Cross-border alliance protests Juárez evictions

January 27, 2008

By Neil Harvey

The threat of violent eviction continues to hang over Lomas del Poleo in Ciudad Juárez. A second forum on the land dispute in this poor neighborhood of western Juárez was again frustrated last Dec. 1. Events since then have only escalated the climate of fear that residents must live with every day. This area is located in the middle of proposed new border development plans that include the creation of a bi-national city on the New Mexico border at Santa Teresa and San Jerónimo, and the construction of a new port of entry at Sunland Park and Anapra.

Although supporters of these plans argue that the new investment will boost trade and employment, they are not considering the negative impacts on people who will be displaced as a result. The most urgent case is Lomas del Poleo, where the powerful Zaragosa family is claiming legal ownership against residents who have lived on the same land for over 30 years. The Mexican agrarian court has still to pass a final ruling, but in the meantime the pressure on residents to leave has intensified. Support for the residents has come from community groups on both sides of the border, as local people begin to see the connections between development plans as well as to protest the use of force. (The history of this dispute was described in a previous article in Grassroots Press, Nov.-Dec. 2007, including the claims by Lomas residents that Zaragosas’ guards are responsible for the demolition of more than 40 homes and the deaths of two men and two children during the past four years.)

At the second forum in Lomas del Poleo on Dec. 1, participants were prevented by armed gang members from getting close to the area where the forum was scheduled. About 60 young men, some with dogs and baseball bats, blocked the road leading in to Lomas del Poleo. The forum convened on the same road, and several participants began with the reading of poetry amid the shouts of the Zaragosa guards a few feet away. The organizers asked the municipal police to remove the blockade of the road, but the officer claimed that he had to wait for his boss to give orders and that he was not in the area. The police never opened up the roadway and the forum reconvened at a safer distance, where community members denounced the situation of hostility and denial of free transit.

Although the forum failed to meet in the way supporters had hoped, the experience was important in that it gave further impetus to the cross-border organizing that had begun earlier in the fall. For example, an initial meeting of activists from southern New Mexico, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez was held in Las Cruces in mid-December. In New Mexico, concern over the creation of new Tax Increment Development District (TIDD) in Santa Teresa was sparked by the potential diversion of tax revenues in Doña Ana County to fund a private development plan of the Verde Realty group. Verde is the same group that is proposing to redevelop the historic Segundo Barrio district of El Paso, a plan opposed by many residents who fear loss of their homes to big box retail outlets and expensive apartment complexes.

Verde’s goal of establishing two industrial parks and a residential area at Santa Teresa are part of a regional plan that includes development of the San Jerónimo area across from Santa Teresa. The owner of the land in San Jerónimo, Eloy Vallina, also sits on the board of Verde Group. These bi-national alliances are supported by politicians on both sides, but they ignore the displacement of people in Lomas del Poleo and Segundo Barrio, as well as the potential drain on resources for communities in southern New Mexico, where the needs of low-income colonias should remain a high priority.

The most urgent problem continues to be the threats against residents in Lomas del Poleo. On Jan. 4, guards working for the Zaragosas were accused by residents of stealing cable and fencing wire from their homes. When one woman protested she was struck with tree branches from the back of a truck, residents said. When the police arrived, they took her husband in for questioning. He was later released, but the situation remains tense with fear of further attacks in the near future.

In response, a bi-national protest was held on Jan. 14, with participants holding up

the letters that spelled out the name of Lomas de Poleo at the Mexican consulate in El Paso and the name of Segundo Barrio at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez. Informational flyers were also distributed and formal letters of protest were submitted at each consulate.

Although the crisis in Lomas del Poleo has not subsided, the recent forums and protests have brought a new level of attention and awareness of not only the land dispute in Juárez, but also the connections to regional development of the U.S. - Mexico border. Future meetings are scheduled for Feb. 13, 6-8 p.m. at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez, and for Feb. 19, 6-8 p.m. at the El Paso Community College. In Las Cruces, a group of concerned citizens is also planning a public forum tentatively called “Rethinking Progress: Community Perspectives on Border Development,” to be held in late April. Further information, updates and recent, excellent articles by Debbie Nathan and Pulitzer-prize winner Eileen Welsome can be found at the website of the Paso del Sur group at www.pasodelsur.com

Neil Harvey is director of the Center for Latin American and Border Studies, New Mexico State University. He can be reached at nharvey@nmsu.edu

Written by Neil Harvey · Filed Under Border, Featured