World News
Mexicans want politicians to stop campaigning and fix infrastructure
Published:
VALLE DE CHALCO SOLIDARIDAD, Mexico (CNS) -- Wastewater suddenly rushed into Edith Larrondo's home in this bedroom community of Mexico City shortly after midnight Feb. 5. The water reached at least 5 feet and stayed for three weeks, wiping out the family's home-based taco stand -- famed locally for serving barbacoa, lamb roasted on-site in an earthen pit. Larrondo said it was the third time in 25 years that sewage from a nearby canal inundated her home. But this time was different. Not only was the water deeper, it displaced thousands in the community known as Chalco, a magnet for impoverished residents of southeastern Mexico in search of better economic opportunities. "There are far more people now," she said of Chalco. "This used to nothing but vacant lots." The National Water Commission blamed the flood on unexpected rains, but locals, outside experts and political observers say the inundations were typical of the water woes perpetually vexing the Mexico City area. They point to such disasters as an indictment of rampant corruption, politicking and poor urban planning that places many residents in fast-growing, working-class areas at risk of catastrophes. "For many years there have been warnings of two serious risks we have: a large flood and another earthquake," Father Hugo Valdemar Romero, spokesman for the Mexico City Archdiocese, told reporters in February. "Adequate measures have not been taken."
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