Chapala Mayor Joaquin Huerta has condemned the recent installation of street barriers to restrict nighttime transit along the section of El Camino Real running through La Floresta.
“This will not be permitted,” Huerta told the Reporter early this week. “I understand that they may have been put in with the best intentions to increase security in the neighborhood, but this is an open public street, not part of a private condominium.”
On the other hand, La Floresta Homeowner’s Association President Juan José Serratos Salcedo staunchly defends what he defines as a “concrete measure” to enhance safety in the upscale subdivision that has been plagued by a year-long rash of break-ins and last month’s high-profile double murder of a Canadian couple.
The Camino Real, a wide tree-lined cobblestone roadway partially divided by a raised horse path, has served for centuries as a major east-west artery linking Ajijic and San Antonio. Two manually operated bars used to cut off access at the corner of Calle Revolución and a similar double-armed barrier at Paseo de la Olas were fixed into position in late February. Signs attached to each segment bear the legend ALTO. Private guards employed by La Floresta go out on rounds every day around sundown to lower and lock the gates.
The mayor and several other city officials consulted by this newspaper revealed that La Floresta’s management never attempted to obtain permits for the road blocks and that in any case, such requests would be denied.
As the measure was sparking heated public debate on whether security concerns should trump rights of free passage as constituted under the law, villagers started lodging bitter complaints at the delegación offices in Ajijic and San Antonio. Many expressed the conviction that the gates are not only illegal, but also counter productive since they only hamper rapid emergency intervention by police, ambulance and civil protection officers.
After receiving a flood of angry phone calls on the matter, Ajijic Administrator Hector España and a dozen foreign and Mexican residents appeared at Chapala City Hall Monday, March 24 to appeal to the mayor. The upshot coincides with Huerta’s declarations to the press: orders for removal of the gates will be forthcoming at an undefined date.
Meanwhile, Serratos sat down with the Reporter last Saturday to explain the perspective of the homeowners he represents.
“Great problems require bold solutions,” he explained, noting that closing off access to streets that are not indispensable is just one of the tactics the association is employing to boost neighborhood security.
He specifically justified the after-dark closure of Camino Real, declaring his belief that it is a principal route used by “bandits and pot heads.” After stating that the measure had been approved by “the authorities,” he clarified that the nod came from state officials.
The association hosted an orientation session on home protection and neighborhood watch strategies, presented to residents by personnel from the Jalisco Attorney General’s Office, and has also initiated the registry of laborers who work in the subdivision.