A community fights back

Lourdes Luján and her neighbors in Colonia Chilpan-cingo are worried all the time now.

Living in the shadow of an industrial park, they have long been suspicious of the 300 maquiladoras perched on a mesa above their homes. The water in their wells and running down their streets has made them uneasy, as has the dust that continually wafts through the air. Then, in February, a CEC factual record confirmed some of their worst fears: hazardous substances left in sacks and barrels at Metales y Derivados, the abandoned lead smelter in the park, pose “grave harm to human health.”

Residents of this Tijuana neighborhood of 10,000 have been complaining for years of frequent skin rashes, gastrointestinal ailments, asthma, and other disorders. Hundreds trudge to work every day up a ravine below the skeleton of the old smelter, where dust blows freely from the 7,000 cubic meters of waste containing cadmium, lead, arsenic, and antimony. Children play nearby and can easily enter the site. And when it rains, mud from the park washes down into the colonia. Luján remembers that, as a child, the local Alamar Creek was clear enough to bathe in. Now, smelly and dark brown, it is thought by locals to be contaminated with lead.

The CEC’s decision to issue a factual record was the first bit of hopeful news for Luján and her neighbors, who are desperately trying to draw attention to their plight. It is still unclear who will take responsibility for clean-up. Mexico does not have an equivalent of the US Superfund program, with federal money targeted for toxic waste sites. And many argue that Americans should play a role in cleaning up an area contaminated by old car batteries imported from the US.

According to the Environmental Health Coalition, a San Diego-based group that has been working with Chilpancingo residents, a thorough clean-up could cost between US$3 million and $6 million—figures that take into account sending the waste back to the US. Cheaper but equally controversial proposals include cementing over the site or dumping the contaminants in the Mexican desert. “We’re very concerned about the waste staying in Mexico, where there isn’t the infrastructure to monitor it,” says Cesar Luna, policy consultant for the Environmental Health Coalition and the lawyer who steered its citizen’s submission through the CEC process. The residents have asked to be consulted before any final decisions are made.

Meanwhile, they are staging rallies, sending letters to President Vincente Fox and other officials, and generally doing what they can to keep attention focused on their problem. With a US$25,000 grant from the CEC, the Environmental Health Coalition has helped them form a grass-roots training program for local women. Workshops cover such subjects as how to identify and eliminate household toxins, how industrial contamination affects the community, and how to create a plan for action.

In March, the women opened an office where they can hold meetings with the press and organize activities. They were also able to arrange for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Miloon Kothari, to tour their colonia. During his visit on 12 March, the women lobbied for his support in getting the UN High Commission for Human Rights involved in their case.

Despite all the industrial plants surrounding their homes, until now “there hasn’t been any significant effort to educate the residents about the relationship between health and the environment,” says Luna.

“The community is very, very excited about the program,” and the CEC, he adds, is “one of their only sources of support. With it, the community is really becoming empowered.”

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Other articles for spring 2002

Borderline hazards

Measured success

Pollutants see the light in Mexico

Taking the poison out of pottery

News and updates from the CEC

Aguascalientes takes the initiative

Metales y Derivados

A community fights back