#AhuisculcoSeDefiende: Jalisco Villagers Set Up Camp in Fight for Clean Water Tracy L. Barnett - El Daily Post
go to original December 19, 2015

The grey mists of morning rise in the valley of Ahuisculco, bringing the new day to the roadside encampment where ten hardy villagers have spent the night around the fire, drinking coffee and sharing stories to ward off chill and exhaustion. One by one, reinforcements begin to arrive from the nearby village with chicharrones, chismes and good cheer.

It’s another day in the plantón, the protest encampment blocking the path of the bulldozers – where hundreds of villagers of this town of 5,000 have taken a stand for more than a month to protect their water supply from the excavations of a shadowy corporation that has yet to be identified. Here in the entrance to the construction zone that menaces their springs they’ve blocked the construction with their bodies, building a temporary encampment complete with kitchen, port-a-potties, sound system and now an open-air tent chapel with their beloved “Chaparrita,” the miraculous Virgin of the Ascension.

Here more than 700 people rallied to support the villagers, and supporters have launched a campaign defined by the hashtag #AhuisculcoSeDefiende. Another several hundred arrived in procession from the central plaza on the night of Dec. 11 to celebrate the Day of the Virgin, and now a solidly entrenched core of villagers are preparing to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s here, as well, if necessary – all to prevent this corporation from contaminating their water supply.

Read the rest at El Daily Post

Photo: Tracy Barnett

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