Latest from Dobie

In a nutshell, the amparo was lost because the judges said the plaintiffs weren't able to prove possession before 1999 when possession was given to la Sra. Paz Gotazar after she won the amparo against the ejido. She never took possession. Although the lawyers submitted documents proving possession (in some cases) before that date the judge ruled that the ejido had no legal right to transfer properties since they never owned the land, therefore the papers of cesion de derechos from the ejido weren't valid.

The lawyer said, "It is illegal for the District Court to raise the validity of the documents that supported the legitimacy of the possession, because that is not the subject matter of our amparo claims. The validity of such documents must be discussed in a civil court, where the parties would be able to produce arguments and evidence to support the validity of the same".

Three of the plaintiffs have titles or fidecomiso for their properties. The titles were granted starting in 2006, signed by the President of Mexico. These 3 can go through another process to demand from the federal government indemnification for their losses, since the it was the federal government that gave them the titles.

The lawyer says, "We disagree with the court ruling. We believe it creates an absurd, and that it leaves defenseless bona fide acquirers. We are really frustrated and disappointed of our courts". (He writes in English for the benefit of the non-Spanish speakers. As you can tell, English is not his native language.

Oddly enough, some members of the ejido have won their amparos, however their lots are not in the 42 hectares.They have a judges order saying that Rodenas has to allow them to take possession of their lot and fence it. But so far no judge has showed up on the assigned dates to enforce the judicial order. There are many different lawyers and individual amparos involved in this case. Also the ejido as a whole has an amparo which would affect all properties that were on ejido lands.

El Registro Agraria Nacional (RAN), that expedites the titles, says the titles are valid. By studying the original documents, they have finally delineated the 42 hectares that Rodenas bought. It's a rectangle with 4 points, N,E,S,W. The papers have been falsified to show more than double that amount of land, and now there are over 50 different reference points.

Meanwhile the amparo that Rodenas filed against the municipio of La Huerta and SEMARNAT regarding the concession of the beach, has yet to be resolved.

This is surely the long and winding road.....as we approach our 3rd holiday season with no beach. However, there are excellent restaurants at the boca del rio (La Mosca and Chely) and the river is delightful for cooling off; but please don't go in the ocean there - it's dangerous.

dobie

Tenacatita Cerrada

Caricaturista: Gerardo Gómez Jiménez

Demonstration for Tencatita May 21st

There's going to be a big demonstration tomorrow evening in Guadalajara, winding up at the Televisa station at 8 PM, before the gubernatorial candidate for the PAN, Fernando Guzman Perez shows up for a scheduled interview.

Guzman Perez was an accomplice in sending state police to violently evict tourists, and locals when he was secretary to governor Emilio Marquez. Now he's running for governor. The demonstration will call attention to his actions in Tenacatita and to demand that the gate be taken down to allow free access to the beach and that Rodenas pay for all damages incurred.

For up-to-date information on Tenacatita and the demonstration, there's a new blog:

www.tenacatita-libre.blogspot.com

Dobie

It is Official

Diario Oficial de la Federación

DOF: 10/04/2012

ARTICLE ONE. - is intended to serve the H. Municipal Council of La Huerta, Jalisco, the area of 294,126.46 m 2 of federal maritime land and reclaimed land, located at Beach and Divisadero Tenacatitla  population The Rebalsito, Municipality of La Huerta, Jalisco, for recreational use , public beach and boardwalk, whose technical and topographical description is as follows:

ARTICLE TWO. - This agreement only gives H. Municipal Council of La Huerta, Jalisco, the right to use the area used to accomplish the objective stated in Article I of the present instrument, not a transfer of title or create any real right in favor of the recipient.

ARTICLE THREE. - The Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, at any time, you can define again the federal maritime land, why the coordinates of the vertices, directions and distances of the polygon comprising the acreage may be modified .

ARTICLE FOUR. - In the event that the H. Municipal Council of La Huerta, Jalisco, gave the federal maritime area of land and reclaimed land that is intended for a use other than that provided in this Agreement without the prior permission of the Ministry of Environment and Natural or stop using it or need it, that property with all improvements and accessions will retire from his service to be administered by the latter.

ARTICLE FIVE. - The Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, within the scope of their duties, will monitor the strict enforcement of this Agreement.

TRANSIENT

ONLY. - This Agreement shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the Federation.

Given in Mexico City, Federal District, twenty-ninth day of February two thousand twelve. - The Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada .

 
Diario Oficial de la Federación

News on Tenacatita

As much as I hesitate to post this because of past dissapointment over the progress toward opening Tenacatita and giving the beach back to the Ejido ... here it is.  Still a wait and see game.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to the day when there will once again be free access to Tenacatita beach. The concession (right to develop the beach) has been given to the County of La Huerta as a tourist destination. Rodenas' concession was revoked for non payment of taxes and it wasn't renewed because at the time Rodenas applied for renewal, they no longer had a concession to renew because it had been revoked earlier. La Huerta has said they will return possession of the beach to the ejido.

Ultimately it looks like Rodenas/Villalobos may lose everything, even his supposed 42 hectares. The ejido lawyer, Everardo Rojas Contreras came to a meeting yesterday in El Rebalsito to give an update on what's happening legally. Although the woman Villalobos bought the land from in the early 90's, won a Supreme Court decision against the community of El Rebalsito, she never took possession of the land. Villalobos assumed her decision would apply to him too, but with legal decisions, you can only get what you ask for and it turns out Villalobos never asked for possession of the land, he just took it. Another mistake Villalobos made is in 2006, when property titles, signed by the President of Mexico, were given to the individuals (Mexicans and foreigners), who were in possession of the land Villalobos is claiming, he never contested them. Now he's saying they're not valid; but titles in Mexico are meant to be the ultimate security that the land is in fact yours and no one can take it away (except, of course, the government if they want to expropriate it for a road, airport, etc.)

The State Supreme Court justices ruled in favor of the ejido in October, saying the beach was to be returned to the state it was in before the eviction on October 4, 2010. Rodenas appealed. The appeal was heard on Dec. 28 and the decision should be forthcoming soon. Rojas says he's 99.99% certain we'll win the case.

In July, Mexicans will go to the polls to elect a new president, residents of Jalisco will elect a new governor, and locally we'll be voting for a new head of the county of La Huerta. All these positions are now occupied by members of the PAN party (the party of businessmen and the rich). Fernando Guzman Perez is running for governor. As secretary to the present governor, Emilio Marquez, he was instrumental in allowing Villalobos to violently evict residents and tourists from their homes and businesses on Tenacatita beach. When leaders of El Rebalsito went to Guadalajara (capital of Jalisco) to try to reach a compromise with Villalobos, Guzman Perez took Villalobos' side and didn't even let the people present their case.

Now that elections are coming, he seems to have changed his tune. He knows that in order to win the election, he needs votes from the coast. Rojas says he's working with Guzman Perez, who is now inclined to help get the beach opened. Of course it's hard to trust a turncoat, but at least he won't be actively fighting against us. Rojas has been meeting with other state officials and there's lots of support for opening the beach and allowing people to go back to work. With the bleak economic picture in Mexico, taking away jobs is not a very popular subject. Rojas said they're trying to get the beach open before Semana Santa (Easter time), when Mexicans take to the beaches in droves.

Rojas began the meeting in town by thanking me and all of the extrajeros (foreigners) for our help in the struggle. That includes all of you (this email goes out to 100 people) who have contributed financial, emotional, moral and physical support to the people of El Rebalsito. In Mexico they say, "la union hace la fuerza" which means theirs strength in unity. I do believe that ultimately justice will prevail.

dobie

Ron, Dora and I drove up over Christmas just to see and have a quick swim.  This was the first time we'd been there since the closure.  Guards at the gate want to see the drivers ID and confiscate any alcohol.   Guards on the beach were pretty cool but won't allow fotos of anything but the beach itself.  Probably about 40 cars parked along the beach road.  People were having fun but it's definately not the place we've loved so much in the past.   Remember there are no restaurants and no bathrooms.

Still a beautiful beach

Looking east

Looking west