Slice of paradise becomes nightmare for Canadian

Slice of paradise becomes eviction nightmare for Canadian in Mexico

Surrey resident Siegfried Schiffmacher purchased land near the beach in Tenacatita, Mexico, for $30,000 in 2006, but is unable now to access the property because of a titling dispute. He thought the title was good because it was endorsed by the Mexican president's office.

Photograph by: David Agren, Postmedia News

LA MANZANILLA, Mexico — Siegfried Schiffmacher thought he had found an idyllic slice of paradise in 2006 when he purchased a large lot at Tenacatita, a spit of land in Mexico with spectacular oceans views to the front and a calm bay with clear water and a golden-sand beach to the back.

He thought he had found a sound investment, too: The 1,007-square-metre property — once part of a communal farm known as an "ejido" — came with a title validated by then-president Vicente Fox.

Those illusions were shattered Aug. 4, when more than 150 state police officers raided Tenacatita, acting on an eviction order won by a Guadalajara-area businessman, Andres Villalobos, who claimed title to 42 hectares of land — including Schiffmacher's lot — that he purchased in 1991 from the widow of a former Jalisco state governor.

"When you buy with a title signed by the president, it feels secure," said Schiffmacher, a retired telecom entrepreneur from Surrey, B.C., whose wife, Margarita, is a Mexican national. "We never thought this would happen."

Schiffmacher's plight highlights the perils of investing in paradise and, he estimates, affects at least 15 Canadians.

It also highlights the problem of purchasing in a country with lingering conflicts over land and titles — two key grievances that fuelled the Mexican Revolution, the centennial of which is being observed this year — and how these unresolved squabbles are affecting foreigners a century later as they move south in increasing numbers and unwittingly into areas with histories of property disputes.

Complete Vancover Sun Article

Tenacatita desalojo informacion

March for Tenacatita in Guadalajara

March for Tenacatita in Guadalajara

Around 1,000 people march on the state palace in Guadalajara to protest the land takeover at the Tenacatita beach by a wealthy businessman.

Recent foto of restaurant destruction

Recent foto of palapa restaurant destruction in Tenacatita

The Rodenas company bulldozers destroyed the buildings of residents of Tenacatita, municipality of La Huerta, Jalisco, who were evicted last week

Picture by Campos Arturo Cedillo

More from the Guadalajara Reporter

State police evict homeowners in beach community of Tenacatita

Villalobos has been trying the get the low-income families evicted from the land for two decades, ever since he purchased 42 hectares of Tenacatita beachfront land from the wife of a former state governor in 1991. (He apparently obtained the federal beach concession rights in 1993.) Many of the businesses on the undeveloped beach are palapa seafood restaurants that have been serving tourists and locals for more than 40 years.

Francisco Martinez Flores, the ejido (local land commune) commissioner for El Rebalsito, said the ejiditarios own the 42 hectares and have the land titles to prove it.

La Huerta Mayor Carlos Ramirez Nuñez called the eviction "unfair" and said municipal authorities would do all in their power to help the families return to their homes.

But if they get ever back to their homes and businesses, there may be nothing left of them. After the families left in pick-up trucks with their belongings – some making as many as 10 trips to and from the highway – police brought in heavy machinery, presumably to demolish the palapa huts and homes, and blocked the only road leading to the beach. None one was allowed in without an "official" escort. Both the La Huerta municipal secretary and a Puerto Vallarta-based Jalisco Human Rights Commission observer had to give up their cellphones and cameras to police before they were allowed to enter the area, according to reports from Spanish-language daily Milenio. La Huerta municipal cops who turned up to provide "additional security" were also barred from entering. The area resembled "a war zone," commented one foreign resident at the scene.

Guadalajara Reporter article

Tenacatita eviction

Wed, 04/08/2010 - 12:06

Guadalajara .- In an operation that began early this day, dozens of riot elements of the State Bureau of Public Security have carried out the eviction of residents from the beach of Tenacatita in alleged support of the rights of the Real Estate Rodenas, which headed by businessman Jose Maria Andres Villalobos, which currently has enraged those affected, denounced Salvador Magana, a former member of the council of La Huerta.

"There are at least 800 people affected among fishermen, restaurateurs and merchants, is the third time in 20 years that an eviction is violent, but people are not willing to be put in relief the PRD militant.

This is a surprise with only elements operating state, on the side of the City of La Huerta, no surprise and concern. According to the activist told him, the municipality has requested support from police in other municipalities to ensure the security of the population, but farmers are outraged, and analyze federal block the road to avoid consuming eviction.

Those affected are in possession of the area since 1960. Then the small landowner neighbor was the former governor Jesús González Gallo, who always respected them. In 1991, the president's widow, Paz Gortázar, sold the estate was left to businessman Jose Maria Andres Villalobos, owner of the property Rodenas. The following year, the fishermen had their houses burned by a party of rural allegedly the service of his opponent. The key to what they suffered is that in 1993, the federal maritime-terrestrial zone, which traders had held since almost 25 years ago, he was awarded the real estate entrepreneur, being the owner of the neighboring properties, but ignoring disregard of a concession granted to Francisco Montelongo Aguayo, one of the restaurateurs of the site. Based on that element, Rodenas denounced the arrests and led landholders in 2006. And now the facts are repeated, with the general indignation.

Agustin del Castillo