Lawmakers to Investigate Puerto Marqués Eviction

(Acapulco, AN 19 November) Local members of the state legislature have agreed to create a special investigative committee to look into the violent evictions carried out earlier this month in a community called “Expansion of Puerto Marqués.” The committee members will be made up of eight representatives from Acapulco: Víctor Manuel Jorrín Lozano, Victoriano Wences Real, Antonio Galarza Zavaleta, Guadalupe Gómez Maganda Bermeo, Ignacio Ocampo Zavaleta, Bonfilio Peñaloza García, José Natividad Calixto Díaz y Sebastián Alfonso de la Rosa Peláez.

Sebastián de la Rosa Peláez made the formal proposal for the special investigative committee, reciting that “for the last six years, 350 families have occupied land where they set up modest living quarters. Subsequently the land was claimed by a developer, Residencias del Marqués, which obtained an eviction order by tampering with the legal process.” He added that the judge in question “has a fixation against the poorer elements of the population and in favor of business men and property owners with a lot of capital.”

The legislator also declared that the police units carrying out the eviction are reported to have used indiscriminate force against the families, and took advantage of the situations to pillage their homes and property.
The Committee expects to be able to make a progress report public in the course of approximately one month.