And despite occasional (erroneous) reports that things have returned to a version of normal, the New Year's report from Dobie Dolphin (printed below) suggests that things are, in fact, virtually the same as they have been since an army of armed goons working for Villalobos seized the land, forcibly evicted residents and then bulldozed most of the buildings.
The land that was stolen from Mexicans and non-Mexicans is still controlled by Villalobos-owned Rodenas Corporation. And even where landowners have won in court, they still are being blocked from taking possession of their property.
Some beach access is now allowed. But even that access can be iffy.
Here is a report from Dobie (who lives nearby), plus two recent photos...
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New Year's Day 2016 Tenacatita
Hi to all,
As we start the new year, the various Tenacatita lawsuits still haven’t been resolved. Although several people have won their lots back, they still haven’t been able to take possession of them. The state prosecutor gave an order to the guards on the beach to allow the rightful owners to fence their lots and use their land. A couple of weeks ago, several land owners went, along with a lawyer, engineer with GPS measuring equipment to mark the boundaries, fence posts, barbed wire, workers to set the posts and fence their properties, and about 10 pounds of papers relating to their case.
When we got there (I try to go along when possible), the guys started digging holes for the fence posts and within 15 minutes, the private security guards came up (we were at the top of a hill with a fantastic view of the ocean and the bay) and said they had an order and people had to stop working and leave. Since the lawyer had the paper signed by the state prosecutor he said they could legally be there, and the guards left.
But a few minutes later, the state police came and said the same thing. When the lawyer asked who told them that the owners had to leave, they said it was the state prosecutor – the same one who signed the order telling the police not to stop the owners from taking possession of their property.
A few people had their cell phones out and were recording the conversation. The state police got aggressive, grabbed the cell phones and erased what had been recorded. The lawyer was able to get the cell phones back and he noticed that one was still recording, so he asked the policeman his name, who told him that the land owners would have to leave, etc. So in the end, everything was videoed and recorded and we all left without incident.
The lawyer then filed several more lawsuits, against the private security police, the state police, the state prosecutor and the father of the governor of the state of Jalisco who’s a judge. The governor keeps saying he supports the people who won their land back, but it's only in words, not deeds.
So in a sense, nothing has really changed.
People continue to enjoy the beach and many came and camped over the holidays. Although no one can sell anything on the beach, the police didn’t stop locals from renting umbrellas, tables and chairs to the beach goers. Restaurants were able to leave menus, and people could call on their cell phones and have food delivered to the beach. At least it brought some income to the locals.
Every year we hope that this will be the year the conflict is resolved. Hard to believe it’s gone on this long.
There has been more media coverage - to read newspaper articles and watch 2 short videos (all in Spanish), you can go to: www.tenacatita-libre.blogspot.
Wishing everyone a healthy, peaceful year,
Dobie
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