has gone on in Tixtla, this town in the center of the state, where politicians and reporters tour the lagoon in boats as if they were visiting Venice. Spanish original