Mexican activist Jaime Lagunez reports to Sprawl-Busters that Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission has declared the construction of Wal Mart at the Teotihuacan pyramid site is illegal, and a violation of the nation’s Constitution. In a letter directed to the legal department of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), with a copy to the Frente Civico pro Defensa del Casino de la Selva, the Commission declared a violation of articles 14 and 16 of the Mexican Constitution. The Commission explains that a world heritage site was placed at risk, as well as violating third generation human rights, the right to enjoy humanity’s patrimony. The Commission also requests that the legal auditing procedure within the the Institute of Anthropology be continued and that a greater effort be made to obtain resources for the preservation of Teotihuacan. And in a related event, the Frente Civico pro Defensa del Casino de la Selva, which is supported by 150 organizations (including Sprawl-Busters), is requesting that the Costco warehouse on the grounds of the Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca, Mexico, be closed, echoing the request of the Frente Civico of Teotihuacan to close the Wal Mart warehouse at Teotihuacan. Furthermore, civil society in Mexico maintains its demand to stop the pseudo-legal aggressions against activists in Cuernavaca and Teotihuacan, in particular: Charles Goff, Ema Ortega, Lorenzo Trujillo, Claudia Leyva, Adolfo Galvez, Jose Luis Galvez and Emanuel de Herrera.
For more background on how Costco and Wal-Mart have compromised historic sites in Mexico, go to www.laneta.apc.org/procasin, and www.frentecivico.org. For earlier stories on this subject, search Newsflash by “Teotihuacan” and “Cuernavaca”.
