From Bad to Worse . . .

The previous article posted on this blog dealt with the subject of the asphalt plant located in the Colony Las Peras of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. In this article, the asphalt plant was indicated as actively violating various human rights, such as the right to health, the right to life, and the right to education.

This week, the Mexican government mocked the citizens of San Cristóbal, permitting the installation of a new asphalt plant less than a kilometer from the asphalt plant of the Colony Las Peras. This new plant was discovered when various residents sighted a large cloud of smoke settling over the region of Las Peras early Monday morning. When both of the plants operate at the same time, these witnesses report that smoke engulfs the entire area. Appalled at the ramifications that the operation of this new plant carries for the people of San Cristóbal, above all the children, various concerned citizens sat down this week to write and publish a communiqué manifesting their outrage and indignation. A copy of this communiqué, first in Spanish and then in English, is provided below, as well as photos and videos taken yesterday, Wednesday, November 16, 2011, at the site of the new asphalt plant.

Thank you for reading the following communiqué – please feel free to share widely.

Spanish Version

A LA OPINIÓN PÚBLICA.

IMPUNIDAD=MUERTE LENTA

Hoy San Cristóbal se llena de luto por la apertura de una nueva planta de asfalto, ubicada a en la carretera San Cristóbal a Tenejapa, a 500 metros del cruce con el periférico Oriente, a menos de un kilometro de la planta de asfalto del Grupo ALZ ubicada en la Colonia Las Peras.

En San Cristóbal de Las Casas, los tres niveles de gobierno (municipal, estatal y federal) han permitido desde el 2008 la proliferación de estas plantas asesinas, en febrero de 2011 se fueron cuatro de las cinco que teníamos frente a escuelas y hoy con la complicidad de funcionarios, abren otra.

Hasta cuando permitiremos que los tres niveles de gobiernos les den más protección a los intereses de empresarios que lo único que los motiva es el dinero que están “ganando” a costa de nuestra salud, a costa de nuestros niños, a costa de nuestra vida.

Y nos preguntamos, acaso la Lic. Cecilia Flores Pérez, autorizó el cambio de uso de suelo, lo que permite la instalación de la planta de asfalto. Que hace el delegado de la SEMARNAT, ex delegado de la PROFEPA, Biol. Ricardo Frías, si autorizó el Manifiesto de Impacto Ambiental de esta nueva planta? Y si la Lic. Lourdes López Moreno, Secretaria de Medio Ambiente e Historia Natural, que tiene que decir ante las violaciones a la Ley de Medio Ambiente de Chiapas con esta nueva planta?

Invitamos a la ciudadanía a manifestar nuestra INDIGNACIÓN. Es la hora, no podemos permitir que nos asesinen lentamente, la combustión de derivados del petróleo crudo (AC 20) dispersan químicos altamente peligrosos para cualquier ser viviente, contamina nuestro aire, nuestra agua, nuestra tierra, nuestro ser y el de nuestros niños, hasta cuando lo vamos a permitir???

San Cristóbal de Las Casas a 15 de noviembre de 2011

"ALIANZA POR EL DERECHO A UN AMBIENTE SANO"

English Version

TO THE PUBLIC OPINION.

IMPUNITY = SLOW DEATH

Today, San Cristóbal is filled with mourning due to the opening of a new asphalt plant, located in the highway from San Cristóbal to Tenejapa, 500 meters from the intersection with the Eastern Periphery highway, and less than a kilometer from the asphalt plant owned by Grupo ALZ that is located in the Colony Las Peras.

Since 2008, the three levels of government (municipal, state, and federal) in San Cristóbal de Las Casas have permitted the proliferation of these killer plants. In February of 2011, four of the five plants that were located in front of schools left the city. Yet today, with the complicity of government authorities, they have opened another plant.

Up to what point will we permit these three levels of government to give more protection to the interests of businessmen, whose only motive is the money they are “winning” at the cost of our health, at the cost of our children, at the cost of our life?

We ask ourselves, could it be that Mayor Cecilia Flores Perez authorized the permit for the land use change, which thereby allowed the installation of the asphalt plant? Could it be that the delegate of SEMARNAT (equivalent of the Cabinet-level department of the EPA), the ex-delegate of the PROFEPA (federal EPA), Biologist Ricardo Frias indeed authorized the environmental impact statement of this new asphalt plant? And Lourdes Lopez Moreno, Secretary of the Environment and Natural History (state EPA), what does she have to say about the violations of the environmental laws happening here in Chiapas due to this new asphalt plant?

We invite the citizenry to manifest our INDIGNATION. Now is the hour, we cannot allow them to kill us slowly! The burning of crude petroleum derivatives (AC-20) disperses highly toxic chemicals that pose a danger to the health of every life form. It contaminates our air, our water, our land, our very being and that of our children. Up to what point will we allow this to continue???

San Cristóbal de Las Casas

November 15, 2011

"ALIANZA POR EL DERECHO A UN AMBIENTE SANO"

(“Alliance for the Right to a Healthy Environment”)

Note: In the truck on the left, fumes can be Note: These workers are working

seen rising out of the bed of the truck without any protective equipment.

immediately after the plant deposits a new

batch of asphalt into its hold. These fumes

are known as "fugitive emissions," and

contribute to the contamination spread

through the production of asphalt.

Asphalt Plant Violates Right to Health, Life, and Education in the Colony of Las Peras

The Colony of Las Peras

The tourist center of San Cristóbal de las Casas presents a bohemian image with its international restaurants, jewelry stores, cafes, and street performers. This image, however, is deceptive, belying grave violations of human rights violations occurring behind the scenes. Located on the outskirts of San Cristóbal are the “colonies” that form the perimeter of the city, areas that visitors rarely see. In the Colony of Las Peras, (“Las Peras”), one of these human rights violations occurs daily.

Las Peras has a small but growing population. Apart from the houses of its inhabitants, the colony includes a grade school, a kindergarten, a tortilla shop, a church, and several small stores. Despite the people's presence, in 2005 the company ALZ Construcciones, S.A. de C.V. installed an asphalt plant directly across the colony’s borderline in neighboring territory. This asphalt plant functions almost daily, creating a grave health risk for both the children and adults of Las Peras.

Effects of the Asphalt Plant

The process of making asphalt generates numerous byproducts that have a deleterious effect on the health of the people of Las Peras.

First, the asphalt plant produces a smoke that carries with it the chemicals emitted during asphalt production. These chemicals can include arsenic, benzene, hydrogen sulfide, chromium, formaldehyde, and cadmium, to name a few. The smoke’s funnel can reach 50 to 60 meters in height, and disperses widely when the wind blows.

Because of this smoke, the people suffer from a chronic cough. As one resident of Las Peras states, “We say the cough now lives with us.” Both the adults and children experience problems breathing; pain of the chest, throat, and stomach; continuous headaches verging on migraines; and stinging irritation in the eyes. In addition, some inhabitants have noticed their skin sloughing off, as might happen after a chemical burn. Children have experienced diarrhea, and their stomach pain has lead to vomiting. Some children also manifest a red line in their fingernails, which, according to a medic from Doctors Without Borders, is a sign of poisoning.

Given the asphalt plant’s location right below the colony’s primary school and kindergarten, the children are the most severely affected. During school days, the wind carries the smoke and its chemicals into the classrooms, interrupting the classes and impeding both teaching and learning.

Second, the plant’s smoke produces an odor of burned rubber. This odor causes nausea, and affects the taste of the people’s food and water. The smell infiltrates throughout the house, passing through sweaters, sheets, and shawls that the people use to cover themselves as they try to ward off the smoke.

Third, the plant produces loud noises that affect the people’s nervous systems. When the asphalt plant works in the early morning, it wakes the people, depriving them of sleep. When the asphalt plant works in the day, it creates a constant background noise that sets the people on edge. This combination produces heightened stress in the colony’s population.

These effects are compounded by to the plant’s unrelenting operating schedule. As colony residents comment, “There is no day of rest for the people of the asphalt plant.” The asphalt plant may operate from Sunday through Saturday at any time of the day, including the very early mornings. With the continuous production of smoke, chemicals, odor, and noise, the people of Las Peras suffer a constant industrial assault on their health.

International Violations of Rights Committed by the Asphalt Plant

The asphalt plant violates a number of Mexico’s laws, including those regulating (a) the type and quantity of industrial emissions permitted, and (b) the distance allowed between this kind of heavy industry and an urban zone. These regulations are set forth in the Ley General del Equilibrio Ecologico y la Proteccion al Ambiente (LGEEPA, or the General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and the Protection of the Environment).

In the realm of international law, the asphalt plant – by its smoke, chemicals, odor, and noise – also violates the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the American Convention on Human Rights, among other international treaties and conventions that Mexican has signed and ratified. Articles in these treaties and conventions protect the right of children and adults to physical and mental health, the right of children and adults to an adequate life, and the right to an education.

Moreover, Article 1 and Article 133 of the Mexican Constitution establish that the international treaties and conventions ratified by Mexico automatically become part of the supreme law of Mexico. In laymen’s terms, if Mexico accepts an international law, that international law carries the same weight as a national law created by Mexico’s Congress. Thus, a violation of these international conventions is also a violation of the Mexican Constitution.

Omissions by the Mexican Government

The Mexican government has an obligation to ensure the enforcement of the laws it creates or accepts. The government, however, refuses to take action against the asphalt plant. In fact, the government not only refuses to take action, it provides excuses to allow the plant’s continued operation. Government officials assert that the asphalt plant came before the schools. First and foremost, this is incorrect. As the people testify, the schools have been present in Las Peras for anywhere from 25 to 30 years, much longer than the asphalt plant constructed only six years ago. Second, regardless of which arrived first, the well-being of the children and the colony’s inhabitants takes precedence over the profits of the asphalt plant.

Other government officials claim the asphalt plant is now legal, and they can do nothing more about the matter. This is also incorrect. The asphalt plant has not demonstrated compliance with the applicable domestic industrial standards for this kind of industry. In addition, the plant remains prohibitively close to an urban zone. Furthermore, the plant continues to violate the international treaties and conventions that protect the children’s and adults’ right to health, adequate life, and education.

By failing to enforce both domestic and international laws against the asphalt plant, the Mexican government is perpetrating an omission of the law – that is, ignoring its duty to enforce the law.

Submission of a Complaint to the United Nations

For these reasons, the people of the Colony of Las Peras united themselves with a larger movement of citizens within San Cristóbal in the hope of reclaiming their right to health, life, and education. The Movimiento Salvemos San Cristóbal (Movement Let’s Save San Cristóbal), along with the Colony of Las Peras and other communities affected by government inaction, banded together this past week to submit a complaint to the United Nations and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This complaint challenges the Mexican government for its inaction and the continued illegal operation of the asphalt plant, owned by ALZ Construcciones, S.A. de C.V.

The people of Las Peras currently await an answer regarding their complaint. While they wait, they will continue their struggle for their health, life, and dignity – for themselves and for their children.