Ecocide in Chetumal: 50-year-old trees are cut down on Chetumal Boulevard

“The Chetumal municipal government committed a criminal act against the environment and the history of the state capital”, activists say.

Chetumal. Quinatan Roo, (January 12, 2022).- Trees that were between 20 and 50 years old were cut down from the Bahía de Chetumal Boulevard as part of the urban remodeling works in the area.

Francisco Ortega Lizárraga, president of the Chetumal Historical Heritage Pro-Defense Committee regretted that trees were cut down when the agreement with the Ministry of Public Works (SEOP) was to respect the endemic flora of this entire area, the type of trees that have been adopted by the population.

He classified as ecocide the felling of at least 20 traditional specimens from Chetumal, such as flamboyant, almond, and pine, among others.

The trees were located in the central ridge and sidewalk of this tourist corridor of the capital.

Talking about one tree in particular, the one located right in front of the Punta Estrella Spa, which was more than 10 meters (30 feet) high, it was cut down on January 10th.

“This is a terrible damage to the flora of the boulevard area, this was not what was intended with the remodeling project, it was not to affect natural resources in this way, we will be making contact with William Conrrado Alarcón to let him know that we do not approve these measures. Many of us remember playing around these trees in our childhood and the municipal government decided to cut them down just like that without taking the citizenship’s opinion in consideration”.

Francisco Ortega Lizárraga

He recalled that from the beginning the expenses proposed for the corridor remodeling were excessive, basically because the demolition and reconstruction of the sidewalk were contemplated, when there were sections that did not have to be demolished, so the financial resources were wasted. 

Chetumal government did not respond when information was requested on logging 

An attempt was made to contact William Conrado Alarcón, Secretary of Public Works (SEOP) by telephone, but he did not answer.

According to the remodeling project, it is an investment of close to 210 million pesos for the construction of a bike path, modernization of 14 squares, construction of viewpoints, repair of potholes, and the relocation of flora specimens in poor condition and sick, however, the trees that were cut with a chainsaw, were clearly healthy.

Look at the moment when the trees fell on Bahia Boulevard 

Circula en redes el momento exacto en el que uno de los árboles del bulevar Bahía es derribado.

(📹Cortesía) pic.twitter.com/6G5wgv0Yo0

— Novedades de Q.Roo (@novedadesqroo) January 9, 2022

Tree felling shut down … many hours later 

Hours after the ecocide was committed, staff from the State Environmental Protection Office went to the area to put up posters with the legend “Clausurado”.

La Procuraduría de Protección al Ambiente del Estado colocó carteles de Clausura a los trabajos de remodelación en el bulevar Bahía de #Chetumal.

( 📹@harold_alcocer ) pic.twitter.com/UmlOdRqdLz

— Novedades de Q.Roo (@novedadesqroo) January 9, 2022

Source: Sipse

The Yucatan Times