Two México state mayors are at loggerheads over the ownership of a town but it’s unclear what the town itself thinks.

Since 1973, the year in which Cuatitlán Izcalli was granted municipal status, the town of San Mateo Ixtacalco has straddled that municipality and its neighbor, Cuatitlán.

But the mayor of the latter municipality, Ariel Juárez, is seeking to take possession of San Mateo Ixtacalco in its entirety and filed a claim to that end in the state Congress earlier this year.

But his counterpart in Cuatitlán Izcalli, Ricardo Núñez Ayala, has warned that he won’t give up the territory without a fight.

The two men, both of whom govern for Mexico’s ruling Morena party, will present their cases to the territorial limits commission of the state Congress.

Juárez says that 80% of Ixtacalco’s territory is in Cuatitlán and that the remaining 20% should also come under that municipality’s administration.

But at a meeting of the Cuatitlán Izcalli council, councilors sent a clear message to the mayor of the neighboring municipality.

“We will not allow anyone to take territory from our municipality for their shady interests,” said Miguel Ángel Huesca.

Another councilor, Germán González García, said the dispute over ownership of the town comes up whenever there is a change of government.

However, he said that the boundaries between the two municipalities were clearly established in 1973 and that the mayor of Cuatitlán should respect them.

Mayor Núñez stressed that he will not enter in a “friendly” agreement with Juárez that would involve his municipality ceding territory for the reunification of San Mateo Ixtacalco, which has a population of about 15,000.

Municipal boundary disputes are common in México state, the country’s most populous.

At least half of the state’s 125 municipalities have experienced problems related to poorly defined city limits, according to a report in the newspaper El Heraldo de México.

Source: El Sol de Toluca (sp), El Heraldo de México (sp)