Lomas del Poleo resident Petra Medrano (left) and Segundo Barrio
resident Lupe Ochoa were two of the panelists at the UTEP forum entitled "Lomas del Poleo-Segundo Barrio under siege."
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Lomas del Poleo and Segundo Barrio Residents Connect
“It’s the same plan on both sides of the border. It’s the same land speculators who sit on each others boards and who are carrying out large-scale displacement and land grabs. If the powerful are organized at a binational level, then those of us at the bottom also need to join together. We need to form binational coalitions against el despojo—against the theft of our homes and our barrios—that is being carried out in the name of regional development.”
—Cristina Coronado, La Otra Campaña
TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE attended a UT El Paso forum Monday (November 19, 2007) evening where they witnessed a unique, and perhaps historic, conversation between residents of two neighborhoods located across the international fence from each other that are fighting against very similar threats to their communities.
Panelists Petra Medrano, who has lived in Lomas del Poleo in Juárez for 15 years and Lupe Ochoa, who has lived in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio for about an equal amount of time, shared common stories of struggle against developers from both sides of the border who want to move their communities out the way to make room for binational redevelopment projects.
Petra Medrano described the feelings of anger and fear that she and her neighbors have experienced at the hands of armed guards hired by powerful Juárez developers who have systemically terrorized them for the last four years to force them to accept relocation. “We lived in peace Lomas del Poleo for 12 years until recently when the Grupo Zaragoza showed up... Now we are under much pressure. One of our neighbors, Luis Alberto Guerrero, was beaten to death by the guards while the guards were razing a home...We feel so powerless...I know I'm a target now, but I must speak out. Maybe only a miracle will save us."
“Why now?” Ms. Mendoza asked. “Why have they decided to kick us out of there now after we were there for so long?” [video of testimony]
The sentiments of Lupe Ochoa echoed those of Medrano. “We used to live happily in our barrio, even with all of its defects, but now this [Paso del Norte Group] plan has us all living in a state of fear,” she said. “The residents of the barrio have been selling their homes because they're afraid that they will be forced out by this plan.
"I think the biggest connection between Segundo Barrio and Lomas del Poleo is the love for our neighborhood and for our people,” Ms. Ochoa said. “And the love we feel for our homes that we built with great sacrifice, either on this or that side of the border. And I say this love is what will unite us. Segundo Barrio es igual a Lomas de Poleo...The people that are doing this to our neighborhoods either on that side or this side are not invincible. If the tallest trees have been toppled, why shouldn't we be able to topple these powerful groups even with all their money. Even though they say power is all about money. But they don't have the heart that we the poor have.” [Ms. Ochoa video.]
"It's the same people who are responsible for what is happening to us at Lomas del Poleo—Héctor Murguía [former Juárez mayor who is a member of the Paso Del Norte Group] and Eloy Vallina [board member Verde Realty Group]—who now want to take over the Segundo Barrio," said Medrano. "It's the same group of businessmen who are threatening us. They're the same ones that want to take away our lands."
During the screening of short documentaries about both communities at the forum—including “Poleo Speaking” and “Voices of Dissent: The Segundo Barrio is Not For Sale!”—the the residents of both neighborhoods used almost identical phrases to describe their feelings in the face of displacement and the seizure of their land. Several of them said they felt “powerless” or “impotent” but that they were willing to fight for their homes “come what may.”
The videos also linked the struggles in other ways. The "Grupo Zaragoza," Eloy Vallina's "Grupo Chihuahua" and Bill Sander's "Grupo Verde" in Juárez have all targeted the northwestern zone in Ciudad Juárez for binational redevelopment projects that, those interviewed in the videos argue, have excluded the people that are currently living in that zone. Father Bill Morton, one of the panelist at the forum who was pressured to leave Mexico in 2006 because of his work on behalf of the colonos, made the connection between these developments and the state of siege of the Lomas del Poleo residents in the documentary Poleo Speaking. "It's a project between Anapra, Sunland Park, New Mexico, San Jeronimo, Santa Teresa, El Paso and Juárez that involves billions and billions of dollars. It's all part of the whole enchilada," Morton said.
But beyond anything said at the forum, that very direct and palpable connection that we witnessed between Petra Medrano and Lupe Ochoa and the other residents of our binational neighborhoods under siege, was the most important thing that came out of Monday’s forum.
It was the first time that many of them became aware of each other's situation. It was also an evening where voices that hadn’t been heard before were heard for the first time.
For the first time, neighbors from El Paso and Juárez connected. And just that in itself is an important victory for the movement against displacement and despojo (the theft of our barrios) on both sides of the fence.
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