Altabrisa residents say Renán Barrera ignored and left them out of the “Forest Crusade Program”

Although the Mérida City Council announced the closure of its Forest Crusade program, with 30 thousand trees planted, residents of the Altabrisa central park discredited the campaign because they requested five thousand plants and were never provided with them.

“We don’t understand how the Mayor announced the conclusion of the Forest Crusade, praising the coordinated work between the City Council and different sectors of society to expand green areas in the city, when on multiple occasions we wanted to participate and were not taken into account. We even requested five thousand trees to reforest the Lot 460 (where they want to create the Tho park).”

“It seems that the Altabrisa neighborhood is an extraterrestrial sector because we were not included in the boasted coordinated effort,” said Mario Presenda Vergara, a member of the Citizen Participation Council of the Altabrisa Neighborhood.

He said that Renán Barrera is “confused” about how to help prevent climate change, as the recreational areas he wants to create have more asphalt than trees. “The Mayor stated that this administration works with society to strengthen the city’s biodiversity, to fulfill the objective of building a greener municipality conscious of the importance of combating climate change, but he wants to combat climate change with recreational parks… someone explain to him that Mérida is in need of green areas, not recreational areas; we already have too many of those… they’re not the same.”

He denounced that since July 24th, individuals representing themselves as a private company have been trimming bushes and grass in the Altabrisa central park, a task that should be carried out by the Municipality.

They pointed out that it’s a mockery for the mayor to continue “waving his environmental protector flag,” when they have been requesting equipment to maintain a green area for over a decade.

TYT Newsroom