Families of Playa del Carmen file a class action lawsuit against the Sac-Tun mine

Representatives of more than 2,500 families from Carmen beach filed a collective action against the mine Bag-Tunbetter known as Calica, for damages to the health of children, as well as environmental deterioration and contamination of the underground aquifer that lies below the 2,400 hectares that they have in concession for the extraction of limestone.

The complainants went this Monday, October 24, to the courts of cancun to file this appeal, through which they demand the definitive closure of the open pit mine, appealing to the community’s right to a healthy environment and the superior right of children.

Quetzal Tzab, one of the complainants, assured that there are countless cases of children with asthma problems and skin diseases, especially in the community of Las Torres, located 2 kilometers from Sac-Tun, as far as the dust that comes from the crushed rock that is stored in large quantities on the 2,400 hectares that have been exploited for more than 30 years by the American firm Vulcan Materials, owner of the mine.

The activist Raúl Benet, environmental advisor to the plaintiffs, stated that for more than thirty years the company has continuously detonated large quantities of explosives of the hydrogel type, drilling with deep holes several meters below the water table, and have discharged into the aquifer. significant concentrations of nitrites and other pollutants, in addition to having released into the atmosphere and the Caribbean Sea immense amounts of very fine limestone dust that is very harmful to the health of the population, and in particular of children.

“All this, without counting the clearing of hundreds of hectares of jungle, devastated the soil and subsoil of the area, and diverted the course of underground currents, appropriating immense volumes of water, much higher than those approved, according to of the studies recently published by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat),” he said.

The activist added that although the company had some permits granted during the government of Ernest Zedillothe constant and permanent violation of the established conditions and the volumes approved in such permits, has been the fundamental cause of the great social and environmental impact that the exploitation has meant.

“This and any other company that violates the conditions established in its permits, and that results in serious environmental deterioration and the violation of the rights of the community, must be brought to trial, its operations must be definitively closed, and the companies have to answer for the environmental and social damage caused,” he added.

He also assured that everything is documented by Semarnat itself, which disclosed the environmental damage it has caused. Calicalast August, through studies carried out by the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change, the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas and the Mexican Institute of Water Technology.

estados@eleconomista.mx

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