The Tuesday after we delivered the letter to the appropriate offices, I received a call from the governor’s office asking what exactly we were looking for. I’ll admit that I’m not at my strongest when talking on the phone. I can’t hear well, and I don’t have the visual cues to help me decipher what is being said. Anyway, I did my best, standing out in the road since the phone signal in the house is variable.
I told the governor’s secretary that we didn’t have any basic utilities, which was our primary need. She said that was something the municipio would need to address. I said that we’d been trying for 28 years to get servicios (utilities) and were rejected time and time again. Those documents were included with the letter. She asked if we were “regular,” and I said we were in the process of regularizing (which means conforming to the requirements for a fraccionamiento-neighborhood). She asked about escrituras (deeds), and I said we had the escritura global (one deed for the entire property). I didn’t feel like I had explained myself well, and she said she really should talk to the Ingeniero (Super Prez), who was listed second in the document. She said she’d check into things and call back. I don’t know why she didn’t just send an email with this information.
But she called back. She asked if I had something to write with. I grabbed something quick. Then she said I should call this number …. And gave me some numbers, but the phone call ended before I heard the final two digits. Now, a normal person would just call the person back, but I never had saldo (minutes) on my phone because the signal is so spotty that I never make phone calls. I was distraught, believing I had totally messed this up. However, doing a reverse search on the partial phone number, it seemed she was giving me the number for Secretaría Desarrollo Social y Humano.
Before we got any further in this process, Super Prez was called to the presidencia to answer for our crimes (writing and delivering this letter to the governor). Super Prez did much better than I would have done soothing the ruffled feathers. He made it clear that the letter’s intent was to solicit financial support for La Yacata with the understanding that those funds would need to be channeled through the municipio of Moroleon.
The architect in charge of Desarrollo Urbano tried to turn it back on us and said we hadn’t been back to follow up on our regularization process. Super Prez responded that it didn’t mean we weren’t working on it. In fact, the limpieza de pozo (well-cleaning) crew was back at work to finish that project so we could move to the next one and determine the quantity and quality of the well’s water.
It’s possible that the presidencia felt our appeal to the governor was an attack on their administration since the governor is part of a different political party and this was an election year. It’s also probable that no one in the presidency had read the letter to the governor in its entirety (it was 8 pages long) and just read the accompanying missive from the governor’s office. Had they done so, they would have seen that we made no disparaging remarks about the current administration, that paragraph having been removed judiciously at Super Prez’s recommendation before the letter was delivered, and that we lay the blame squarely on Chuchi, who was dead and wouldn’t protest.
Super Prez returned to Desarrollo Urbano a day or so later with an entire PowerPoint presentation printed out to explain how we were working with FE Guanajuato to apply for funding and infrastructure support. He said that seemed to appease the powers that be somewhat.
Super Prez also took this opportunity to present our petition once again to change the registered uso de suelo (land use) from agricultural to habitation. Before 1995, the area that encompasses La Yacata was farmland, and plots were rented for individuals to plant. The asociación de colonos was formed with the understanding that the classification would change. It was never approved, even after being submitted to 10 different municipal administrations. Without this document, nothing else can be approved.
I’m not exaggerating when I say it feels like we are tilting at windmills in this process to create a habitable community, the windmills being the antiquated processes in place that are preventing this. Perhaps we are foolish to believe we can overcome these obstacles to basic necessities. Well, I guess we’ll hope for the best.
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