Fighting Waterfront Privatization in Zihuatenejo, Mexico

Pueblo UNIDO: Saving the Zihua bahia and village life

by Louise Leclair

Submitted to Portside by the author

Louise Leclair - Cultural and Political Commentaries
June 23, 2011

http://louiseleclair.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/pueblo-unido/


What it will take to save local fishing and village life in
Zihuatenejo, Mexico

These days when Mexico receives media attention it is
usually related to drugs and violence. One of the key
stories not being told is about how traditional trades are
being lost as privatization gains momentum daily.  I won't
venture here into the connections between the so-called war
on drugs and the selling-out of some important ways of life
in Mexico. I would simply like to draw attention to a small
tragedy in process in the fishing and tourism-dependent
village of Zihuatenejo.

Its all about controlling water and the waterfront.  The
village is located in the State of Guerrero, 100 kilometres
north of Acapulco.  It's close to the village of Ixtapa,
well-known to those who like to holiday at resorts.  Zihua,
as the locals refer to it, has a few resorts, but also a
large ex-pat community of U.S., Canadian and European
citizens who own condos or time-shares. There is also a
significant community of dual citizens who came here thirty,
forty or fifty years ago and never left.

I have been hearing about Zihua since the 1960's, though I
had never been here until recently. Like many others of my
generation and political persuasion, I find it difficult to
go anywhere and just to be a tourist. I prefer to immerse
myself in the culture.  Like so many other places in the
world, Zihua is no longer the picturesque village it once
was. The beaches are not as clean; the hills are alive with
the sound of construction. And as in so many other places,
the proliferation of For Sale signs indicates the effects of
the recession and an aging population.

But it is home to a way of life of thousands of working
people who, fish, run small businesses, provide services and
work in other areas from construction to mining.  On the
first Sunday of my visit, I went down to the village
waterfront--the Bahia.  As I watched the fish market
transpire, with fishers selling their fresh catch to
everyone from men and women shopping for their families to
restaurant cooks looking for their menu's daily catch, my
eye was drawn to a big sign that read "Stop the
privatization of the Bahia and the Barra de Potosi." The
latter is a small community south of Zihua.  I started
asking questions of the fishers and some locals.

A few days later, I went out onto the water with two
fishers.  They make extra money by taking visitors out to
fish or get a feel for the place from the water in their
small launches.  Once we were out on the water, I could see
the full gamut of vessels that use the harbour, from row
boats and small motor launches to a couple of yachts.  Most
boaters greeted one another and shared information about the
state of their luck that day. The fishermen I was riding
with stopped to pick up a much older man who works on one of
the bigger boats.  All in the name of community.

After some digging I found out that the issue of
privatization of the bahia has been going on for some time.
It involves the federal government agency, Fonatur, whose
legal responsibility is to focus on wealth creation through
development and tourism. But the government department
responsible for the waterfronts has decided to privatize
that responsibility by handing over the Zihua Bahia
including the Salinas lagoon and the Barra de Potosi to the
Miami-based corporation, Integral Port Administration (IPA).
Whatever future amounts IPA pays to Fonatur for these
resources, will come from charges to any person or
organization who is given permission by IPA--not likely the
current users, locals who have long been in the business.
So whether you sell food, crafts, or fish on the waterfront
in these communities, life will change if this project is
not over turned. A couple of years back the same players,
under different names, tried to expand the cruise ship pier
in Zihua. The public, lead by the fishing co operative and
local business owners, organized resistance and had that
overturned.  Serious concerns over pollution of the bahia
including threats to turtles and other endangered species
were at the top of the list of public concerns. Add to that
the hazard to fishing and village life from various aspects
of the cruise ship industry and people from all walks of
life protested and the cruise ship pier was defeated.

The failure of the first plan spelled the beginning of the
plan now going forward.  This time, the plan is not only to
build piers but to control the entire waterfront in Zihua
and Barra de Potosi.  API (the Fonatur sub-contractor ) paid
200,000,000 pesos (about 20,000,000 dollars) for a 25-year
concession to build and control all business on the water
front.  If this deal is not stopped anyone who has a
business on the waterfront from restaurants to shops that
sell mostly locally and regionally-made products will lose
their concessions without payment, and be forced off the
waterfront. In addition, fishers will be charged for mooring
their boats, small tour boats will be charged--and API will
make lots of money.  While it lasts! Mexico's public private
arrangements are like everywhere else in the world, the
public pays and the private collects the profits. In this
case you have to wonder though, for how long.!

The project seems to be working totally against current
common sense and economics. API's sales pitch proposes that
Zihuarenejo should become more sophisticated--like Acapulco!
It all spells change in Zihuatenejo and not good for working
people or the regional ecology or economy in the long run.

What I find shocking is that at a time when so much of the
wealth of Mexican cultural life is being threatened by
overwhelming forces of violence and evil, it's federal
government is pursuing a path that will lead yet another
village to lose it's identity.  Nor do I understand why, at
a time when world travellers are looking for something
different than the hamburger culture, when Eco living is
more important than ever, and when countries around the
world are falling apart because of legislation based on
greed, that such a project is seriously being pursued.

Why would this same federal government that claims to be
fighting crime not be encouraging projects to promote what
is already a success-- encourage real village life, keep it
simple, use tax dollars to clean up the water, improve the
water treatment systems and protect the other species who
share the place with people.  Why not work toward boasting
of the cleanest Bahias in the world for fishing communities
and tourism. Why would the Mexican government not encourage
Fonatur do the job it was created to do?

Am I naive! I don't think so!  When I met with the people in
Zihuatenejo, I told them that I would try to get the message
out to visitors--new or returning,  and other people, about
this self-destructive proposal.  Just as I was preparing to
leave, on June 1st, 2011 I went down to the Bahia to have a
last look.  There was a huge Marina Fiesta going on with
games, food and drinks--all put together by the co
operativa. What a site to see the community come together
and plan, sing, eat and celebrate together.  It's an annual
event, but this year it took place under the sign that says
No to Privatization of the Bahia!

We are all living the results of massive privatization
through cuts to public services.  Here is one we might all
help to thwart.

Letters can be sent to the United States of Mexico, 
Secretaria des Comunicaciones y Transportes  : 
Avenida Xola,
esquina con Eje Central, 
S/N, Col. Narvarte, 
Del. Benito Juárez, México, DF.

Tel. 52 55 57239300

http://www.sct.gob.mx/puertos-y-marina-mercante/direccion-general-de-puertos

Letters of support to the co operativa representatives:
[log in to unmask];  [log in to unmask]

[Louise Leclair is a retired communications officer with the
Canadian Union of Public Employees.]

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