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Pigs are desecrating the sacred wells of the Mayans in Mexico

2021-08-06T22:00:24.273Z


Pig farms are polluting cenotes, aquamarine springs in underground Mayan caverns. 08/05/2021 15:12 Clarín.com Dresses Updated 08/05/2021 3:12 PM They are going to "destroy" them, warns Doroteo Hau, an indigenous man who fights against the proliferation of pig farms accused of contaminating the cenotes, dazzling springs vital to the Mayan communities of the Mexican Yucatan peninsula. Their battle ranges from lawsuits to a recent consultation in which the residents mostly reje


08/05/2021 15:12

  • Clarín.com

  • Dresses

Updated 08/05/2021 3:12 PM

They are going to "destroy" them, warns Doroteo Hau, an indigenous man who fights against the proliferation of

pig farms

accused of contaminating the

cenotes,

dazzling springs vital to the

Mayan communities

of the Mexican Yucatan peninsula.

Their battle ranges from lawsuits to a recent consultation in which the residents mostly rejected the pig farms, whose waste (they say) is going to the

cenotes,

one of the main attractions of the famous Riviera Maya, in southeastern Mexico.

Formed in underground caverns, these

aquamarine wells

number in the thousands in the lush Mayan jungle and are connected to the Yucatan aquifer, which in some cases supplies its inhabitants through cisterns.

One of the ancestral wells of the Mayans (AFP).

A few steps from the wooden staircase that descends to the silent pond, in the municipality of Homún, Doroteo shows his sadness and anger at the damage to this "sacred" place to satisfy (according to him) 

the demand for meat from China.

The "area where we have our gift from God is like a sieve, all the surrounding water goes down into the cenotes. They are going to destroy what we are taking care of as it should be!", Hau says about the porosity of the soil.

"Ma, ka'anano 'on!", Sums up the community's sentiment in Mayan: "No,

we're tired!"

This 62-year-old tour guide formed together with neighbors the organization Kanan ts'ono'ot (Guardians of the Cenotes).

There are 267 pig farms in the area (AFP).

Last May they managed to get the Supreme Court to ratify the suspension of a

farm with more than 45,000 pigs

in Homún, with 7,500 inhabitants, but the case is on appeal.

"Tourists will stop coming if the bad smells get here," fears Jesús Dzul, a taxi driver who transports visitors who come to swim in the crystal clear waters.

For its cenotes,

paradisiacal beaches

and archaeological routes, the Yucatan Peninsula is one of the main charms of Mexico, where tourism contributes 8.7% of GDP.

The "no" to the farms won in two of the three towns where there was a consultation (AFP).

There are

257 pig farms in

the region

, but only 22 submitted environmental impact studies, according to a 2020 report by the Greenpeace organization.

Pig farms are destroying everything

Inhabitants of Homún, Sitilpech, Kinchil and Chapab denounce that farms in hard-to-reach areas dump waste into the jungle, without treatment, which the producers deny.

If Homún's kennel reopens, Doroteo claims that he is even willing to "take machetes."

"We must defend natural resources!", Justifies before the consultation, which was not legal.

Sitilpech is home to another farm, the closure of which was also requested by the locals to justice.

"The pestilence is too much, you can't breathe," says Teodorita Rejón, 71, with a gesture of disgust, prior to a march against pig farmers.


"Farms out!" A protester shouted as she dragged a plastic pig through the dirt streets (AFP).

"Farms out!" A protester yelled as she dragged a plastic pig through the dirt streets.

Pig production in Mexico increased 3.1% between 2019 and 2020 to 1.64 million tons, according to industry data.

Meanwhile, exports grew 29.7% totaling 916 million dollars, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Meat for China

Sales to China have skyrocketed since 2017, from $ 2 million that year to

$ 264.3 million in 2020.

Between 2018 and 2019, African swine fever decimated the herd of the Asian country, the first consumer of these meats, which raised external demand and prices.

China is the second Mexican customer behind Japan.

The stakes are so high that, according to Yolanda Chi, the conflict escalated.

"We are threatened by those who work on the farms, they give them money to do it, but we are going to vote," Chi said in San Fernando, where a group of men insulted voters.

Pork sales to China went from two million dollars in 2017 to 264 million dollars in 2020 (AFP).

The "no" to the farms won in two of the three towns where there was consultation.

Employers ensure that they meet quality standards.

"We do not contaminate anything," said Alberto Alfonso, production director of Grupo Porcícola Mexicano Kekén, the largest in Yucatán, during a tour of a farm in Chapab.

To prove it, it shows a biodigester and oxidation and ozonation ponds used in wastewater treatment.

Greenpeace, maintains that samples taken from the cenotes and wells near the hatcheries present "contaminants" (AFP)

But Viridiana Lázaro, author of the Greenpeace study, maintains that samples taken from the cenotes and wells near the hatcheries

present "contaminants."

They were also found by experts from the United Nations Development Program.

"A part is attributable to farms because the samples have fecal coliforms,

antibiotic remains

that do not come from agriculture or urban waste," said Xavier Moya, representative of the agency in Yucatan.

AFP Agency.

GML

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-08-06

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