Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08GUADALAJARA122
2008-03-14 21:28:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Guadalajara
Cable title:  

A SEWER RUNS THROUGH IT: BOY'S DEATH DRAWS ATTENTION TO

Tags:  SENV SOCI PGOV EAID MX 
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DE RUEHGD #0122/01 0742128
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 142128Z MAR 08
FM AMCONSUL GUADALAJARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0645
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 1851
RUEHGD/AMCONSUL GUADALAJARA 4695
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUADALAJARA 000122 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV SOCI PGOV EAID MX
SUBJECT: A SEWER RUNS THROUGH IT: BOY'S DEATH DRAWS ATTENTION TO
CONTAMINATED RIVER

REF: 07 Guadalajara 0076

GUADALAJAR 00000122 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUADALAJARA 000122

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV SOCI PGOV EAID MX
SUBJECT: A SEWER RUNS THROUGH IT: BOY'S DEATH DRAWS ATTENTION TO
CONTAMINATED RIVER

REF: 07 Guadalajara 0076

GUADALAJAR 00000122 001.2 OF 002



1. Summary: A child's death after falling into the severely
polluted Santiago River in the Guadalajara suburb of El Salto
has finally attracted official and popular attention to a
long-standing ecological nightmare. But after years of official
neglect and indifference, the authorities are seeking a quick
fix by covering up the problem, rather than addressing its
fundamental causes - an all-too-familiar reaction to
environmental crises in western Mexico. End Summary.

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A Death in El Salto:
--------------


2. In early February 2008, eight-year-old Miguel Angel Lopez
fell into the heavily contaminated Santiago River while playing
with friends near his home in the town of El Salto, the smallest
and remotest of the six municipalities that make up the
Guadalajara metropolitan area. Less than two weeks later he was
dead, with tests at the local hospital showing a high
concentration of arsenic and heavy metals in his body.
Subsequent tests conducted by the State Forensics Institute
failed to confirm the presence of arsenic, but did show
extensive contamination by fecal bacteria. Either way, there is
strong evidence that the river water poisoned the child.


3. The boy's death touched a chord in Mexico's second largest
urban area. Local media extensively covered the parents'
anguished charges of government indifference to the pollution
that killed their son and blamed local businesses for
contaminating the river. For several weeks the story was
front-page news and a steady stream of citizens vented their
outrage in letters to the editor and on local talk-radio shows.

--------------
State of Denial
--------------


4. The initial reaction of the authorities was tepid. Governor
Emilio Gonzalez Marquez expressed sympathy for the parents and
declared "we are all responsible" for the lamentable state of
the Santiago River. Javier Gutierrez Trevino, President of the
Jalisco Council of Industrialists, leaped to the defense of the
private sector, declaring that he would drink a shot of river
water to prove it was not contaminated with industrial residue.

Jalisco's Secretary of Health downplayed the pollution risks,
and malicious rumors circulated from various sources that
Miguel's death was really caused by domestic abuse, rather than
toxic water.

--------------
The Tragic Truth
--------------


5. These remarks served only to inflame public opinion still
further, and helped keep the story alive. Press commentators
dismissed the government's statements, noting that the governor
had diffused responsibility so broadly that no one could be held
accountable. The El Salto Chamber of Commerce undercut
Gutierrez Trevino by acknowledging that less than half of the
businesses in town had any kind of wastewater treatment system,
and the media continues to hound him to carry out his
ill-considered boast. Municipal authorities admitted that none
of the millions of gallons of sewage dumped into the Santiago
watershed from the metropolitan area are treated or cleaned in
any way. Local farmers indicated that crops such as wheat will
no longer grow close to the river because of the contamination.
In one poll, 40 percent of El Salto residents claimed to suffer
adverse health effects from the river.


6. As the media clamor grew, official fingerpointing began in
earnest, with local, state, and federal entities scrambling to
avoid blame for the situation. The state's failure to utilize a
credit line for building wastewater treatment plants offered by
the Government of Japan in the late 1990s came in for particular
criticism, with the ruling PAN and opposition PRI parties
accusing each other of neglect and obstructionism for allowing
the credit to expire unused. Delegations of officials and
politicians trooped out to the banks of the Santiago, where
their remarks tended to be long on rhetoric and short on
concrete ideas.

--------------
Covering Up the Problem
--------------


7. The only "solution" announced so far by the Government is a
plan to bury 3.5 kilometers of the Santiago River in large steel
pipes underneath the most heavily populated areas of El Salto,
to prevent more accidents of the kind that cost young Miguel
Lopez his life. Construction has already begun, and the

GUADALAJAR 00000122 002.2 OF 002


authorities hope to finish the project by the end of April. At
that point, while the river will be out of sight for a small
portion of its length, its toxic waters will continue to flow
untreated downstream. The Governor also announced his intention
to pursue construction of a wastewater treatment plant, but the
director of the state Water Commission admitted it would be 2011
at the earliest before a facility could be operational.

--------------
River of Death
--------------


8. The 433 km long Santiago River begins in Lake Chapala and
flows northwestward through Jalisco and Nayarit states to the
Pacific Ocean. With the exception of the area around
Guadalajara, and a large hydroelectric dam in Nayarit, the lands
it passes through are not highly developed. The El Salto
segment of the river is by far the most polluted, and the toxic
mix of sewage, industrial waste, and agricultural run-off
threatens to contaminate other ecosystems hundreds of kilometers
downstream.


9. The Consul General visited El Salto and the riverbank on
March 7th. The putrid smell was nearly overpowering and
permeated several blocks beyond the river's edges. Rusting
55-gallon drums with unknown contents floated in the
evil-looking black water. Grayish-white foam covered the
riverbanks below the town's namesake waterfall and drifted
slowly downstream, 100 meters from an elementary school. El
Salto's Mayor, Joel Gonzalez Diaz, told the CG that during times
of high water in the summer and fall, the noxious smell
penetrates the entire downtown area.


10. Mayor Gonzalez (no relation to the Governor) is in a
difficult position. The dimensions of the ecological
catastrophe are far beyond the resources of a small municipality
to handle. As the only PRI mayor in the metropolitan area, he
has had a difficult time with the PAN-led State Government; he
was publicly told to "buzz off" by the Governor when he asked
for additional state resources six months ago. Nevertheless,
Gonzalez hopes to convince his fellow mayors to address the
problem as a regional threat affecting the entire area.

--------------
Comment: A Tarnished "Pearl"
--------------


11. The tragic state of the Santiago River is not a new
development; the contamination is the result of years of neglect
by federal, state, and local authorities. No one has ever been
held accountable, and not one business has ever been sanctioned
for polluting the river. It took the death of a child to
finally galvanize the government into action, and even then, it
remains to be seen whether the authorities will simply bury the
problem without addressing its fundamental causes.


12. This is not the only environmental crisis that is causing
Guadalajara's image as the "Pearl of the West" to lose some of
its luster. Increasingly severe air pollution that sometimes
exceeds Mexico City levels (reftel) is another concern, as is
the loss of open space and parkland to development. Growing
traffic congestion, the contamination of some local beef with
the chemical clenbuterol, and the destruction of mangroves in
coastal nature reserves are also worrisome. The environment has
never been a priority for Jalisco's governments, and the state's
Environment Secretariat continues to receive a miniscule slice
of the official budget. Post will do what it can to assist and
focus official attention on this subject, particularly during
upcoming Earth Day events.
RAMOTOWSKI