The indigenous community of Mezcala has triumphed in a two-decade struggle to recuperate 20 hectares of ancestral lands that were usurped by a Guadalajara entrepreneur.
Reflecting the tenacious and fierce fighting spirits of forefathers who fought tooth and nail against Spanish troops during the War of Independence, the native people of Mezcala stood up against the money and power of a conniving individual named Guillermo Moreno Ibarra, who, back in 1999, began a gradual invasion of the wooded area known as El Pandillo situated on the mountainside overlooking the town of Mezcala de la Asunción.
Under a definitive October 28 ruling issued by the Superior Agrarian Tribunal (TSA) in Mexico City, Moreno has lost his last legal maneuver to hold on to the sprawling El Pandillo property. Thanks to his deep pockets, over the years he had surrounded the land with electrified fencing, cut down large swaths of endemic pine forests, diverted the course of natural water resources, and built the spread of a luxurious vacation home, complete with a greenhouse and livestock pens.
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