Talks have once again broken down between the Department of Communications and Transportation (SCT) and Ejido El Zapote (landowners cooperative) who seek what they see as proper compensation for lands expropriated from them decades ago for the construction of Guadalajara’s airport.
The dissolution of negotiations will no doubt result in further blockades by the ejido — a key strategy of protests that have been going on for years — of the airport’s main parking structures. As a result of these blockades, pedestrians trudging down the main road leading to the airport terminal have become a common sight.
The central dispute causing the continued fracas between the ejido and the SCT is a disparity between the two entities’ assessment of the amount of restitution owed to the cooperative; the government claims it has fulfilled its obligation, while the ejido continues to accuse authorities of short-changing them.
Nicolás Vega, leader and spokesman for El Zapote, says that a previous accord between his organization, the SCT and airport terminal management company Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP) promising a certain amount of restitution was broken by top SCT officials.
“[The head of the SCT] has backed out of our agreement. We have the records documenting the agreement, we have an acknowledgement of receipt, everything,” assured Vega.
In turn, the SCT issued an official retort to the ejido’s claims of a payment shortfall, saying that “the verdict laid down in regards to the payment for these lands has already been fully and lawfully complied with. We call on the protestors to avoid activities that affect people’s free use of the airport.”