Tenacatita Closed

Here's a link to a blog with a post about Tenacatita (from the La Manz board)

[open.salon.com]

another small piece...

[open.salon.com]

not much new news today other than the folk are going to Mexico City after their trip to Guadalajara, and need some money (see the blog from the folk who brought the Travelers Guide to Mexico...can't find it...)

seems there is only one foreign owner around at the moment (Irene...if the name is correct in an earlier post), and she's been well represented...and turned out on her ear after a long day of refusing to leave amid many threats...

the publisher of the Guad Reporter went to her place on the open-ocean side and could see that there has been substantial demolition of the palapas on the bay side, but was prevented from going there, and his intrepid reporter/photographer was not allowed to go with him and was (in a sense) held until he returned...she remained unharmed and will live to report another day...

the publisher was not finished (at this writing) and has promised to charter a watercraft this afternoon in an attempt to verify the navel blockade, or get close to the beach for photos...

attempts are also being made to contact 'titled' landowners in the north for their news and reactions...

given that tourism and land development along the coast around here are huge concerns for the State of Jalisco as well as the federal government, the folk at the State Department of Tourism (or whatever they call it), have not released any press releases concerning the situation...and this was another place the publisher of the largest english-language publication in Mexico (The Guadalajara Reporter) promised to persue...

all the above may eventually be followed in the on line version of the Guadalajara Reporter, a subscription service...

disclaimer...i'm sometimes paid by the above mentioned rag

gri-lango asked...

"how can there be foreigners with "escrituras federales?"

this would be a great educational post on another thread...you might want to start it...then you might actually have some clarity on this often misunderstood topic...

the short answer is...once an ejido gives up their rights to a property (they cannot sell it...despite all the nonsense being spoken on this forum), the paperwork goes to the federal government which issues the title...then the Mexican has title to the land...or the foreigner needs to get a bank to hold the property for them in trust (if the property is within 50k of the coast, or 100k of an international border)...or a corporation may own the land...

so, a foreigner 'owns' a titled property with their rather expensive bank partner...

anyone who has a preste nombre on ejido land has nothing more than attachment to some kind of rental deal...(do your research)

if such thread showed up, folk will probably link to the legal sites where the actual laws of Mexico can be cited...

what remains in confusion at this point at Tenacatita is what the titles look like...are they real?...and if so, what will the feds do to straighten things out...

lots of bad publicity riding on this event...

There was a time when some land in Villa Obregon that was part of the Jaluco Ejido (as I remember) received deeds. Then the deeds were reportedly invalidated. I believe that the piece of land in front of El Pollo Melaque was/is a part of that dispute. There are signs that say it is part of the Jaluco Ejido and also that say it is private land. I'm sure someone else on this board could tell this story better and with better facts, sorry.

[redtreemelaque.com]

Dry House,

I am not confused about Ejido, escrituras, and Mexican property rights (soy nacionalizado y conozco muy bien mis derechos). I am confused over the claims that there were foreigners with "escrituras federales" on Ejido land being run out of their supposedly leagal properties by the military (that turned out to be estatal no federal).

No need to be conscending, and I really DO NOT want to be educated by a message board. Thanks for the offer.

"No need to be conscending, and I really DO NOT want to be educated by a message board."

good thing we have Mexico Experts here...

so, senor or senora Expert...what was your question?

Tenacatita USED to be ejido land but it was regularized on the ocean side, which is why many Americans, Canadians and Germans thought it was a safe purchase.

Sylvia

time will tell us how this plays out...

yup...they may have legal title...

my interest is now beyond the supposed injustice...that sort of thing is everywhere...

my interest now is following how the Mexican legal system handles all the competing claims, and how...or how not...the agreeved foreigners with federal deeds are treated...

i think that will be the most important lesson...and this little beach fuss will quickly rise to the level of the debacle that happened on the baja years ago when an ejido took back the condos on the beach that were not 'well enough' titled...

when folk ask me about my life here and my greatist concern, i always respond with an 'english common law response'..."i'm worried about the lack of "due process"..."

so, given that it is different here...stay tuned...

Sylvia, what Bamk holds your title?

Who was your Notario?

Don't you love all these expert/pat opinions.............enjoy your lives already...Mexico will take care of herslf and Herods Law will always prevail......................

RE: "Tenacatita USED to be ejido land but it was regularized on the ocean side, which is why many Americans, Canadians and Germans thought it was a safe purchase. Sylvia"

One of the great features of this site is the wealth of information provided. So when you say you thought you made a "safe purchase", I , for one, wonder about the truth in that statement. For instance, in the section on "Foreigners Living in Mexico/Owning Property" [www.tomzap.com] and [www.tomzap.com] , did you and your fellow purchasers follow these guidelines?

Thousands of these fideicomiso are held throughout Mexico under the Constitutional Amendment of 1993. Would you please advise the readers of this forum if you followed these procedures specifically? If you did and your property was taken from you, billions of dollars and the future of Mexico is at stake.

You may verify your positive answer by naming 1-The Notario you used and 2-The Bank that holds your fideicomiso.

Here's an article from today in the Guadalajara Reporter. Does anyone subscribe, and if so could you please post page two? Thanks.

[www.guadalajarareporter.com]

Tenacatita land grab protestors vow to 'take' Jalisco state palace
Tuesday, August 10 2010 10:56 GR Staff

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of campesinos from diverse points in Jalisco are set to converge on Guadalajara on Wednesday or Thursday to rally in support of residents of the small fishing community of Tenacatita – ruthlessly evicted from their homes and businesses by state police last week.

Confederacion Nacional Campesina (CNC) President Cruz Lopez Aguilar says his members will "take the state palace" in protest at the way thousands of acres of coastal land is being "stolen" from campesinos, with the collusion of politicians, bureaucrats and the judiciary, to make way for elitist tourism projects.

On Tuesday, CNC officials told the Guadalajara Reporter that the exact time of the protest was still not decided but confirmed it would definitely go ahead.

At least 150 Jalisco state police in full riot gear evicted some 800 people living and working in the beach community of Tenacatita and the neighboring village of Rebalsito in the early hours of August 4.

The eviction took place after a judge ruled in favor of Guadalajara businessman Jose Maria Andres Villalobos, the owner of Inmobiliaria Rodenas, who claims to own at least 42 hectares of disputed land.

The ousted residents' claim to the land dates back to the 1940s, when the Rebalsito ejido (local land commune) was set up in the wake of the Mexican Revolution, which dispossessed many wealthy Mexicans of their properties and land.

Unfortunately, the land distribution program was highly inefficient and replete with corruption, and it wasn't until the presidency of Vicente Fox (2000-2006) that Rebalsito's ejido lands were regularized under the Programa de Certificacion de Derechos Ejidales (PROCEDE). According to La Huerta municipal officials, 220 land titles were handed out and the deeds duly recorded in municipal registers. The majority of the zone's residents are up to date with their property taxes, municipal officials say. A few ejidatarios have taken advantage of changes made to the Mexican Constitution in the early 1990s and sold their parcels of land, some to foreigners.

Jorge Diaz Topete, the lawyer for Villlalobos, says these titles are bogus and that his client is the true owner of the land, which he says was purchased from Paz Gortazar de Gonzalez Gallo, the widow of former Jalisco governor Jesus Gonzalez Gallo (1947-1953), in December 1991.

Diaz told Publico this week that the land – he says Villalobos actually owns around 80 hectares – was acquired legitimately, although he admitted the El Resbalcito ejido has always claimed legal title to it.

Locals have lived and worked in the Tenacatita beach area ever since the 1960s. The businesses are mainly small palapa restaurants that sell seafood dishes to tourists. There are also a few hotels. While alive, Gonzalez Gallo apparently made no effort to throw them off the land that he purportedly owned. Villalobos made the first of several attempts to have them evicted in 1993.

The La Huerta municipality said it would help its constituents prepare the application for an amparo (a cease-and-desist order) that might allow them to return to their homes and work. The likelihood is that a federal judge will be asked to rule on the matter – a state tribunal in Autlan issued last week's verdict in favor of Villalobos.

To mark the 131st anniversary of the birth of revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, PRI Jalisco state congressman Gabriel Ponce Miranda, the 72-year-old former leader of the Jalisco Agrarian Communities League, was stinging in his criticism for the government's treatment of the working class and cited events in Tenacatita to make his point.

"The campesinos feel that history is being turned on its head," Ponce said. "Today, in Jalisco and other parts of the country, the ejidos and unions are being crushed by a government that some might call fascist. They may not even be fascist, because at least the fascists of Mussolini protected the workers."

At least 150 Jalisco state police in full riot gear evicted some 800 people living and working in the beach community of Tenacatita and the neighboring village of Rebalsito in the early hours of August 4.

Although officers said they "invited" residents to leave, some reports suggest there were as many as 27 arrests and three people injured with gunshot wounds.

At least 11 people who resisted the eviction are being held at the municipal jail in Ciuhuatlan. Four minors have been released, according to the Attorney General's Office.

[Angry residents of Tenacatita block the coastal highway after being turfed out of their homes by state police.]

Angry residents of Tenacatita block the coastal highway after being turfed out of their homes by state police.
State police said they acted on the order of a judge in Autlan, who ruled that some 50 families were illegally occupying land that belonged to Jose Maria Andres Villalobos, a successful and influential businessman and realtor, and former president of the Guadalajara Chamber of Commerce and current president of Expo Guadalajara.

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.

The omens were not good for the residents. "Everything on the beach will be demolished. It's not infrastructure. It's only rubbish," Villalobos told Mural newspaper on Friday.

"They treated us like criminals, They pointed guns at us and hit some of the kids," said Maria Lopez Mendoza, the proprietor of a hotel in Tenacatita.

[Protestors call for the intervention of the federal government.]

Protestors call for the intervention of the federal government.
“They are removing people's belongings from their homes – refrigerators, washing machines, ovens, furniture. They are throwing everything out. This goes further than anything one can tolerate," said PRI State Congressman Gabriel Ponce Miranda, the 72-year-old former leader of the Jalisco Agrarian Communities League. "We are not opposed to a judicial ordered being carried out, that should be respected. What we are denouncing is the force and arbitrariness used by 200 state police officers – that is completely incorrect and illegal."

Anger was rife as more than 300 people confronted a wall of officers on the coastal highway and set up their own barricade in protest. "We don't want a fight. We're just carrying out orders," said one senior officer, as he tried to calm irate citizens who had been turfed out of their homes.

"There are people coming in from other villages and there's real danger of a confrontation," Salvador Magaña, a local activist and former La Huerta councilor, told a reporter from Milenio.

Back in Guadalajara, Villalobos was unrepentant, although reluctant to talk to newspapers, apart from Mural.

"I'm returning to get back my home after 30-plus years. The people who are there are delinquents," he told the daily.

The community of Tenacatita knew full well that Villalobos meant business. He tried to have them removed in 1993, 1998, and most recently in 2006, when eight people were arrested during a similar operation. In 2008, La Jornada newspaper reported Villalobos as saying that he would get the "squatters" out by "blows (chingadazos) sooner or later."

He also claimed they were ruining the eco-system. "They've messed up the wetland and built tennis courts and thrown garbage there. They've screwed up the environment and flush sewage directly into the wetland. And what does Semarnat (the environment watchdog) do? They go every month and take bribes from every one of these people. That's what these federal inspectors do and the head of Semarnat knows it. He knows it because we've been denouncing it."

Villalobos told La Jornada that the same land-ownership problem is repeated all along the Jalisco coast, putting on hold tourism projects worth millions of dollars. He claimed to have won every legal battle, even at the Supreme Court level. "It time the government did something about it," he said.

La Jornada said the Guadalajara businessman had been negotiating with "foreign investors" to develop the land. Villalobos said he envisaged a tourist complex in Tenacatita comparable to the luxury and elitist Careyes resort further up the coast.

The PAN government of Emilio Gonzalez has made tourism development in the Costa Alegre, as the southern part of the state's coastline is known, one of their main priorities. It's promoting a number of polemic developments, most notably in Chalacatepec, south of Tomatlan, an ambitious development that has been dubbed "the New Cancun."

No one from the state government spoke out in either approval or condemnation of the police operation in Tenacatita. The only PAN legislator to comment, Ramon Demetrio Guerrero Martinez, said he had spoken to the state public security chief, who had assured him that no one had been injured in the operation.

Jalisco Attorney General Tomas Coronado Olmos said he believed most of those arrested during the eviction would probably be released on bail. He added that there would also be an investigation into whether police officers had used any unwarranted force.

The Jalisco Human Rights Commission observer, Javier Perlasca Chavez, told Publico that two people had filed reports of police abuse by Friday afternoon.

According to a 2006 profile in El Informador's "Gente Bien" social supplement, Villalobos trained as a lawyer, and after a spell working in the Infonavit public housing department, ventured into the real estate sector. He mentioned that his business was badly affected by the 1995 economic crisis, so he moved into the security service arena, specializing in tracing stolen vehicles by satellite. According to some other sources, this venture has made him a lot of money.

Interestingly, in the El Informador profile, Villalobos talks of how "for the good of the country," businessmen should strive to work "hand-in-hand" with the working-class.

[www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2010 02:46PM by Chubasco1954.

Thank you!

Kinda makes you wonder if the El Tecuan beach access closure earlier this year is connected with the Tenacatita evictions? That would be a HUUUUUUGE land grab!!!!

Elke
<a href="[www.Free-eBooks.net]; target="_blank"><img border="0" src="[www.free-ebooks.net]; width="728" height="90" alt="free ebook downloads"></a>

Also read on the lamanzanilla.info msg board (July 27) that the Hotel Boca de Iguanas has also been closed and no mention why or when it might open again. Not enough business?

iowamex Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also read on the lamanzanilla.info msg board (July
> 27) that the Hotel Boca de Iguanas has also been
> closed and no mention why or when it might open
> again. Not enough business?


How about a link to that post. Wouldn't be surprised if they closed for the summer. Another hair brained scheme to pave paradise in exchange for dollars. None of these resorts are busy but these morons still want to build more up and down the coast.

Sparks Blog - Melaque Blog - Costalegre

From what I've read - "read" that is - it appears the developer is the legal landowner as well as in Tecuan also (they started this up there last March but there's no-one to throw off the beach there, just angry Ejido in Arroyo Seco) so this will stretch from El Tecuan to Tenacatitas - that's massive and reflects an image of the past when one owner held all that coast , pre - Ejido. That was why the Ejidos and Revolution occurred - food for thought.

And also - as Buzz would agree, any real estate agent w/ knowledge of that area who has facilitated sales of property / lots (like, oh say the last 5 years or so) in this area of dispute has knowingly been invloved in what is not necessarily a fraud, but a situation that has been in dispute for almost 35 years and will always come back to this issue. Everyone has known that as far back as1983 this property has been in dispute and any purchase by Foreign citizens are at extreme risk - this could go on alot longer but the developer will prevail...............................


stop acting so surprised.

Call something Paradise and you can kiss it goodbye.................

"According to a 2006 profile in El Informador's "Gente Bien" social supplement, Villalobos trained as a lawyer, and after a spell working in the Infonavit public housing department, ventured into the real estate sector. He mentioned that his business was badly affected by the 1995 economic crisis, so he moved into the security service arena, specializing in tracing stolen vehicles by satellite. According to some other sources, this venture has made him a lot of money."

A real sweet fellow.

This Tenacatita thing is gonna hurt tourism and real estate a lot



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2010 07:17PM by Sandy L.

In case you are wondering about Herod's Law (mentioned above). It was a wonderful Mexican movie (La Ley de Herodes), made in 2000, more or less. A political satire. La Ley de Herodes, can be taken to mean: screw your neighbor before he can screw you.

[redtreemelaque.com]

Hi Sparks;
it appears that they have multiple closing's through out the year.

See; [www.bocadeiguanas.com]


Right-hand of web page.
hth
Steven

Just a thought, but has anyone considered posting a list of the foreign investors involved in the resort that is planned? Has anyone contacted them to let them know how many thousands of angry people will be left to co-exist alongside the resort these investors have put their money into? This is Villalobos's weak spot. The Mexican justice system works for the highest bidder. However, fear over loss of money is more powerful than the highest bidder.

buzzarwest:are you sure that Tenacatita was regularized on the ocean side and if so on which ocean side? There is the area where the palapa restaurants are, there is the area of Playa Mora where one goes snorkeling, the ocean side behind Playa Mora and the ocean side along the coconut groves. Also, Federal Property cannot be regularized, in other words, in the case of Tenacatica 20 meters from high tide on the beach is Federal Property , however people can pay for a concession, the property owner has priority but if she or he does not wan a concession and someone else is requesting that particular concession the Federal Government will grant it to them as long as they pay for it the yearly fee. So who had the concession for the beach where the palapa restaurants are. Probably some of the people with the palapa restaurants had Federal concessions which gives them the legal right to be there regardless if anyone else is the owner if the property behind the dunes. Also in Mexico possession is 90% of the land property law specially after ten years of possession,, so the question is what has happened in Tenacatita. When I arrived in Tenacatita for the first time in 1978 there were already land problems and those of us who spent winters on that beach for years afterwards knew it and were afraid to purchase beach property. I know that the land at the very end of the main beach, along the ocean cliffs and the road that takes one to Blue Bay by foot was the area that the original owner was allowed to keep by law after the rest of the land was redistributed to the ejidatarios and that is titled land, however I don`t know that the rest of it belongs to el Sr. Villalobos. It , remains to be seen how it plays out , but the Tenacatita Ejidatarios have the support of all the ejidos in the area and out of the area. A very sad situation for families that I know have been there for years well before I ever went to Tenacatita for the first time. For sure it will affect the purchase of properties all along the Costa Alegre and other parts of Mexico. This is the result of greed and the illegal urbanizing of fragile and much needed environment for the life of the earth and its biodiversity

Villalobos doesn't seem too concerned about how his actions will affect property values along the entire length of the Costa Alegre, much less other parts of Mexico, as Luna points out.

I was living near Ensenada, Baja Norte, when a similar incident happened there. It definitely affected foreigner views on purchasing property in Mexico. In fact, this happened many years ago and people still remember -- people who are not even interested in Mexico seem to remember that story and how it impacted so many people. Million dollar homes owned by Americans were seized.

And here's another related story, more recent --
NEWS STORY

"However, it seems the government has other ideas for this valuable land: probably something more along the lines of hotels and resorts, which provide taxes to the government. Corruption can be common in developing countries, adding extra risk to foreign investments, but this situation in Baja California Sur is more the exception than the rule. If these unsubstantiated seizures become more commonplace, then investors will have reason to think twice before investing in Mexico, but for now it seems to be a rare event."

Taxes for the government -- which might explain why Villalobos has the obvious backing of the military and/or police.

Reminds of why we fought the Revolutionary War in the US... to escape similar atrocities caused by King George, who had been borrowing money from the Rothschild banking family and was essentially under their control (the Rothschilds funded the Red Coats). Just like most of the world's issues, this likely boils down to the influence of the international central bankers, once again, IMO. The for-profit central bankers pressure govts to pay taxes on the money they lend them.

The hotel in Boca is closed indefinitely.I have heard from employees (former?)that the elec has been cut off due to no payment,there are several demanda's against the hotel,I also heard, but don't know about..the place has been sold....2 people told me that,one who met a relative of the "new" owner,and a worker who is owed money.....I asked the lady at the tienda if anyone was at the inn..reply no,no servicio...

For Sparks:
Took awhile....I'm new to this messaging stuff...........

Lamanzanillainfo msgboard link for Hotel Boca de Iguanas

..........I hope