San Gregorio, the town of CDMX that has not yet risen almost five years after 19-S: “I want to have a decent roof again”

Four and a half years have passed since that afternoon when a very strong earthquake of 7.1 Richter shook Mexico City, leaving at least 370 dead and 1,008 homes completely destroyed. San Gregorio Atlapulco, in the Xochimilco mayor's office, was one of the most affected areas because it is an irregular settlement due to its lake past, where chinampas predominated.

Despite this, it also seems to be the most forgotten by the authorities before the 19-S. Unlike other victims of mayor's offices such as Tlalpan, Coyoacán and Cuauhtémoc, who have already received the reconstruction of their apartments, in this “town” 42 families (properties), made up of just over 200 people, continue to live with the uncertainty of not being able to return home, where nothing else remains the land and some vestiges.

Given the CDMX government's argument that “there is no money to raise”, in 2018 they decided to form a group of victims under the name “Enlace Xochimilco”, where they hold work tables every 15 or 20 days on a vacant lot in the area.

His representative and also injured, lawyer Óscar Peláez, said in an interview with Infobae Mexico that, with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, their effects have ceased to be addressed and their precarious situation has increased. He even said that the last meeting with the Commission for the Reconstruction of the capital to review progress was in August 2019.

To attract the attention of the authorities, on February 16, the collective decided to block Insurgentes Avenue and Eje 5 Sur for several hours, in the Benito Juárez mayor's office, where they demanded a meeting with the head of government, Claudia Sheinbaum, as well as his secretary Martí Batres.

Alicia Guillén, a 77-year-old woman who walks with the help of a cane through the alleys of the village south of the capital, longingly sees the small wasteland with dry, overgrown grass that once housed her house for 14 years and where she lived with six people, her son's family.

“The house did not fall completely, but went sideways and opened. Then the government came and they had to demolish it and remove the rubble,” he narrates as he points to the corner where some stones were accommodated with sticks that they never picked up.

In order not to leave them on the street, the Commission granted the victims of San Gregorio financial aid of four thousand pesos per month via debit card to rent accommodation, in a mayor's office where the average cost for a two-room apartment exceeds six thousand pesos, according to the portal Inmuebles24.

For this reason, Mrs. Guillén was only able to move to a small one-bedroom apartment where her relatives did not fit, who had to rent separately. With visible exhaustion, she acknowledged that going to live alone with her little dog has brought her problems.

A similar situation is being experienced by Don Odilón Renteria and Amanda Contreras, aged 96 and 71, respectively. This endearing couple lived for 34 years in a micro one-bedroom dwelling, next to the house of their son's family.

But the earthquake separated them to a room located in Los Reyes, 25 minutes from there, on the border with the State of Mexico. Although they assure that their family is always aware of them, the very conditions of their age require closeness to their relatives. Already having difficulty speaking out loud and drawing with his fingers an imaginary sketch of “his little house”, Don Odilón said he was worried that something might happen to them.

There are other cases such as that of Arturo González, 42 years old and who lived with his six relatives in a building that is now in ruins, who had to move into his cousin's house, but as they say: even in the best families there are problems.

“We are close with a cousin, and you know that the dead and the close suck after three days. We have had problems, but they support us, because we are family,” he said with a laugh.

Such is the love for San Gregorio that all the members of the collective intend to stay and live there until the end of their days, despite the “pressures” from the capital's Reconstruction Commission.

And it is that the main factor that their cases have stagnated in law firms is because the authorities indicate that their properties are on irregular settlements, which they say would put their integrity at risk, and that several of them are within “protected areas”.

In this regard, Arturo González revealed that he has already been offered compensation of up to 520 thousand pesos to “raise” his humble home, when according to his calculations he would need at least one million to have the necessary services. Of course, in exchange for signing a relocation to the Tláhuac mayor's office (more than an hour's walk from there). He indicated that the objective of the authorities is to allow them to enter machinery to throw everything and that “the land is occupied for planting”, as an ecological zone.

However, for him this is only a strategy of the government, because he assured that since he was born “it was already paved there”. During the tour, Infobae Mexico observed several houses of up to two floors remodeled; even, very close to those that were destroyed by the earthquake.

Mrs. Guillen added that in her 40 years of living in the village, she had never been told that building was forbidden because it was a reserve or that her house was in any danger.

“Before the earthquake I had no problem [...] There is no water channel, no ditch, all the places are dry. I don't know what the head of government (Claudia Sheinbaum) wants to recover,” she said.

Mrs. Maria de los Ángeles Saavedra, 42 years old, guides us to her property. Walking through the narrow alleys, you can hear between home and house the chicken cackling or the fashionable reggaeton, while behind our backs two little dogs from the neighborhood guard us.

When she arrives and opens the gate, Maria shows us her land in black work: hundreds of gray partitions stacked, between rods, buckets and tarps that her family donated to her. “Sorry for the mess,” he said before taking us to the time of that tragic afternoon in 2017.

Despite moving forward with his own means and having the foundations ready, all he has encountered are “obstacles” and discouragement on the part of the government, claiming that he has already “altered the evidence” of the total loss of his home. Being a single mother and losing her job due to the restrictions brought by COVID-19, De Los Angeles was no longer able to continue with the reconstruction, but she does not lose hope of having her home again.

While she recognized that another earthquake of greater or equal magnitude could throw away her eventual house again, she wants to leave the place where she is renting to return to San Gregorio because she is proud of her roots.

Another victim who had to get ahead of the slow pace of the authorities was Mrs. Anselma Perfecta, 49 years old, of whom the last 11 have lived in the town.

Among the ties with hanging clothes she showed us her three-quarters of tablaroca that she donated to her and built a foundation for her and her eight relatives. Although they have windows where the glass is replaced by transparent plastic on the inside they look very dark.

“(The most difficult thing is) In the rainy seasons because the water leaks and in winter it is very cold,” he lamented as he shows us photos of the old partition house that fell apart.

Unlike her colleagues in the collective, Doña Anselma is so desperate that she would settle for compensation, as she trusts that she will be able to sell her snack to survive wherever she is relocated. However, she is still grappling with the process to prove that she does own the property.

Four and a half years after the earthquake that shocked Mexico, the only house that was rebuilt by the government in San Gregorio Atlapulco, and with great help from neighbors, was delivered in 2018. A construction of 60 square meters, made of lightweight plank and sheet roof, which has two rooms. Today, the “show house” painted green and white remains latticed, with a mesh of covering and strangely uninhabited for several months.

Infobae Mexico sought out Mr. Jabnely Maldonado Meza, head of the CDMX Reconstruction Commission to learn the authorities' position on the demands.

Unlike what Enlace Xochimilco pointed out, he said that until March 2021 two working groups were held with the collective to determine the best option for each case. However, he stressed that there are land in San Gregorio where you can no longer build a house.

He explained that if the structural damage to the property is such, it is no longer recommended to rehabilitate but to demolish in order to improve the land and thus be able to rebuild. For rehabilitation, support of up to 180 thousand pesos is granted; he assured that everything with technical advice.

But when the ground is very unstable, Maldonado Meza ruled that relocation is the only way, for which victims are given compensation of up to 520 thousand pesos.

In this regard, the official said that no pressure has been exerted on those affected in San Gregorio to choose the latter option, although she did acknowledge that due to the complexity of each case, deliveries have been delayed.

As for unjustified demolitions, he noted that many were done in 2017 and 2018, before they took office.

According to the capital's government, since 2019, “one thousand 160 homes both rebuilt and rehabilitated throughout Xochimilco” have been delivered, with the help of the Slim Foundation. While in another 720 projects are being formulated to leave with a technical advisory mechanism.

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