Learn more about the Mexican Revolution with a visit to its Mexico City monument

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November 19, 2018

Fountains in front of the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City.

The Mexican Revolution of 1910 is remembered every year with a public holiday on or around November 20. This year workers have today, Monday, November 19, as a holiday commemorating the day that the revolution began 118 years ago.

It started with the intention to end the 30-year dictatorship of President Porfirio Díaz and was long and bloody, lasting nearly a decade and taking the lives of between 1 and 2 million people, although information is varied and unclear on the exact numbers.

Díaz was exiled to France and would die there in 1915. The unrest in Mexico when the revolution was deemed to have ended in 1920 is said by some to have effectively continued until 1934 when Lázaro Cárdenas — who served in the Constitutionalist Army during the revolution — was elected, cut his salary in half and revived the agrarian reform.

The rich profiting from the land and agriculture, leaving many people dispossessed, was one of the catalysts for the revolution, which sought to create a more egalitarian Mexico.

The iconic figures of the time, including most famously Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, are remembered and celebrated to this day.

The monument after its 2010 restoration. Arlin Castellanos

The Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City’s Tabacalera neighborhood, close to the historical center, is a striking building that commemorates this important event in Mexico’s history.

The history of the monument itself is also rich and interesting. In 1906, a project to build a legislative palace in honor of the centennial of Mexico’s independence was ordered by Porfirio Díaz but construction was cut short due to the Revolution, which would begin some four years later.

For 25 years the building stood as a steel frame until 1933 when architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia was commissioned to build a monument to commemorate the revolution. The art deco building with the iconic copper dome roof was designed and built upon the frame that already existed.

In 1970, the elevators to the observation deck were closed and the monument began to deteriorate; its sculptures were removed and placed elsewhere across the city. Thankfully, however, in commemoration of the bicentenary of Mexico’s independence in 2010 the monument was rescued and restored with an eye to creating a place for visitors to enjoy the impressive views of the city that the building affords and to properly commemorate and remember the events of the Revolution.

Nowadays, the 360-degree observation deck is reached by a glass elevator. Not for the faint-hearted, the elevator quickly rises 213 feet, dropping visitors out on to spiral staircases that lead to the outside observation deck. Those with vertigo might want to skip this one or go with someone whom they can hold on to as they walk around. Once outside, you can keep near the inside wall which helps somewhat.

If you can manage the vertigo, the views across Mexico City on a clear day are impressive. There are also telescopes that help to extend the views even farther or to focus on specific landmarks. Access to the deck is available until 8:00pm (10:00pm Friday and Saturday) so you can visit either by day or by night for the different but equally spectacular views over the bustling megalopolis that is Mexico’s capital.

The observation deck offers great views both day and night.

If you go up in the day you will get an impressive view of the city’s skyline and surrounding volcanos. Visit after dark to see the city lit up and spread out for miles before your eyes.

Walking around the deck you can also get up close and personal to the sculptures of Oliverio Marteinez, who created the four large stone columns in human forms that represent independence, the agrarian law, the workers’ law and the law of reform.

Guided tours are available that explain the history and significance of the building and the guides will help you to identify the buildings that can be seen from the observation deck.

The monument is more than just a building to commemorate the revolution, it is also the resting place of some of the important revolutionaries, with the remains of Vicente Carranza, Francisco. I. Madero, Plutarco Elias Calles, Lazaro Cardenas and Francisco (Pancho) Villa interred there. Head outside to see their names on plaques on the four corners of the monument.

If all of this sparks your interest in learning more about the revolution, you are in luck. The National Museum of the Revolution (which those with a fear of heights will be pleased to know is on the ground floor) will help fill in the blanks with over 400 different original pieces from the revolution and lots of information and interactive exhibits.

While at the monument make time for a coffee and a concha at Café Adelita, named after the female soldiers of the Revolution. There is a cafe on the ground floor and also one up on the observation deck, where you can enjoy your coffee with a view.

The elevator is not for the faint of heart.

Also take a peak in the design shop that has a lot of interesting and unique design pieces, some related to the Revolution but many just displaying the talent of Mexican designers. This is definitely a museum shop worth a visit.

The attractions don’t stop inside the building either. Outside from 7:00pm until midnight the monument is illuminated, changing color and making for a rather beautiful sight. There is also the centennial fountain that shoots jets of water into the air at intervals. Kids and adults alike enjoy playing in it.

The surrounding area is popular on weekends too. There are often events held there, anything from fundraisers to little craft markets. So if you are planning a visit it is worth leaving extra time to spend exploring the square.

Once you visited, test your knowledge with this revolutionary quiz to see how much you learned.

The Monument to the Revolution is open Monday through Thursday from 12:00pm to 8:00pm, Friday and Saturday 12:00pm-10:00pm and Sunday 10:00am-8:00pm. For more information take a look at the website.

Susannah Rigg is a freelance writer and Mexico specialist based in Mexico City. Her work has been published by BBC Travel, Condé Nast Traveler, CNN Travel and The Independent UK among others. Find out more about Susannah on her website.

Electricity tariffs have soared as much as 500% due to new pricing formula

By

MND Staff

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November 19, 2018

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Patrons dine by candlelight in a Mérida restaurant during electricity rates protest.

A new formula to calculate electricity rates for the industrial and business sectors has caused power bills to soar this year, triggering legal action against the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and forcing an unknown number of small businesses to close.

The rising cost of power has also prompted a flood of complaints from affected parties and is putting pressure on inflation.

The pricing formula, which has led to power bills going up by as much as 500%, is based on two main factors: costs related to the generation of power and expenses associated with supplying it, which can fluctuate depending on the time of year.

Behind the price hike, however, are increased costs associated with power generation that are directly linked to the rising price of fuel oil, interruptions to the supply of natural gas and a reduction in the generation of hydroelectricity.

During the third quarter of this year, the CFE reported, fuel costs were up 65% compared to the same period of 2017, “mainly due to an increase in reference prices [and] a lack of gas availability as well as greater costs associated with the sale of fuel to third parties.”

However, according to the chief of the energy division at the National Chamber for Industrial Transformation (Canacintra), electricity prices currently paid by industry and business are, in many cases, well above the figure cited by the CFE.

Francisco Leonardo Anzures González told the newspaper Milenio that many CFE customers have been “severely affected” by the introduction of the new pricing formula, with their power costs increasing between 60% and 500%.

The president of the Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco) said the price hike has left an as yet unquantified number of business owners with no other option than to shut down.

“Some businesses have already closed. It’s the micro-businesses and small businesses that have shut down already because [the increase] has affected them in an unsustainable way,” José Manuel López Campos said.

“For medium-sized and large businesses, there doesn’t appear to be a risk of closure but an increase in the price of finished products, that could reach consumers at any moment, is envisioned,” he explained.

López said that Concanaco has received more than 40,000 price hike-related complaints from its member companies this years, adding that the new pricing formula has created “a situation that won’t be sustainable in the long term.”

Members of the Mexican Association of Hotels and Motels (AMHM) have taken their opposition to the new electricity tariffs a step further, filing 250 amparos, or injunctions, against them.

Owners of hotels in Los Cabos, Mexico City, Cancún and the Riviera Maya, Oaxaca and Veracruz have initiated the bulk of the legal claims.

Another 100 amparos against the new rates are expected to be filed in the coming days, the AMHM said.

During the past week, various businesses on the Yucatán peninsula, including hotels, gas stations and restaurants, have protested the price hike by completely turning off their power for an hour a day.

“In some restaurants, what they did was put candles [on the tables]. They explained to diners that there would be a power outage and what the reason for it was,” said Juan Manuel Ponce Díaz, president of the Yucatán branch of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE).

“The tourists understood [the idea] very well, some Italians said it was a very good way to express [opposition to the price hikes],” he added.

Ponce said that electricity prices on the Yucatán peninsula are 83% higher than those in Louisiana and 75% higher than in Texas. Both U.S. states are located directly across the Gulf of Mexico from the peninsula’s northern coast.

There is also a possibility that increased electricity costs will force public water utilities to increase the prices paid by consumers because they are allocated fixed budgets to pay for the power they use.

In that context, the Canacintra energy chief said that several water utilities have expressed their concern to the business chamber.

“They tell us that they’re practically bankrupt because their electricity costs have increased between 30% and 50%. They say that they can’t stop [operations] because they have to keep supplying drinking water to cities . . . They’re worried about what effect there will be on the final consumer price because they don’t have any certainty about the cost of electricity,” Anzures said.

All three business sector representatives – Anzures, López and Ponce – contend that the high electricity prices in Mexico, especially compared to the United States, place the country’s economic competitiveness at risk.

“. . . These tariffs are reducing the competitiveness of the whole productive sector. A wholesale adjustment is required,” they said.

They added that approaches have been made to members of the incoming federal government on the issue but there are not yet any clear signals about what will be done with regard to electricity rates.

López stressed that efforts will continue, including petitions to president-elect López Obrador, to ensure that “there is more understanding [on the part of the new government] . . . about the impact [the high prices] have on the productive sector and the population in general.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

Former cartel boss Héctor Beltrán Leyva dies of heart attack at 56

By

Tony Richards

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November 19, 2018

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One of four brothers who founded the once-powerful Beltrán Leyva Organization died yesterday of a heart attack.

Héctor Beltrán Leyva, 56, was transferred from a prison cell at the Altiplano maximum-security prison in México state to a hospital after complaining of chest pains. He died soon after.

Beltrán Leyva, also known as “El H,” assumed the leadership of the drug cartel after the death of his brother, Arturo, in 2009. Two other brothers, Alfredo and Carlos, are in jail.

The brothers were based in Sinaloa where they initially worked with the Juárez Cartel as hitmen and drug transporters, according to InSight Crime.

Later they formed an alliance with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, now on trial in the United States, but split after the arrest of Alfredo, which the brothers believed had been engineered by Guzmán.

Héctor Beltrán Leyva was the cartel’s financial operator and managed connections with politicians, businessmen and security personnel before assuming the leadership.

He had been living in the state of Querétaro at the time of his arrest in 2014 in a restaurant in San Miguel de Allende. He portrayed himself as a businessman, selling real estate and art, and maintained a low profile.

“El H” was born in Badiguarato, Sinaloa, “El Chapo” Guzmán’s home town.

He was at one time one of the biggest cocaine traffickers in the world, alongside Guzmán and current Sinaloa Cartel leader “El Mayo” Zambada.

Source: Milenio (sp), Animal Político (sp)

Bus plunges off bridge in Nuevo León killing seven

By

Tony Richards

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November 19, 2018

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The bus that went off a bridge today in Nuevo León. — Scene of this morning's accident in Montemorelos.

Seven people died this morning when a bus plunged off a bridge in Montemorelos, Nuevo León.

At least 14 people were injured in the accident on federal highway 195 at the El Encadenado bridge.

The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

The bus was traveling from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, to Poza Rica, Veracruz, with at least 25 people aboard when it went off the bridge about 4:30 this morning and fell 10 meters.

Several passengers were trapped in the wreckage of the bus, operated by Ómnibus de México.

Source: Reforma (sp), La Jornada (sp)

‘Nobody asked us:’ indigenous communities say no to Maya train

By

MND Staff

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November 17, 2018

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Indigenous communities on the Yucatán peninsula have rejected president-elect López Obrador’s Maya train project and declared that nobody has asked their opinion about it.

In a statement directed to the soon-to-be president, a range of groups representing Mayan communities declared that “no person outside the Yucatán peninsula” has the right “to decide what can or can’t be done” in their territories without first consulting them.

“Let it be known from today that we totally reject the Maya train megaproject,” the statement said.

The groups called on López Obrador not to grant approval for the project or begin a tendering process for its construction – either before or after he takes office on December 1 – without first obtaining the consent of the indigenous people living in the communities through which the railway will pass.

The president-elect announced Monday that he will hold a public consultation later this month on the railway that would link cities in the states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas.

However, the joint statement made it clear that the indigenous communities don’t support the November 24/25 vote.

“With respect to the consultation, we reject . . . any result it has whether in favor or against,” the groups said.

Prior to López Obrador announcing the train’s route, its estimated cost and even the date construction will start, nobody discussed the project with the communities that will be affected, the indigenous groups charged.

“The only information we have is what the newscasts have transmitted . . . No authority has sat down to talk to us despite the fact that the infrastructure project will be located in our territories . . . Everything has occurred behind our backs . . . We would like any intended decision [on the project] to be made in the presence of our representatives,” the statement said.

“. . . We hoped that with the change of administration that we, the indigenous communities, would be visible to the federal government and that it would reconsider the manner in which it attempts to start the Maya train megaproject but with displeasure we realized that in this new administration history won’t change and that the justice that was expected will not come to the indigenous peoples of Mexico.”

The groups also said they saw little benefit to the communities that will bear the burden of construction of the railway.

“It’s not planned for us, the common people. It’s a tourism project that will only benefit the wealthy and foreigners. We, the owners of the land, will only see the train pass by because there will be no stations in the majority of our towns . . . Our communities will only see the destructive part of the project,” the statement said.

The indigenous groups also challenged the name of the proposed train, declaring that “there’s nothing Mayan about it.”

They said they are prepared to take “the actions that are necessary” to defend their rights and demanded that an environmental impact assessment be completed by an organization that is independent of the government and any company that has an economic interest in the project.

López Obrador said Monday that there would be no net negative environmental impact on the region, which is full of jungle, wetlands, wildlife reserves and archaeological sites, explaining that a simultaneous project to plant trees across 100,000 hectares in southern Mexico would be undertaken.

“I’m very confident that the people are going to vote to build the Maya train, because it won’t hurt anyone,” he said. “On the contrary, it will benefit a lot of people.”

An inauguration ceremony for the project will be held on December 16 and work will start the next day, López Obrador said.

Source: Animal Político (sp)

Butterfly sanctuaries now open in Michoacán, México state

By

César Hernández

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November 17, 2018

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The Rosario monarch sanctuary in Michoacán.

The monarch butterflies arrived late this year but not because they were on Mexican time. They were delayed by bad weather on their journey south from the United States and Canada.

But there have been enough arrivals now that the monarch butterfly sanctuaries can open their doors to visitors in México state and Michoacán.

Weather conditions in northern Mexico delayed the arrival of the migratory insects to the forests where they spend the winter, but specialists expect that all the butterfly colonies will be set up for the season by late November.

The southern wintering forests are comprised mostly of oyamel fir trees located at 3,000 meters or more above sea level, where temperatures range between 0 and 10 C during the season.

Visitors will be able to tour the sanctuaries every day between 9:00am and 5:00pm on designated walking paths. Warm clothing and and comfortable shoes are advised, as well as an umbrella or raincoat.

The sanctuaries in Michoacán are El Rosario and El Asoladero in Melchor Ocampo; Senguio in the municipality of the same name; and Sierra Chincua in Angangueo.

In México state, tourists can visit the sanctuaries of Capulín and Macheros in Donato Guerra; La Mesa in San José del Rincón; and Piedra Herrada in San Mateo Almolola.

They will remain open until March 31. Visitors can also enjoy the region’s natural landscapes and the rich variety of food, along with the creations of its artisans.

The forests of México and Michoacán states also offer sustainable tourism activities like horseback riding, bicycle rentals and ziplining.

Visitors to the sanctuaries last season numbered 230,000 people, 40% more than those registered the previous five seasons.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Abren los Santuarios de Mariposa Monarca en Estado de México y Michoacán

Watch this video on YouTube

Monarch butterflies arriving in Mexico this week.

Search for missing persons yields narco-camps in Tamaulipas

By

César Hernández

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November 17, 2018

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A narco-camp found last year in Matamoros.

Searching for the hidden graves of missing persons in Tamaulipas has turned up more than just bodies over the past six years.

A non-governmental organization dedicated to searching for the missing has found at least 50 narco-camps, used by crime gangs to bury or incinerate the remains of their victims and other purposes.

The president of Milynali, Graciela Pérez Rodríguez, told the newspaper Reforma that human remains have also been found at the camps, located mostly in central and southern Tamaulipas.

Relatives of the missing began searching for their loved ones in 2010 after criminal organizations started fighting for control of the state.

Pérez blames the proliferation of the camps on authorities’ excessive tolerance and fear of reprisals on the part of citizens should they report them.

She offered as an example the town of Xicoténcatl, where a narco-camp was discovered a mere 200 meters from a residential area.

“I’ve always said that if this is happening it cannot be fortuitously or in a hidden way . . . everybody could see the comings and goings of the criminals. These are large camps.”

The state Attorney General’s office (PGJE) identified 280 mass graves between 2006 and 2016, ranking Tamaulipas as second only to Veracruz, where 332 mass graves have been found.

However, Tamaulipas tops the list of missing persons, with nearly 6,000 cases recorded in the last decade.

The PGJE has consolidated a database of missing persons and unidentified bodies that is designed to be shared at the national level and to aid in finding and identifying the people on it.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Mexico’s security plan a ‘colossal mistake,’ warns Human Rights Watch

By

MND Staff

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November 17, 2018

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Security plan critics say local, state and federal police should be strengthened rather than keep soldiers on the streets.

The incoming government’s new security strategy is a “colossal mistake” and “potentially disastrous,” the international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned.

President-elect López Obrador and future public security secretary Alfonso Durazo this week presented a new national security plan whose central element is the creation of a national guard that will be under the control of the army.

A range of NGOs including Amnesty International have already rejected the plan, charging that it only perpetuates the unsuccessful militarization model implemented by former president Felipe Calderón in 2006 and continued by the current federal government.

Late yesterday, HRW added its voice to the criticism.

“López Obrador is inheriting a human rights catastrophe that has been caused in large part by the militarization of public security in Mexico,” said José Miguel Vivanco, the organization’s Americas director.

“By doubling down on that failed approach, he is making a colossal mistake that could undercut any serious hope of ending the atrocities that have caused so much suffering in Mexico in recent years,” he continued.

Deploying the military to contain criminal violence has produced widespread human rights violations – including executions, enforced disappearances, and torture – and underscores why the military should not be used for law enforcement, HRW said.

More than 200,000 homicides have been recorded since the militarized war on drugs strategy began 12 years ago and last year was the most violent year in at least two decades with 31,174 murders, according to the National Statistics Institute.

“We urge López Obrador to reconsider this ill-advised and potentially disastrous policy,” Vivanco said.

“He should commit himself instead to improving the country’s civilian police forces, however difficult, which is essential to achieve a sustainable end to the violence and abuse that have flourished under his predecessors,” he concluded.

Public policy think tank México Evalúa also joined the chorus of criticism, contending that the new security plan is the wrong approach because it replicates the “exhausted militarization formula.”

It also said that it was worrying that the new plan doesn’t contain proposals to strengthen police forces at municipal, state and federal levels and better train their officers.

Responding to the criticism, a senator with López Obrador’s Morena party said he will propose that the new government meet with experts to discuss how the security plan can be improved.

Primo Dothé Mata, a member of the Senate’s national defense committee, called on people not to be polarized over the plan because what the country needs is unity and commitment.

Source: Milenio (sp)

For a general, a US $100,000 bribe and a hug from drug lord El Chapo

By

MND Staff

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November 17, 2018

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Jurors at the New York trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán heard cartel tales involving bribes, bullets and bloodshed during the second day of court testimony from a key prosecution witness.

Former Sinaloa Cartel operations chief Jesús Zambada told the jury Thursday that the notorious drug lord once ordered him to pay a US $100,000 bribe to a military general in Guerrero.

The general “is a friend of mine,” he recalled Guzmán telling him in 2004. “Give him a hug and notify him that I’ll be working around the state.”

A day after describing El Chapo as “one of the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexico” and spilling secrets on the inner workings of the lucrative trafficking operation he allegedly headed, the former cartel member told the court that the Sinaloa Cartel paid regular bribes – in dollars – to high-ranking police officers and officials at all three levels of government.

As “plaza leader” in Mexico City between 2001 and 2008, Zambada, who was extradited to the United States in 2012, claimed that he forked out around US $300,000 a month in illicit payoffs to federal and local police, prosecutors, airport officials and even Interpol agents.

One frequent recipient, he said, was the director of the federal Attorney General’s office. Another was the chief homicide investigator of the Mexico City police.

In exchange, they provided protection and information that allowed the cartel’s activities to run smoothly and turned a blind eye to crimes, including homicides committed by cartel members, Zambada explained.

Through bribes, the ex-cartel member claimed on Wednesday, “I controlled the airport in Mexico City . . . controlled the authority.”

The bribes paid to police were particularly useful, the witness said, after Guzmán escaped from prison for the first time in 2001 by hiding inside a laundry cart.

After arranging a helicopter to ferry him to a “semi-deserted location” in central Mexico, Zambada said that he and his brother – current Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada – picked up Guzmán and drove him to Mexico City.

As they reached the outskirts of the capital, the ex-cartel member recounted, Guzmán became anxious when he saw a police car and motorcycle pull in front of their vehicle, unaware that he had arranged for a police escort.

Zambada told the jury that he quickly reassured Chapo that there was no reason for concern.

“I said, don’t worry. These are our people, they’re here to protect us.”

Zambada also told jurors about bloody turf wars that broke out between rival groups of cartel sicarios, or professional killers.

He recounted details of a bloodbath at a Puerto Vallarta nightclub in 1992 when, according to Zambada, El Chapo attempted unsuccessfully to have Tijuana Cartel trafficker Ramón Arellano Félix killed.

Arellano survived but some of his sicarios and bystanders did not.

Zambada also spoke of the slaying of a Roman Catholic cardinal in Guadalajara in 1993 and the murder of a rival trafficker, who was shot in the neck.

The witness admitted to taking part in several Sinaloa Cartel murder plots.

“There was always a lot of deaths,” he said, although he denied ever having killed someone himself.

Zambada also recounted one episode when he was ambushed in a Mexico City store and very nearly killed.

Two attackers shot at him and one bullet sliced a deep groove in the side of his head as it whizzed past him.

“I’m alive,” he told the jury, “because the bullet didn’t penetrate my skull.”

Guzmán’s trial on 17 criminal charges including drug trafficking, conspiracy, firearms offenses and money laundering began this week amid tight security in the Brooklyn federal court.

On the first day of proceedings, a lawyer for the accused attempted to portray El Chapo as no more than a “scapegoat.”

The real Sinaloa Cartel leader is Ismael Zambada, Jeffrey Lichtman told the jury, claiming that El Mayo paid millions of dollars in bribes to President Peña Nieto and ex-president Felipe Calderón to avoid capture.

Both presidents vigorously denied the claim.

The trial, which is expected to last between two and four months, resumes Monday after a three-day recess.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Associated Press (en)

Illegal construction alleged in protected mangrove swamp in Yucatán

By

MND Staff

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November 16, 2018

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Home construction is encroaching on mangroves, charge local officials.

The municipal government of Progreso, Yucatán, is seeking assistance from federal environmental authorities to halt illegal construction in protected mangrove swamps.

Some houses in Chicxulub Puerto, a community on the Gulf of Mexico eight kilometers east of Progreso, extend up to 50 meters into swamplands, according to municipal officials.

Jorge Enrique Aménica, ecology chief on the Progreso council, told the newspaper El Financiero that the local government has asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) to intervene to put an end to further irregular construction.

Efforts by municipal authorities have so far failed.

“We went there last week but they welcomed us by throwing stones at us,” Aménica said.

He explained that when the current municipal government took office in September, officials were unable to find any information that showed that approval had been granted to build on the swamplands.

“There are no permits to fill in the mangrove swamps or to pull out the mangroves,” Aménica said.

Houses that occupy part of the swamplands were built between 2015 and 2018 during the previous municipal administration, he said.

The mangrove swamps, located south of a thin strip of land on which Chicxulub Puerto is located, are part of a natural protected area established by the Yucatán government in 2010.

The decree that established the reserve specifies that land use in the area must be “compatible with the conservation of natural resources. . . avoiding the fragmentation of the landscape and the loss of habitat.”

But people already living in homes on the swamplands and those currently building new dwellings appear to be openly violating that regulation.

One Chicxulub resident told El Financiero that would-be swamp dwellers hire trucks to bring in rubble that is dumped into the water to provide a solid foundation on which to build.

Aménica said that a lot of the construction debris comes from building sites in places such as Telchac, a port town located about 40 kilometers to the east.

Jorge Herrera, a mangroves researcher with 30 years of experience, said the swamplands have already suffered a lot of environmental damage from the illegal construction and that restoring them will be costly.

“. . . Yes, they can be restored but each hectare will cost around 10 or 12 million pesos [US $500,000 to $600,000],” he said.

Source: El Financiero (sp)