This is the 5th part of a series of articles published by Diario de Yucatan and The Yucatan Times about the conflict between a small group of expatriates and the commissioner of Chelem Yucatan, Bianey Chim.
MERIDA Yucatan (Diario de Yucatan/Megamedia) – Three members of the North American community who reside along the Yucatan coast said that the accusations of the municipal commissioner of Chelem, Bianey Bibiana Chim Pat, regarding support for victims of tropical storm “Cristobal” are false.
They assured that they have never accused the municipal official of corruption and, on the contrary, she defames them in this way. The expatriates also denied they had undertaken a smear campaign against Bianey Chim and assured that all the support and supplies they had acquired to help the community affected by the floods had the approval of the commissioner’s husband, Lemuel Abraham Matú, who was the one who attended the meetings with them to agree on the aid.
With everything that has happened now, they added, donations – involving a group of foreigners, not just them – will be permanently suspended. “The damage that the commissioner has caused with this to the community is irreparable,” said Walter Anthony Yarchan, also know as Wade Yarchan, the person against whom Bianey Chim filed a formal complaint before the State Attorney General’s Office.
Last weekend we published that the authority in Chelem accused Walter Anthony Yarchan – also known as Wade Yarchan – and Cindy Morrisey, also an American, of committing possibly criminal acts. Among other things, in her accusation before the FGE and in an interview with one of Diario’s reporters, Bianey Chim said that Mr. Yarchan was leading a campaign of defamation and threats against her. That campaign had spread to social media after she did not allow him to deliver support to the victims of the flooding because he wanted to do things his way. She found it suspicious that he was taking pictures with the victims with the apparent aim of justifying to his donors the destination of the contributions they were kindly giving away.
Wade Yarchan met with el Diario’s reporters at his lawyers’ offices in Merida. Cindy Morrisey and Stephen Petterson accompanied him. Mr. Petterson is also mentioned in Bianey Chim’s complaint to the FGE.
In summary, the expatriates said the following:
1. There has never been a campaign against the comisaria of Chelem. Nor have racist and discriminatory views been voiced, much less pressure exerted against other foreign community members at the port.
2. When the Covid-19 pandemic started, we delivered 1,800 food packages in Chuburna Puerto. Only in Chelem have we had problems of this kind, never in Chuburna.
3. Before starting the help process in Chelem, we had a meeting with the commissary’s husband, the envoy in these cases, to coordinate and analyze the best way to use the support.
4. More money was spent than was raised by donors. We spent more. It came out of our own pockets.
5. For seven years, we have donated privately. The support came in the form of medicines, hospital bill payments, dental services, equipment for the homes… We have supported whenever someone in the community was in need.
6. On one occasion, a person close to us said, “You have to make it public to increase the amount (of the donations).”
7. It was done that way, and we got more people in our community to donate. For the Covid, an extra campaign was made, and 125 thousand pesos were collected in three days, which served to give food to 1,800 families, equivalent to more than 10,000 people. We understand that these people live day to day, and we couldn’t wait for the government to give them aid. They couldn’t wait for that support to come from official instances.
8. With everything that has happened now with the comisaria, those donations will stop for good. The damage that this has caused to the community is irreparable.
9. Three people donated 80% of the money. This is not an aid program, but a group of altruistic people.
10. Walter Yarchan said he had not intimidated the commissioner, her husband, or anyone else in the community. Nor does he have people at his service for that purpose.
11. When the floods came, they were asked for 40,000 pesos for drainage pumps. Cindy and Stephen Petterson went into town to see if work was being done and saw nothing. They decided not to give the money.
12. Three thousand pesos were given to the comisaria Chim Pat to prepare food since there were people who did not have enough to eat. It was indicated that $1,500 a day would be needed for that purpose. It was agreed to continue to give the daily amount as long as the food was provided.
13. No food was given to anyone, and the commissioner returned the money months later.
14. It is a lie that a bank account was opened to receive donations. One of Mr. Yarchan’s clients started a “fundraising” page so money could be collected, but that was not under his control.
15. As for the photographs taken of the people who receive the benefits, this is done with all the associations we help because disseminating them allows us to raise more funds.
16. The soap-water bottles given to children was an initiative of Cindy Morrisey, from her own money, to entertain the children. What was given on that occasion was food, water, and building materials. We also bought 50 matrimonial hammocks for 20,000 pesos. These are supports that we gave directly to the people. They didn’t go through the comisaría.
17. During the floods, the septic tanks in the houses overflowed, and we knew that a disinfection process was necessary. In a meeting with the commissary’s husband, it was decided to buy chlorine and acid.
18. The commissary’s husband offered them a space in the municipal commissary’s premises, and there they took ten barrels of chlorine. The next day, something happened. There was a problem between the commissary’s husband and one of her employees, and Yarchan was called on the phone to ask him to withdraw the product. This was done the next day in the presence of eight armed police officers.
19. Bianey Chim claims that Walter Yarchan told her that their relationship was broken and that she likes to be “on the spotlight” as much as Mayor Julian Zacarias. There was no such assertion since Yarchan does not speak Spanish, the commissioner does not speak English, so they never communicated. Contradictorily, Julián Zacarías has written several times to Yarchan, who he applauds for his efforts and tells him they do an incredible job (SIC) -As published by Diario de Yucatan-
Note:
We received the following statement from Mr. Yarchan
20. Commissioner Chim Pat assures that her name has been stained in the port and that a campaign has been launched against her, accusing her of corruption. All Walter Yarchan has done is to say that he will not make any more donations, and he has the right to do so.
21. What it was bought to help the people of Chelem is precisely what he had pledged and agreed to.
22. Yarchan denies ever saying “You will regret this” to Bianey Chim.
The coincidences
About the “coincidences” after the false threats, such as the failures in her cars, Yarchan says it should be pointed out that Cindy Morrisey had her three pets poisoned, her house robbed in Chuburna, and four men went up on the roof to scream at her, trying to intimidate her.
“This makes the authorities look bad.”
Yarchan also indicates that if the comisaria alleges that the robbery was simulated, then it leaves the municipal, the state police, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office in a lousy position since it insinuates that they are not doing their job correctly and cannot establish that it was a faked crime. It was also mentioned that Mrs. Morrisey’s phone was not found in the home of another American, as Bianey Chim claims, but that it was returned by a Mexican, who contacted Mr. Yarchan’s office and sent someone to pick up the device at his mother’s house. There he was paid a reward offered.
Donations only
Stephen Petterson says he does not know why he is involved in the mayhem since his company is only a donor.
Personal Background
Regarding the complaint filed by Kelley Conway, an American, and the administrator of a Facebook page, Salvador Lizarraga, Yarchan said they do not know the terms because they have not been notified. However, they consider it a personal attack because Ms. Conway and Mr. Lizarraga, administrator of the Facebook account, are the ones who have encouraged the rumors of division.
The problem has a personal background, in which a third person named Linda Hannegi claims that she has reasons to believe that they killed her pet.
It is unclear as stated by Diario de Yucatan, who exactly is the people accused of killing this person’s pet.
