Mexico City: Week of Actions Held in Resistance to Development Project at Aztecas 215

The following is a report back from a series of actions held this week in Mexico City against a gentrifying apartment development that is also destroying a freshwater aquifer. For more background information, see this article here.

This week, the General Assembly of the Peoples, Neighborhoods, Communities and Pedregales of Coyoacán carried out a series of actions in resistance to the apartment complex development project at Aztecas 215, being built on top of a fresh water aquifer in the Pedregales of Coyoacán. As the various government agencies have refused to put an end to the project as they should according to their own laws and regulations, the General Assembly have further stepped up their organization and resistance to this project of death.

On Wednesday, March 21^st, members of the General Assembly met in the center of Mexico City where they carried out a series of protests to demand the cancellation of the development project. The assembly first organized an action at the entrance of SACMEX (System of Waters of Mexico City)—the governmental body in charge of managing the services and infrastructure of drinking water, drainage, and the recycling and reuse of waste water in Mexico City. With banners, photos of the ecocide and a physical presence, members of the assembly blocked the entrance to the SACMEX building, making clear their disgust with the ongoing removal of millions of gallons of fresh water, being pumped from the construction project at Aztecas 215 directly into the city drainage system.

From SACMEX, members of the assembly took the street marching the five or so blocks to the building of SEDEMA (Secretary of the Environment)—the governmental body in charge of formulating and enacting policy regarding the environment and natural resources in Mexico City. There, members of the assembly again maintained their physical presence with photos and banners to exemplify their rejection of the ecocide being carried out at Aztecas 215. Music, food and rebellious speech were shared maintaining a spirit of creative and communal resistance in the face of the lackeys of capitalist interests.

Then on Friday, March 23^rd, the General Assembly along with neighbors and participants of other social struggles in Mexico City and beyond, blockaded the entrance to the construction project at Aztecas 215. This action was organized against the supposed visit of government functionaries to the construction site, convoked by the government themselves to verify the effectiveness and function of a constructed barrier meant to prevent water from entering the development site once the buildings are completed. The action was an act of refusal of the visit of the government functionaries, as the General Assembly never once solicited a revision of the constructed barrier, but rather have continually demanded the immediate cancellation of the development project. With the lively presence of community members and compañerxs in solidarity, the government ceased with its deceitful plans, and refused to send its functionaries to the construction site.

Through these series of actions, the assembly has again made clear how the governmental bodies set up to supposedly protect and sustainably manage water and natural resources in Mexico City are doing nothing more than serve the interests of the capitalist class—in this case the owners of the real estate development company, Quiero Casa. While the actions carried out this week will not put an immediate end to the project, the ongoing movement of the General Assembly of the Peoples, Neighborhoods, Communities and Pedregales of Coyoacán, continues to serve as an example of a resistance movement grounded in communal self-organization. As long as the water is continually pumped into the city drainage system, and the construction project moves forward, we can guarantee the General Assembly of the Peoples, Neighborhoods, Communities and Pedregales of Coyoacán will continue self-organizing and resisting the capitalist-driven destruction and gentrification of their neighborhood.