Rodrigo Llanes Salazar
This February, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, a city of 4,700 in Ohio, USA, spilling toxic substances such as butyl acrylate, monoethylene glycol, butyl ether and vinyl chloride, which were burned by authorities to prevent an explosion.
According to The New York Times, residents “complain about a variety of conditions and are concerned about the long-term effects this may have on their health.”
From the first weeks after the accident, various state and federal authorities arrived on the scene to deal with the crisis. For example, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reported that pollutants “spilled into some bodies of water, affecting a nearly 12-kilometer stream.”
For its part, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported on the toxic substances carried by the train and noted that released and burned dioxins “can cause cancer, interfere with hormones, and damage reproductive and immune systems.”
The EPA also ordered Norfolk Southern to clean up the resulting pollution and pay all costs.
A couple of months later, on April 3, a fire alarmed the population of Santa Maria Chi, a subcommittee of the municipality of Mérida with a population of about 490, located east of the Yucatán capital.
On May 6, the residents of Santa Maria Chi delivered a letter to Deputy Commissioner Wilbert Nahuat, who in turn forwarded it to the City Council of Mérida “due to the fires occurring on the land of the San Gerardo farm, which affect the health of the population in general, for this reason we ask for your support to urgently resolve this situation, since the fire began on April 3.”
On the other hand, on May 9, the people of Santa Maria asked the Yucatán Health Service (SSY) to “support them in the direction of the community (…) their employees to supervise or determine whether the smoke generated by the burning of forests in a company that raises pigs (…) is dangerous, not only the forest is burning, but also contains dry pig excrement, and this is an unpleasant smell for us from the nose and throat.”
Two days later, on May 11, SSY replied that the matter “is under the jurisdiction of the City Council of Mérida and you are requested to file a complaint with that authority” (Official Document SSY/DPCRS/NOR/245/2023).
The residents of Santa Maria then filed a complaint with the city council. On what have received the answer that “it is not a question of the City Council”.
On May 19, residents sent another letter to Renan Barrera, President of the Municipality of Mérida, with the subject “Urgent Attention and Request for Position on the Events Recent at the Santa Maria Chi Police Station”, pointing to the “lack of attention to the police station”.
They also note that “among our population there are both adults and children aged 7 months to 10 years who have been diagnosed with bronchial asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis, and a 63-year-old woman was hospitalized with respiratory distress syndrome” (the woman, according to the deputy commissar, was sent for hospitalization).
In their official letter, they ask “to receive any report on the results of the inspection and inspection of the scene carried out by the various bodies that arrived at the scene.”
Like the people of Eastern Palestine, the people of Santa Maria Chi have expressed concern about the consequences for their health, which has already manifested itself in strep throat, headaches and various gastrointestinal problems.
The big difference is that so far not a single government has responded to the appeal of the population: they have not explained the origin of the fires, their possible impact on human health and the environment, and they have not called the perpetrators to account. Representatives of farms deny that the fire broke out on their territory, but they do not give any public reaction.
Given the lack of response from the authorities, the residents of Santa Maria Chi began a peaceful protest on May 15, organizing a camp 100 meters from the entrance to the pig farm. “This is a peaceful demonstration,” one of the camp residents tells me. “We stand away from the main entrance, allow free movement, do not block public roads, do not detain either people or vehicles,” he adds.
Despite the fact that the demonstration is peaceful, the pig farm responded on May 15 by filing a complaint with the deputy commissioner of Santa Maria Chi “for committing analyzed facts that could lead to unlawful imprisonment” of the farm workers with a corresponding order that they cannot approach the farm. This is a measure to criminalize the protection of human rights, which is becoming more and more common in the Yucatan, as evidenced by the cases of Citypech and Chapab.
In all these cases, citizens denounced the consequences of pig farms, such as bad smell, water pollution, and health problems. Farms have responded with criminalization; that the state government, silence.
The Santa Maria Chi case came to light through social media posts by residents of the subcommittee, who repeatedly reported fires and health effects, as well as government inaction.
Similarly, the case came to light through the reports of journalists such as Patricio Elisegui and Katya Rejon. The Santa Maria case was also included in a recent report that the Yucatán Citizens’ Water Council submitted to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation.
In an article published May 23, Eleisegi wrote that the San Gerardo Farm, “a mega pork farm that today feeds more than 43,000 pigs,” began operations in the mid-1980s “with a size that was too small.”
The farm, Eleisegi notes, is owned by the Kekén company and has polluted “every source of water in the community.” Also, according to Elisegi, it was the farm managers who “decided to set fire to tons of dried pig excrement.” It was this poisonous smoke that “caused a number of respiratory illnesses and other health problems in the residents of Santa Maria Chi.”
For her part, in an article published on May 28, Katya Rejon reports that “for two months (the neighbors of Santa Maria Key) suffered from rhinitis, acute pharyngitis, sinusitis, bronchitis and stomach problems caused by pollution and fires on a 178-hectare pig farm in San Gerardo” (according to other sources, the farm is even larger – 221 hectares).
Rejon also points to the problem of water pollution. In this regard, he cites the testimony of the community: “In a few years, our water will become poisoned. It should not be used for washing, bathing or watering. Look at the color of the water.”
With the assistance of the Yucatán Citizens’ Water Council, a microbiological analysis of well water from a community near the farm was carried out to determine the faecal coliform index. The study states that “the result of the provided sample GOES OUT OF THE MPC parameters for water for drinking and human consumption, established in paragraph 5.1.5.1.2 of NOM-201-ССА1-2015”. The result was 8.0 NMP/100 ml, when the limit of the official standard is 1.0 NMP/100 ml, i.e. 8 times higher than normal.
“Merida City Council is ignoring this,” a Santa Maria resident told me. The population is still seriously concerned about the state of health of the population, the possible growth of the economy, and possible new fires.
Merida City Council authorities and the state government must respond to requests from Santa Maria Chi to inform about, address and prevent water, soil and air pollution, health impacts. He must also seek damages from those responsible for the fires and pollution.
Meanwhile, the people of Santa Maria Chi continue their peaceful protest at the camp, which is attended by about 60 women and men, young people and the elderly. “Our intention is to take care of the health of our children, grandchildren, nephews, grandparents,” says one of the residents of Santa Maria. For this reason, on August 20, they will celebrate the “Kermes for the protection of water and life of Santa Maria Chi”, to which they invite the population of Mérida and other municipalities to learn more about the situation of the community. Problems such as water pollution and health consequences affect not only Santa Maria Chi, but the entire population of the state.—Merida, Yucatan.
rodrigo.llanes.s@gmail.com
Cephcis-UNAM Researcher