After little more than two years of protests and litigation against a cattle ranch, the Maya and neighboring community of San Antonio Chel, in Hunucmá, is close to victory.
Livestock are polluting the water table in area, the neighbors charge.
Attorney Carlos Escoffié Duarte, who legally advises the community, said residents have directly talked with the owners of the farm to close the establishment or apply contingency measures; nevertheless they were ignored and for that reason they pursued legal action.
On Monday, a federal judge ordered authorities to close the farm for lack of permits and for generating “a high risk to the environment of community”.
In March, the Maya community of San Antonio Chel filed an amparo lawsuit against the farm that operates in its territory, due to the contamination with excrement of hundreds of cows that it generates in the water table.
Residents also managed to demonstrate that the farm is located just above an underground river system that supplies cenotes and wells in the area.
San Antonio Chel consists of around 200 inhabitants, near the municipal seat of Hunucmá. It has allowed the arrival of some avecindados, but with the condition that they sow products that do not contaminate the water table. But the ranch property was re-sold to new owners who ignored the original restriction.
Source: Punto Medio