Governor Candidates Favor La Parota Dam Project

(Chilpancingo, JG 29 October) The three candidates for governor each expressed support for the massive dam called La Parota, which the CFE (federal electrical commission) plans to construct about 40 kilometers from Acapulco. Even though the billion dollar hydroelectric project will bring 750 megawatts more power to Guerrero’s grid and resolve much of the chronic shortage of water in the port city, many popular groups have opposed the construction of the dam because it will flood a number of small communities.

Ángel Aguirre Rivero, a coalition candidate of most of the parties opposed to the PRI, campaigning under the slogan “Guerrero Unites Us,” was the first to express his support, on the condition that the inhabitants of the flood plain would be benefited by an improvement in their way of life. In other words, he did not “favor progress at the cost of human dignity.”

Marcos Efrén Parra, the PAN candidate, equally stressed the condition that the families most affected by the dam construction be able to “educate their children” and participate in the economic development that the dam will enhance.

The PRI candidate, Manuel Añorve Baños, was less committal, stating plainly that “no one can be against development,” but that “we must respect the will of the people. We need a reconciliation [of conflicting interests], and that is the proper role for government.”

Each of the three candidates were interviewed by the press as they emerged from their private meetings with the current governor, Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo.