Senate calls for cancellation of construction permits for two Cancun hotels

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Semarnat is urged to withdraw the permits to the Grand Island and Riviera Maya Cancun

The Senate of the Republic exhorted the federal Executive so that, through the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), it initiates a harmful judgment on the authorizations granted to projects such as the Grand Island and Riviera Cancun (RIU).

Request the annulment of the resolutions contained in the official letter SGPA / DGIRA / DG / 08730 by which the Environmental Impact Statement was authorized to Mx Riusa, SA de CV (RIU). Calls to revoke the change of land use in forest lands, in an area of ​​13,733 square meters of medium sub-evergreen forest and 11,959 square meters of coastal scrub vegetation, for the construction and operation of the Riviera Cancun hotel, in the area from Punta Nizuc.

Requests the annulment of resolution 04 / SGA / 1430 / 19-03096 that approves the environmental impact statement presented by the company BVG Word, SA de CV for the Grand Island project, located in front of the Nichupté lagoon, at kilometer 20 of the area hotel of Cancun.

“It is irregular, which allowed the indicated morals to obtain a favorable resolution, thereby contravening local and federal regulations, in addition to seriously damaging the rights of the inhabitants of the area and of citizens in general to enjoy an environment healthy ”, states the exhortation.

The upper house “respectfully exhorts” the head of the Ministry of Public Function (SFP) to initiate administrative liability procedures against the responsible public servants who intervened in the evaluation procedure.

Both authorizations were signed by the biologist Araceli Gómez Herrera, in charge of dispatching the Semarnat delegation in Quintana Roo.

“Quintana Roo has been characterized, over time, as being one of the most attractive and exploited territories for tourism in the country. There are several places that, due to their beaches, vegetation, scenic beauty, among others, have been subjected to the growth and development of infrastructure to satisfy the tourist demand ”.

The controversial Araceli Gómez history

Shameless waste in Semarnat Quintana Roo

The official has also tolerated sand looting in Puerto Cancun

Only in copies, the controversial Araceli Gómez, in charge of the agency in Quintana Roo, will spend 86 thousand pesos in copies for 9 months

The controversial Araceli Gómez Herrera, Semarnat delegate in Quintana Roo, continues to squander public resources, and now, in the midst of a pandemic year and with the instruction of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to apply an austerity policy, she has now awarded a new contract for 86 thousand pesos for copies.

This new contract with number DFQROO-SAI-007-2020 is in addition to the three granted by the official without a tender for the security and cleaning services of her offices, which were assigned via direct award.

Araceli Gómez, head of Semarnat Quintana Roo, generates controversy due to his assigned contracts, expenses in the middle of the pandemic and omissions in complaints
Araceli Gómez, head of Semarnat Quintana Roo, generates controversy due to his assigned contracts, expenses in the middle of the pandemic and omissions in complaints

On this occasion, the assignment was made to the company Estratec, whose legal representative is José Carlos Cousiño, in a contract that is valid from April to December 2020.

Semarnat will pay the provider for the remuneration of its services an amount according to the minimum budget of (…) $ 34,519.00 (…) and up to the maximum budget (…) of $ 86,299.00″, states the contract signed by Gómez Herrera.

The contract derived from the tender consists of the “managed printing and digitization service (photocopying)”, between April 20 and December 31, 2020.

For the fulfillment of the DFQROO-SAI-007-2020 contract, the supplier undertakes to install 5 copying machines, 2 of them in the federal branch of Semarnat in Chetumal, and 3 more in the regional office.

In the middle of the pandemic, Semarnat Quintana Roo awarded a contract for up to 86 thousand pesos to make copies for 9 months

Despite the fact that the contract manages that the supplier must maintain its fixed prices, without being able to alter them, Araceli Gómez Herrera’s own Semarnat authorizes an increase of up to 20% via the same instrument, which represents the possibility of an increase of up to 17%. 259,809 pesos, for a total amount of the contract of 103 thousand 558.80 pesos.

Controversial hires

Araceli Gómez Herrera, head of the Semarnat delegation in Quintana Roo, has been questioned for awarding contracts without bidding them and assigning them to suppliers directly.

Among them, the direct assignments of fuel, cleaning and security contracts stand out, that is, without competition.

Gómez Herrera assigned the last two services, security and cleaning, to the same person, without competition or tender.

This is Willebaldo Aguilar Quiroz, to whom the Semarnat dispatcher awarded contracts DFQROO-SAI-001-2019 and DFQROO-SAI-002-2019, to provide cleaning and security services, respectively.

Aguilar Quiroz appeared as a provider under the figure of a natural person before Semarnat Quintana Roo, to provide the service during the month of March 2019, at a cost of 13 thousand 399 pesos.

On the other hand, the second contract, for the security of the property, was also awarded directly to the same person, who received an amount of 32 thousand 656.32 pesos.

The company claimed to have the category of a micro company, with 37 employees and an annual turnover of 1.7 million pesos.

Environmental corruption

These are not the only scandals faced by Araceli Gómez Herrera, since as the head of Semarnat in Quintana Roo she approved the Hotel Gran Island Cancún project in official letter 04 / SGA / 1430 / 19-03096.

The controversial approval led to the fact that on February 12, the Senate of the Republic issued a point of agreement against the endorsement that the biologist by profession gave to the project, and against herself for her responsibility in endorsing it.

Some hotels in Tulum have operated irregularly
Some hotels in Tulum have operated irregularly

“The federal executive is urged to initiate, through Semarnat, injurious judgment against official letter 04 / SGA / 1430 / 19-03096, dated June 19, 2019, signed by the biologist Araceli Gómez Herrera (…) by which to BVG WORD, SA de CV, the project called “Hotel Grand Island Cancun” was authorized, says the document.

The problems caused by its approval, the Senate pointed out, was the impact on a mangrove area and an intermittent lagoon, in addition to the fact that 2,000 rooms are projected, when previously a project with a lower density was discarded.

It was also questioned that the Environmental Impact Statement did not consider the increase in traffic or the generation of greenhouse gases, and lastly, it does not guarantee the capacity for wastewater treatment.

Other of the scandals of Araceli Gómez Herrera at the head of Semarnat in Quintana Roo come from 2019, when the operation of nine hotels in the municipality of Tulum that lacked the manifestations of environmental impact was publicly denounced.

Among them, the Encantado, Nomade Tulum, Casa Violeta Resort, Alma Tulum Be Tulum and Hip Hotel complexes were mentioned. Some of them, despite being closed, continued to operate.

Cozumel: Investigation against Semarnat delegate requested

She also authorized the construction of a tourist project in the south of Isla de las Golondrinas.

(Courtesy)

The Semarnat delegate in Quintana Roo was formally denounced before the Internal Control Body of that federal instance for alleged violation of environmental laws and provisions.

Guadalupe Álvarez Chulin, Widow of Azueta, president of the conservation organization Citymar on the Island of Swallows, asked Erasmo Antonio Calderón Estévez to initiate an investigation against Araceli Gómez Herrera, in charge of the delegation of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources ( Semarnat), for authorizing the construction of a tourism project south of Cozumel.

According to the environmentalist, the approval of the project was in violation of not only Mexican laws, but also international treaties for the protection of mangroves.

“We request that the biologist Araceli Gómez Herrera be applied Article 421, Section V, of the Fifth Chapter on Common Provisions for Crimes Against the Environment,” stated the president of Citymar (Cielo, Tierra y Mar. AC).

In April of this year, Araceli Gómez was also singled out for illegally authorizing sand looting in the Puerto Cancún area.

The environmentalist’s complaint was made through the official letter 04/8/2020 sent electronically under the Urgent Complaint label dated October 8, 2020, addressed to Erasmo Calderón, who heads the Internal Control Body at Semarnat.

For Guadalupe Álvarez, the official should be held criminally liable if necessary, for facts, acts and omissions that can cause ecological imbalance and damage to the environment and natural resources of Cozumel.

Some of the violated legal orders are 420 Bis of the Federal Penal Code , which literally says: A penalty of two to 10 years in prison and the equivalent of three hundred to three thousand days a fine will be imposed on anyone who unlawfully damages, drains or refills wetlands, mangroves, lagoons, estuaries or swamps and damage reefs.

Another is article 418, which provides a penalty of one to nine years in prison and the equivalent of one hundred to three thousand days a fine, provided that said activities are not carried out in urban areas that are illegally clearing or destroying natural vegetation, cutting, uprooting, cut down or cut down one or more trees and change the use of forest land.

Also Article 37 Ter, Section VI Official Mexican Standards that literally says : “The Official Mexican Standards on environmental matters are mandatory in the national territory and will indicate their scope of validity and gradualness in their application.”

Regarding the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection, he assured that articles 170 to 173, 202, 203 are violated, as well as the Wildlife Law in its article 60 Ter.

How is this so called protector of the environment not in Jail

Source: laverdadnoticias.com, sipse.com

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