JUCHITÁN, Oaxaca., October 24 (EL UNIVERSAL).- A gasoline spill that occurred in a pipeline of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) in the northern area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec left “an ecological disaster” in the communities of El Triunfo, which belongs to the municipality of San Juan Guichicovi, denounced the municipal president of that Ayuujk community, Heriberto Luis Zacarías.
Since noon yesterday, Sunday, in the communities of Donají, which belongs to the municipality of Matías Romero, and José María Morelos, from San Juan Guichicovi, they alerted their authorities for “a strong smell of gasoline.”
On the morning of this Monday, said the municipal president Heriberto Luis Zacarías, the residents of El Triunfo discovered that the spill occurred on the property of a private individual named Javier Vitela, where signs of fuel theft, commonly called “huachicol” were located. .
The residents indicated the mayor, found hoses, various keys and objects left by the people who went to illegally extract the fuel, which finally spilled, contaminating water mirrors and grasslands, and causing the death of fish, birds, armadillos, turtles and badgers.
The area of spill is located in the vicinity of a stream and a river, where the population of El Triunfo obtains water for domestic consumption. “There are dead fish, as well as freshwater turtles, armadillos, badgers, and pheasants,” said the mayor.
Given these events, in the community of El Triunfo, the population is demanding that Pemex compensate for the damage and clean up the river from which they get their water supply. “We will send a pipe to alleviate the urgent need for water,” said the mayor.
The residents, he explained, have pointed out on several occasions that due to lack of maintenance of the pipelines or theft of gasoline, there is not a year in which disasters of this nature do not occur and Pemex officials neglect the damages and claims.
In the northern part of the Isthmus, considered the Trans-Isthmic route where highway 185 passes and the train from Salina Cruz, Oaxaca to Medias Aguas, Veracruz, there is an underground network of Pemex pipelines that transport crude oil, gasoline, and ammonia.
In this same route, in addition, the construction of a gas pipeline by the federal government is contemplated, which would form part of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and for which an investment of 800 million dollars is contemplated.
The construction of this gas pipeline, 36 inches in diameter and 270 kilometers long, which aims to cross the narrow strip of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, is promoted by the CFE to meet the natural gas needs of companies in the south of the country, and especially in those established in the industrial parks promoted by the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT), the federal government has indicated.
