Thursday, August 3, 2017, p. 25
Compostela, Nay.
Without any explanation to the inhabitants, tourist developers closed with cyclonic mesh the only free access to the beach Canalán, one of the most beautiful of the municipality of Compostela, located in the town El Monteón and part of the strip Riviera Nayarit; In addition, they placed a metallic gate and a guardhouse to prevent the passage of the inhabitants towards the white sands and the deep blue sea.
Octaviano Figueroa Salazar, assistant judge of Rincón de Guayabitos (near Canalán) and member of the Commission Pro Playas Libres or Canalán Libre, explained that in El Monteón the company Rasaland builds the project One and Only Mandarina, which covers 265 hectares and four kilometers Of sea front and consists of 145 luxury villas and mansions, with an investment of 870 million dollars and the generation of 2 thousand direct jobs and 6 thousand indirect ones.
They closed the access. There have been small approaches with the people of the company and we have pending a meeting with them
, he said.
J. Benito Ortega Zepeda, auxiliary judge of El Monteón, explained that Rasaland began to buy from the ejidatarios lands adjacent to the beach. They acquired about 80 or 100 hectares and have already made an agreement with the ejido. Between the ejidal lands there was a plot that overlooked the beach and that was the access we had, but since it was a plot it can also be managed as private land. The road goes to the edge and the plot inwards is already private property, and until that is where they have closed
.
Ortega said that this property belonged to an individual who abandoned it and the ejido recovered it and sold it with permission of the comuneros. They gave them money and several bought to have a piece of beach, in order to profit, not to help us
.
The assistant judge added that the company has made contributions to the locality: We got drainage and potable water for the whole town. There are already more than thirty-millions. They got the resources from the federal government. You also have to see the benefits
. Also, agrees with Ortega in that the city council has not intervened.
This is not the first time that fences have been placed in Canalán. On May 16, 2009, the residents of El Monteón were beaten, sprayed with tear gas and imprisoned by state police, commanded by Julio Betancourt, when they tried to remove a mesh.
On May 23 of that year, the beach was closed to free access by alleged state government workers
. It was the six years of Ney González Sánchez (2005-2011).
In the municipality of Compostela the Chacalilla and Punta Raza beaches have already been privatized, among others.