Puebla, Mexico: Sources say 200 million cubic meters of toxic sludge lie at the bottom of Valsequillo reservoir

Note: Beeeeg problems with Blogger.com. I wrote this post just a bit after 9:00 this morning and couldn't get it online until late this evening. I don't know what's wrong with Blogger but I'll continue to try to fight my way through it.

Sources inside the Puebla state government have told Mark in Mexico that more than 200 million cubic meters of toxic sludge lie at the bottom of the Valsequillo reservoir. Not even Merlin the Magician could clean up this mess.

 

Abracadabra . . .
Abracadabra . . .
. . . bloody hell!
These sources, who must remain anonymous due to concerns for life and limb, further explain that the Puebla state government began looking at cleaning up the lake as long as two years ago. This would indicate that the explosive reports in Reforma did not take state officials by surprise. Well, maybe Reforma's reports did, but the information contained therein did not. In fact, say my sources, the state government has been well aware of the poisonous nature of the lake for a long time.

The problems, say my sources, are that the government doesn't want to spend the money to clean up the problem. What's a few extra fingers and toes and a few more dwarfs running around? Especially when the governor himself is a dwarf.

What's worse, these sources tell me, is that the state government doesn't seem to understand that the root causes of the contamination, untreated municipal and industrial waste water as well as residual runoff water, must first be cleaned up before any lake cleanup can be attempted. Otherwise, it's all a huge waste of time and money. The lake cannot be cleaned up until its water sources are cleaned.

My sources say that waster water which is currently being dumped into the Valsequillo reservoir is receiving only rudimentary treatment, if any at all. I'm trying to get more details on "rudimentary" and will provide them when I have them. My translation of my sources' information is as follows:

Basically the problem is money, or lack of it. The state doesn't want to allocate the funds necessary to even start the project.

. . . there is a solution, although a long term one.

We must start treating our wastewater to an acceptable level . . . the wastewater plant we have now was built and is operated by a foreign company that is raping Puebla with the interest payments while performing the most rudimentary of treatment, if any at all.

The 2 rivers leading to Valsequillo must be cleaned. Then we can deal with the lake.

Foreign company? Interest payments? Hmmm. I wonder how many millions of pesos were/are pocketed in this transaction?




Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made
by Mexican indigenous artists.
Thanks!
Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries

TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Puebla, Mexico, Valsequillo, lead poisoning, heavy metals contamination, Mario Marin, Grupo Reforma

Mexico City: AMLO blames the mafia for his defeat and subsequent disappearance.

The Mafia Stole the Presidency From Us.
That is the title of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's (AMLO's) new book which he is now shilling wherever and whenever he can. He has morphed from legitimate presidential candidate to clown to cheap huckster, all in less than a year. And his rapidly dwindling support base shows it.

 

AMLO must-a sleep wid duh fishes-a.
Give-a this one to-a Phil Calderone.

The book's brief introduction starts out, unfortunately, like this:

"Sólo le han quitado una pluma a nuestro gallo",

which, when translated exactly as it is intended, means,

"Only one feather was yanked out of our cock."

Now, before you start spitting out your coffee, or whatever, the word "cock" must be taken to mean "fighting cock", as in rooster -- male chicken. However, the word "gallo", in the sense that AMLO meant it, is translated accurately to the King's English as, er, cock. Sorry.

 

Bodyguard with AMLO's huge cock, sans one feather.
Note to self: No more posting after sixth Cuba Libre.

The book's publisher is supposedly Random House Mondadori, although a search of their site does not reveal any such title nor any such author. At least I couldn't find it. Try it yourself and good luck with the Salon de Autores (authors list). It took me four hours to figure out how that particular search tool worked and then when I finally got there, AMLO wasn't. In fact, the only newly published offering by Random House Mondadori was a book about the PAN, the party of notorious mafia hit man, Felipe "Phil" Calderone.

In the article linked in the first paragraph above, Reforma is mentioned as having conducted a poll in which 31 percent of AMLO's former supporters say they would not vote for him again. Among the comments of those polled:

"He should have ended this whole circus long ago."

Here is the report in Reforma if you can get it open. I'll translate it for you. Explanatory notes and snarky comments are in parentheses:

In the year since the presidential election, one third of the voters who helped Andrés Manuel López Obrador say that today they would not vote for that candidate and almost one half who voted for Roberto Madrazo (PRI dinosaur and criminal-in-chief) share the same sentiments. In the case of Felipe Calderón (who won the election), about one in ten of his voters say they wouldn't vote for him again.

So indicates a national telephone poll conducted by Grupo Reforma in order to learn today's opinions of the citizenry almost one full year since the July 2, 2006 presidential election. The study was conducted on the 23rd of June and included 850 adults from across the country. The poll has a margin of error of 3.4%.

The poll reveals that 36% of those interviewed believe that the 2006 election was fraudulent, a percentage that has remained constant since a similar poll question was presented last July, shortly after the election. This belief is most common among older voters (who have faithfully voted PRI for 77 years and watched as their country was sold down the river) and is less shared by those of a younger age (who have now seen the PRI get its collective butt kicked in two consecutive presidential elections).

In contrast, a majority of 54% believe that no fraud occurred and 52% believe that no vote-by-vote recount was ever necessary, as the Coalition for the Common Good (AMLO's mafia) demanded.

The poll revealed that citizen participation in the IFE (Federal Election Board) is viewed favorably by 60% of the poll's respondents and 45% view Luis Carlos Ugalde, the president of the IFE executive board, favorably.

However, 67% of those polled consider it necessary to replace the entire IFE executive board before the 2009 elections (not a presidential election cycle). Only 25% of those polled think the same executive board should continue in office and oversee the next election cycle.

So AMLO claims that the mafia robbed him of the election. I might go along with that, but only in the sense that AMLO's mafia got out-mafia-ed by Phil Calderone's mafia. In truth, the real mafia, that of the PRI's Roberto Madrazo, got badly skunked and, according to Reforma's opinion poll, is continuing to fade.



Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made
by Mexican indigenous artists.
Thanks!
Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries

TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, AMLO, mafia