“Let me outta here!” was probably one of the milder comments heard Thursday, 17 September as cars were prevented from leaving Akumal Playa. Akumal Pueblo was staging a political action.
Over six years ago pueblo residents were promised the opportunity to acquire a piece of land. They waited, and waited, but the bureaucratic wheels weren’t moving. Groups have traveled to Chetumal to plead their case to the state government, and then three months ago things started to move. Suddenly three weeks ago the government sent a list of those persons who had qualified to purchase land: within five days — some had only three days — each person had to pay $14,000 pesos and stand in three government lines in order to secure the land. People were assured by the government that they would have their contracts within the next two weeks.
And that brings us to the political action. Three weeks later no one had seen a contract. So about 300 Pueblo residents took to the streets and blocked the road from Akumal Playa to the highway. Three Federal police cars showed up, asked what the deal was, and left. The Secretary of Urban Development contacted the pueblo delegado and told him to disband the group. He said that wasn’t going to happen until she brought their contracts. The Secretary arrived in the Pueblo and was escorted to the fútbol cancha, where under the lights, each land purchaser was able to photograph the contract as she pulled it up on her computer. Assurances were made that the governor would sign the contracts and paperwork would be brought to the purchasers.
What happened to the land earmarked for those people who couldn’t come up with the $14,000 pesos on short notice . . . ?
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