Contractor sued for mangrove destruction in Mexico

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The Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) will bring criminal proceedings before the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and the Ministry of Public Affairs (SFP) for the devastation of mangroves that covered a total area of almost 1,400 acres at the Paraíso municipality in the state of Tabasco , where the federal government plans to build its new Dos Bocas refinery.

According to Gustavo Alanís Ortega, chairman of the CEMDA , the organization discovered omissions that involved several public servants, including members of the state-owned company Mexican Petroleums (Pemex) .

On January 24 , the Agency of Security, Energy, and the Environment (ASEA) informed that the SCCA was allegedly responsible for destroying mangroves without environmental impact authorization and without land use changes in forest land. The company has been fined with MXN$13.9 million .

However, Alanís Ortega stated that the crime committed was of a penal nature, which is why the legal group has decided to present the corresponding legal claims.

“The question here is: Who let them in? Who gave them keys to go in and chop down the mangroves? Someone here has a legal responsibility and will have to be held accountable ,” he stressed.

Alanís Ortega clarified that the Center for Environmental Law had no intentions of preventing infrastructure development, though said development should occur within a legal framework and in full respect of the country’s environmental capital.