Galeria de la verguenza

No se como titular la breve exhibicion de fotografias que siguen en este escrito. Las tome como imagenes para que me recuerden a diario que no he perdido la perpectiva... How sad to talk about them, because I can only think about the anger, the dissapointment in many ways and the inmense frustration when I look at them. It was a trip to remind me of those injustices that I defend every day but that I have forgotten to look at. La Colonia Chilpancingo es una comunidad de mas de 10,000 personas que vivian directamente de una planta de reciclaje de plomo, cobre, y fosforo. Company protected by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed over 10 years ago between U.S., Canada and Mexico. The problem: more than 23,000 tons of mixed contaminated waste including lead and arsenic were abandoned adjacent to this colony- causing enormous health and environmental danger.

In another corner of this colony lies El Alamar River. El Alamar river descends from this hill where the majority of Maquiladoras in Tijuana are located. A shanty town called "La Nueva Esperanza" was created in the mid-nineties as many small farmers and other workers abandoned by choice or were forced to leave their lands in Mexico after NAFTA came into existence. Most of them looking for any job available in the maquiladoras moved to La Nueva Esperanza in the hope that they would be able to make fast money working in the Maquilas and as a step before crossing the border in the U.S. ... a long time has passed for many of these residents in Nueva Esperanza and their hopes to emigrate have vanished over time. Around 1997, this community was displaced by the Mexican Army and relocated in another area of Tijuana where they were promised a better living- they had been displaced for public health reasons but also for guaranteeing corporations ability to operate freely without any disturbs. But their jobs were still in the maquiladoras and many of them couldn't afford the expenses of transportation from the other side of town; so with time they came back without knowing what awaited them... the biggest contamination ever recorded in the history of the border...

Today, residents of Chilpancingo and Nueva Esperanza have united fronts through the creation of a colectivo to gather information about the impact of public health. The Environmental Health Coalition has joined forces with the colectivo and released their report titled Globalization at the Crossroads www.environmentalhealth.org where they give you a ten-year history of the passage of NAFTA in the San Diego/Tijuana border Region-reading that I recommend you don't miss! As I participated on this tour with some american physicians and some residents of Chipancingo... I heard the most amazing thing: when one of the residents of Chilpancingo was asked why she hasn't left the colony despite knowing the dangers that they face everyday, she simply responded... Because I was here first before the Maquilas!