Donald Trump is news again in Cozumel
For more than 17 months, the possibility that Donald Trump planning a development in the northeastern zone of Cozumel and change its wild nature to build another property, adding to his vast real estate empire, worried and mobilized the community of Cozumel, nevertheless, the news managed to break the environment of the island and the state, and is commented still in spaces of the national press, where the actions of the former mayor Gustavo Ortega and his appointment in the Fonatur is questioned after this scandal.
In the local environment there was doubt about the truth of the information that Por Esto! of Quintana Roo began to publish before about the intentions of the magnate, sheltered by the previous municipal government.
The following one is the opinion on the matter published by the influential column "Privileged Information" that is published in the pages of CNN-Mexico and literally says: "Cozumel: Donald Trump or the Ecology.
After almost 17 months of polemics, the American real estate magnate, Donald Trump briefly broke the silence on his project of investment in Cozumel for $300 million dollars to build a Resort and a marina of great luxury that would be "an island inside the island".
Almost since it was announced, in January of 2007, the project 'Trump' caused polemics. In those days, the then mayor Ortega Joaquín traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to present various investors the project of Cozumel, along with representatives of Trump and executives of the business EDSA (responsible for the construction of developments as The Palm Tree, in Dubai; the project Atlantis in Bahamas; and Cap Gray, in Dominican Republic).
The news caused the ire of the ecologist group, Sky, Land and Sea (Citymar), that is directed by Guadalupe Álvarez Chulim.
The reason? The Resort of Trump would be located to the northeast of the island, a zone of mangrove swamps and reefs environmentally protected by the Plan of Local Ecological Code (POEL) and where –of course—was not permitted the construction of hotels neither real estate developments.
The lands where the Trump development would be belonged the Yucatan businessman Fernando Barbachano -grandfather of Hans Thies Barbachano, that showed off as the owner of Chichén Itzá after its recognition as one of the Wonders of the World and the former owner of the extinct Aero Maya-, who until his death in 2006 decided to leave those lands without developing and trusted its care to the municipality.
Nevertheless, the previous councilman of Cozumel, Gustavo Ortega Joaquín, impelled in "to change the face" of this Caribbean island, decided to relax the environmental norms by means of a new Plan of Local Ecological Code, under the argument to permit the attraction of investment capital.
For Ortega Joaquín, it cost him a year to change the POEL, but he obtained it. And it paid the price: Last April 9, during his last report of government he was received by shouts of "treacherous", days later he left the charge, but even so the grace already had been consummate: the new ecological code tied the hands of his successor, the new PRI mayor, Juan Carlos González, whose arrival revived the theme at the beginning of May, therefore the new mayor, although he denied to know the details proposed by Trump, indicated that he would use the media within his reach to defend of any damage to the local ecology.
Perhaps because of this, the organization Trump decided to break the silence and to clarify that "for now", the project is suspended.
The information stems from a blog of Cozumel: (
www.thisiscozumel.com) the spokesman of Trump Organization, Selma Langer, confirmed that they were 'seeking a project in Cozumel, but the project is not being pursued at this time': And refused to give more details.
To be certain this, Trump would have lost a Resort, Cozumel the 100% of the protection for its mangrove swamps, ¿and the former mayor. ..?
Oh, therefore Gustavo Ortega Joaquín has just taken possession last May 16 as new head of National Fund of Promotion to the Tourism (Fonatur) for Cancun.
There it will be asked of the holder of Fonatur, Miguel Gómez Mont, what talents he took into account to select his new collaborator in Cancun".
The original version can be found in:
http://www.cnnexpansion.com/columnas/informacion-privilegiad / archive/2008/05/20/el-dilema-trump (You will probably have to cut and paste the URL complete for the CNN-Mexico articles)