"Revocan a Esmex concesión para controlar basurero en Atitalaquia", 26 June 2022

...The Atitalaquia town council yesterday revoked the 20-year concession for the rubbish deposit service to the company Ecological Solution Mexico (Esmex), which obtained the permit in December 2021.

Residents and environmentalists rejected its operation because it is located less than a kilometre from the urban area; moreover, during a protest against the removal of the dump, a resident was killed on 20 June, which forced the PRI mayor, Lorenzo Agustín Hernández Olguín, to call an extraordinary meeting to discuss the issue...

Due to protests over the start of activities at the waste landfill in January, the takeover of the mayor's office by non-conforming residents and the death of activist Jesús Bañuelos Acevedo, last Tuesday the Federal Attorney General's Office for Environmental Protection temporarily closed the site for causing damage to health and the environment.

At the meeting, the activists reproached the Hidalgo Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources for keeping documents on the project secret, arguing that they were "under reserve"....

The authority promised to ask the Attorney General's Office to investigate the crime of Jesús Bañuelos, as well as to request the payment of compensation for his widow and minor children.

Regarding the Cardonal residents' request to expropriate the land where the dump is located in order to create an ecological restoration zone, it was agreed that the current state government would leave the request to the incoming administration of Julio Menchaca Salazar...

(Translated by the BHRRC)