Federal Environmental Authorities Stop Deforestation

(Acapulco, NA 25 November) Inspectors from the Federal Environment Protection Agency (PROFEPA) closed down yesterday the clear-cutting being carried out on the hillside above Acapulco near the Botanical Gardens and Loyola University. The land belongs to the Secretary General of Acapulco, Vicente Trujillo Sandoval, but part of the project was actually being carried out by the city government. It consisted of clearing a roadway from the property to the public roadway. The reason for the closure was the lack of an environmental impact statement and the required permissions from the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). The inspectors informed that about one square kilometer of land had been cleared, which included species explicitly subject to protection by SEMARNAT.
In a separate interview, the city’s Secretary of Urban Development and Public Works, Adolfo Ménez Galeana, admitted that many of the projects undertaken by the city are approved under pressure from political party leaders, elected officials and bureaucrats. According to press reports, several of the property owners to be benefitted by the project are members of the inner circle of the local PRI and of former mayor Manuel Añorve Baños, now a candidate for governor.