Tenacatita Bay and community - what was then and what is now

TENACATITA, Jalisco, Mexico - I went back to Tenacatita about a week ago, my second visit since the land was stolen in August 2010 by Jose Villalobos and goons hired by his company, Rodenas.

Photos tell the story best of what was then, and what is now:

Tenacatita Beach before the illegal seizure

Tenacatita Bay beach, January 2014

There are no services there - not even a bathroom or fresh water. The guards, of course, have both, though they seemed unlikely to share.

Along the road leading into the beach, several rather nasty looking, heavily armed guards patrol the road, ensuring that no one wanders off to look at the properties on the Pacific Ocean beach. It's there most of the gringos owned property. Some built houses, all improved the land.

What few gringo houses remain (the ones Villalobos didn't bulldoze in a fit of pique) are vacant with nature slowly reclaiming them.

As part of the trip, I had a brief conversation with one of big chiefs of the ejido who said the major court case has been settled - in Villalobos favor, of course.

He will be keeping the 42 hectares he claimed all along, but the balance of the land he seized (maybe another 42 or more hectares) is likely to be returned to the people. The people, in this case, are members of the ejido. Exactly where gringos who lost their land fit in to this scenario is unclear at best. Perhaps they will have to buy it again.

So although the beach is reopened - and subject to close surveillance - the ownership of the land is still in question. There is no conversation at all about reopening any restaurants or restoring services on the public beach.