To recent arrivals in Mexico, last month’s stand-off between police officers from Jalisco and Colima at a small bridge spanning the Marabasco River might seem ludicrous, but for locals, it’s business as usual.
{reg}An attempt by the Colima government to construct a nine-kilometer main to supply water to residents of the village of Colimilla was the latest flashpoint in a border dispute between the neighboring states that has gone on for nearly two decades.
The hydraulic work is in El Rebalse, a disputed part of El Culebra peninsula wedged between Manzanillo and Barra de Navidad that both Jalisco and Colima lay claim to. Both states have signed an agreement giving federal authorities sole responsibility of carrying out public works in the disputed zone until the Mexican Senate makes a ruling on the issue.
As soon as it became known that workers from Colima were installing the water main on Playa de los Cocos, around 30 protestors from Cihuatlan, Jalisco headed for the bridge – the only land access to the area – along with two excavators, which they used to block the passage of the construction workers. Supporters of the work then duly turned up to make their point.
Thirty armed police officers from Manzanillo, Colima and 40 from Cihuatlan joined the fray, thus provoking the arrival of a dozen federal police patrols, ostensibly to keep the peace between the two agencies facing off on either side of the bridge.
Jalisco is urging the Mexican Senate to recognize the mouth of the Marabasco River as the boundary between the two states. It argues that Colima built dikes to divert the course of the river so that in the dry season it enters the Pacific Ocean in the Barra de Navidad Lagoon. Using this alternate course of the river as the boundary, Colima’s territory increases by 15,100 hectares to include the luxury Isla Navidad resort and golf course owned by the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara and the Playa del Oro (Manzanillo) airport.
Although last month’s fracas ended without incident, the issue is not going away.
Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez called the decision by Colima to start the hydraulic works “childish” and wondered why they had chosen to ignore the inter-state agreement. He said the concentration of police officers at the scene was a waste of resources.
“I’m not getting involved in a confrontation with Colima over who has more police officers or who has the biggest gun,” Gonzalez said. “I guess Colima has no criminals. That’s why they can send their police to bother our citizens.”
Such incidents are nothing new; this was the second time in two years the bridge has been closed. In July 2006, Colima’s governor placed the first stone on a new water well in La Culebra. Shortly afterward, the Cihuatlan mayor ordered police officers to arrest the five workers drilling the well. In a tit-for-tat move, Manzanillo city officials nixed a tourist development in La Culebra because developers had applied for their building permits in Jalisco.
Despite minimalizing the situation, there’s no doubt where the Jalisco governor stands on the issue. “There’s no room for negotiation ... the Senate has enough information to declare that these are Jalisco’s lands,” Gonzalez said in 2007.
In like-minded vein, then Colima Governor Silverio Cavazos said he “won’t budge an inch” on the border issue.
A new governor of Colima, Mario Anguiano, took office on November 1 and Gonzalez wished him “the best of luck” and hoped to enjoy a productive relationship.
With the Senate saying that it can’t come up with a resolution until 2011, the Jalisco government wants the matter handed back to the nation’s Supreme Court to decide. The Supreme Court resolved border conflicts in the past but turned the case over to the Senate in lieu of reforms passed in 2005.{reg}
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