The Vancouver Whitecaps re-signed Marco Bustos to a contract extension on Wednesday
then immediately loaned him out to Mexican side Club Atletico Zacatepec
After spending a month on trial with the Ascenso MX (second division) club, the Canadian international and Winnipeg, Manitoba native now joins Zacatepec on a loan deal set to run through June of 2019, with an option to purchase him permanently at its conclusion. The new contract for the Whitecaps Homegrown product also includes club options for the second half of 2019
“This new opportunity will provide Marco a different challenge competing against quality opponents in Mexico,” said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson in a club release
“It's a chance for him to continue his growth in a foreign and competitive environment
and we look forward to tracking his progress.”
has four starts in 13 appearances across all competitions for Vancouver
having spent long periods on loan to their since-shuttered USL side
where he ranks as the all-time scoring leader with 22 goals and five assists in 57 starts and 59 USL appearances
He currently has six senior international caps for Canada and has also represented his country at the U-17 and U-20 levels.
2022An aerial view of people standing around the sinkhole in Santa María Zacatepec
grew to be longer than a football field.Photograph by Jose Castañares / AFP / Getty Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this storyOn May 29
a boom reverberated through Santa María Zacatepec
the sound might have been mistaken for one of the earthquakes or small volcanic eruptions that are common in the area
Then some local children told their mother that a strange hole had appeared in the farmland behind their house
When civil-protection officers arrived the next morning
or the length of two cars parked bumper to bumper
the sinkhole filled with muddy water and appeared to ingest the land around it
Dogs fell in and firemen rescued them; journalists showed up from far and wide
Tourists took selfies and paid five pesos to visit a hilltop viewing station that some locals had set up
and bottled water at a market that popped up around the sinkhole
Santa María Zacatepec sits on top of the Puebla Valley aquifer
an underground basin that began forming more than two hundred and fifty million years ago
it is small in comparison to Mexico’s largest aquifers
but it is constantly refilled by rainfall that flows down from the surrounding volcanoes
Tens of billions of gallons of water are extracted from it each year
tasked with managing Mexico’s national water resources—issued a statement blaming it on natural causes
“No evidence exists that the cause of the sinkhole has been the overextraction of the aquifer,” the agency said
which was cited by the state government of Puebla
to the “intense subterranean water usage observed over the last fifteen years in the zone of Santa María Zacatepec.” (The report bore the logo of the National Polytechnic Institute
though the institute later claimed that it had not sanctioned the study.)
Twenty-three thousand people live in the rural municipality that surrounds Santa María Zacatepec
because many of them have no access to centralized tap water
But in recent years many businesses have tapped into the aquifer
from farms to pharmaceutical firms and textile factories
Extraction of the aquifer is regulated by CONAGUA
as the water is siphoned off for more and more uses
residents told me that they have needed to dig deeper
One company in particular has become the target of a protest movement: Bonafont
a subsidiary of the Danone group that operates several water-bottling plants in Mexico
a local alliance of water-rights activists whose name translates to United Peoples
has been protesting companies that tap into the aquifer
The activists point out that some residents
now have little choice but to buy their own community’s drinking water from corporations
they organized a demonstration that shut down Bonafont’s local plant
they wondered whether they had another reason to protest
Pueblos Unidos cut through the lock on the plant’s main gate and rushed inside
They shuttered the compound and painted clausurado—closed—in red letters on Bonafont’s industrial well
they announced that the occupied site would become a community center known as Altepelmecalli in Nahuatl and Casa de los Pueblos in Spanish—in English
a Bonafont press release condemned the activists for “illegal entry” and “acts of vandalism and violence” against its facility and security personnel
2021.Photograph by Pedro Pardo / AFP / GettyThis past fall
after the sinkhole formed and the protesters occupied the plant
I visited Santa María Zacatepec and its surrounding towns
The drive on Federal Highway 190 was dry and hot and lined with truck-repair shops
the teen-age son of a Pueblos Unidos member hopped in the car with me and directed me to his grandmother’s well
he asked me what video games I like to play and pointed out houses where local huachicoleros—fuel bandits—were rumored to live
Several Pueblos Unidos members had converged on the well to fill up their blue water barrels
(They did not drink the leftover water in the plant.) We peered into its depths as they explained how local wells are built
and periodic cavities serve as footholds for anyone who needs to climb down
save up to afford the services of a pocero
or artisanal well digger; when they hit water
it’s common for neighbors to come drink and eat in celebration
Each well has a godfather who offers prayers and brings food to share
and if young children are having trouble speaking they’re given the water as a sort of tonic
a well-known pocero and Pueblos Unidos activist
His hair was thick and brown and he wore a cotton necklace; he didn’t cover his face like most Pueblos Unidos members
As activists cooked and made coffee for those who were occupying the plant
López Vega told me that he started worrying about the water supply several years ago
he dug more than a hundred feet into the ground without finding water
He was alarmed when he ran out of climbing rope
“There should’ve been water there,” López Vega said
Small tunnels that used to send high-pressure water into his wells were now offering a trickle at best
He often had to walk away from dry holes without finding water for a family
Many would scrape together more funds so he could dig a bit farther
López Vega believes that these encounters were not caused by drought
He started chatting with neighbors who worked at the nearby Bonafont plant
and was surprised to learn that it seemed to have plenty of water
He said the workers told him that they were expected to fill one garrafón—a plastic jug that holds twenty litres of water—per second
Social-media posts began to claim that Bonafont was pumping four hundred and thirty-three thousand gallons of water out of the ground each day
Bonafont told me that the company is “rigorously complying with the concessions and current rights granted by CONAGUA,” and that the numbers in social-media posts were “totally inconsistent” with the equipment in the plant and the water rights granted to the company.) López Vega is convinced that Bonafont has drained water from the places he digs wells
it’s clear to me that it’s the same water,” he told me
made the stakes clear: you dig your well first
The activists who formed Pueblos Unidos have spent decades fighting for water rights in central Mexico
Many of its members are of Indigenous Nahua descent
and the oldest remember a time when they drank from the rivers and could pick peaches
But farms and factories helped to industrialize the region
a group of Indigenous activists blocked the highway
a thoroughfare connecting Mexico City to Puebla
“The government only obeys us if we close the highway,” a seventy-three-year-old who participated in the demonstration recalled
though she added that the owner later opened another one down the road
some Mexicans would have considered the idea of buying drinking water as absurd as buying bottled air
when an earthquake near Mexico City killed thousands and wrecked the city’s infrastructure
cutting off access to tap water and contaminating it
a cholera epidemic reached Mexico after killing more than a thousand people in Peru
The Mexican health authorities created TV spots
including the campaign “Corte al Cólera,” in which celebrities implored residents to wash their hands
and boil or add drops of chlorine to their water
These disasters left a lasting message: don’t trust the water
which had previously been confined to office spaces
The privatization of the public water supply continued in the decades that followed
as more and more companies asked for access to the country’s seemingly inexhaustible water sources
Mexican legislators passed the Ley de Aguas Nacionales
It empowered CONAGUA to grant water-extraction permits for longer periods to public and private users
Bonafont was formed in the state of Mexico
The lucrative global water business was starting to lure multinational companies
the Paris-based multinational Danone purchased Bonafont
and Coca-Cola began selling water in Mexico under the brand name Ciel
bottle air.) CONAGUA issued more than three hundred thousand permits and concessions in the first decade after the Law of National Waters was passed
Bonafont bought a Mexican bottling company that held a permit from CONAGUA to extract twenty-seven million eight hundred thousand gallons of water a year from its industrial well near Santa María Zacatepec
about fifty protesters blocked the entrance to the plant
the Puebla state government accelerated the privatization of tap water by allowing private companies to take over the distribution of water in cities and towns
the activists formalized their efforts under the name Pueblos Unidos
many more people showed up to protest outside Puebla’s state congress
Claiming the right of Indigenous communities to govern themselves
Pueblos Unidos backed the establishment of an autonomous regional government
effectively kicking out the local municipality official who
was about to sign permits that would have allowed industrial wastewater to be dumped near a river
They replaced him with their own alcalde mayor
the group had no way to stop extraction that was already going on
(The municipality did not respond to a request for comment.)
I drove to the city of Puebla and saw bottles of water everywhere
A man hurried out of a coffee shop with four empty garrafones
Another pushed stacks of bottled water on a dolly; at a corner store
Mexico reportedly consumed an average of a hundred and three gallons of bottled water a year
The garrafón has become an everyday household item
stocked in corner stores and delivered on demand
Trading in an empty jug for a full one can cost nearly a third of the daily minimum wage
though unofficial refill stations are common in cities and cheaper
their water quality is not properly regulated
and communities hold more than half a million permits and concessions for water usage and extraction across Mexico
and a quarter of national aquifers have been deemed overexploited
which means more water is being pumped out than flowing in
CONAGUA is in charge of preventing overuse
of the water-rights nonprofit Agua para Todos
the commission is susceptible to the moneyed interests and corruption that afflict many Mexican government agencies
A sector of the agency is now tasked with investigating irregularities in wells
which Vargas Cabrera described as a reason for optimism
But he added that “a tiger doesn’t become vegetarian overnight.”
A man showcases the hydrography of the region
during the occupation of the Bonafont bottling plant.Photograph by Pedro Pardo / AFP / GettyBy volume
the water that Bonafont extracted from the aquifer was arguably inconsequential—significantly less than the water usage granted to a nearby Volkswagen plant
which in turn extracts a fraction of the water that goes to laminate plants or agriculture
The company has said that its bottling plant uses less than one-tenth of one per cent of the total water extracted from the aquifer
Bonafont pointed out that CONAGUA does not classify the aquifer as overexploited and calculates that it still has billions of gallons of water available for potential new water extraction permits each year
“The Puebla Valley aquifer does not suffer from water stress and has a sufficient amount to cover the current and additional concessions,” the company told me
the activists of Pueblos Unidos viewed the selling of a shared water source as symbolic of a troubling trend
Bonafont’s plant was situated near their wells
and it tapped a water source that they viewed as belonging to everyone
“We have to defend it so we won’t be buying it soon,” a member of Pueblos Unidos told me
“I do not buy even one bottle of water.” When they marched to the plant in March
they chanted a rallying cry heard at water protests across Mexico: “No es sequía
It’s looting!” Bonafont disputed the idea that the water was shared
The company told me that its well is much deeper than the artisanal ones and taps into different water resources than the community
“At no time do the water resources that Bonafont has under concession impact the availability of surface water or the municipal drinking water network,” the company said
It suggested that the many artisanal wells in the area could have contributed to the sinkhole
During my visit to the occupied Bonafont building
which would normally whirr as it pulls water up from more than four hundred and sixty feet below the surface
A few members of Pueblos Unidos led me through the defunct bottling room
A machine with what looked like metal udders—one activist said they called it “la vaca,” or “the cow”—hovered over empty and abandoned garrafones
A conveyor belt snaked out of the filling room to a loading dock
where trucks that normally deliver water around the region now sat idle
Compared with other forms of natural-resource extraction
the bottling of water seems like a relatively gentle affair
It does not level mountaintops or cut huge scars into the landscape
or coat the ocean with slicks that can burst into flames
The laborers who bottle water do not seem to develop debilitating diseases in the course of their work
it seemed to pull the curtain back—to hint that something more was happening beneath the surface
Though the sinkhole’s precise causes were still a matter of debate
news outlets began to make the connection to Bonafont
printed a warning from Puebla’s state governor: “The Bonafont Plant Will Close if It Caused the Sinkhole in Zacatepec.” Another publication ran the headline “Bonafont Illegally Extracts Water in the Sinkhole Area,” citing claims that it was extracting more water than permitted
a leading Spanish newspaper with a Mexican edition
reported that overextraction of water likely helped cause the sinkhole
A satirical online reviewer gave Bonafont five stars on Google Maps and wrote
The activists were buoyed by the media interest: suddenly
their local protest had national and even global relevance
They say that Bonafont did not formally respond to Pueblos Unidos and declined an invitation to a local gathering
Bonafont told me that it sought to establish a dialogue with Pueblos Unidos from the beginning and offered a mediation
but the activists “refused any dialogue outside of their conditions
which basically came down to accepting unacceptable falsehoods.” Publicly
the company has suggested that Pueblos Unidos
infringed on local water rights by preventing the distribution of its product
CONAGUA issued a statement saying that they had no jurisdiction in the matter of the protest
the activists broke the lock and went inside
a researcher at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla whose focus is water
what factors could have contributed to the opening of the sinkhole
He told me that he had never seen anything like it outside of large cities
where highly pressurized water occasionally bursts through pipes and washes away the earth beneath roads
He said that the local soil includes finer materials such as volcanic ash
and that small underground streams of water flowed through the area and weakened it
water pooled on the surface in a depression known as a jagüey
like other experts who studied the sinkhole
concluded that its sudden appearance “has to do with the extraction in this place.” (CONAGUA disputed this.) There are more than a thousand active permits for extraction from the aquifer; in a decade
the volume of the Puebla Valley aquifer was cut in half
The state government of Puebla also acknowledged the role of extraction in causing the sinkhole
A proposition was presented to the federal Mexican legislature
asking to limit water extraction from the aquifer for at least five years and to review all permits and concessions granted in the area since 1960
but so far no such measures have been enacted
There is no definitive analysis that links the water from the dry wells or the sinkhole specifically to Bonafont’s bottling room
or to any other particular extraction site
One reason for this may be that Bonafont bottles such a small fraction of the water extracted from the aquifer: the company is more a symbol than a clear culprit
Another is that water is inherently hard to trace; it shape-shifts
and pools without regard for borders and boundaries
which may be why it’s distressing to see it contained
The sinkhole looked like a black wound in a green field; the house
dangled over the edge.Photograph by Hector Vivas / GettyOn a clear
the Nahua representative who temporarily served as alcalde mayor of Santa María Zacatepec
(The Indigenous effort to replace the local government ultimately failed.) We parked about five hundred feet from the hole
behind a fence that marks where the land has been deemed safe to stand on
Wind whipped up strands of caution tape nearby
The sinkhole looked like a black wound in a green field
We sensed its scale by comparing it to the house that was now dangling over the edge
its roof covered in white specks that turned out to be herons
We saw hardly any visitors except a couple that showed up to take a selfie
He had told the story of the sinkhole so many times that it had taken on the familiar rhythms of a Biblical story or a myth
He predicted that the Puebla region will go the way of Mexico City
where entire neighborhoods have lost access to water
Perhaps Santa María Zacatepec is both a vision of the past and a possible future—a town that could easily sustain itself with a vast
but where residents fear that their shared resource is being lost forever
and our families are going to be buying water out of necessity,” Cinto Tepale told me
he gestured at low-lying industrial buildings beyond the horizon
more than two hundred environmental defenders were killed in 2020; more than two dozen died in Mexico
after protesting water extraction in the Mexican state of Baja California
“The moment is going to arrive when we’re going to be fighting for water,” Cinto Tepale said
for Pueblos Unidos and many groups like it
There’s no way to prove that water is being stolen from their wells; no one arrived at their homes to take it
It can seem futile to point fingers at any one company
when so many are extracting it with CONAGUA’s blessing
Anyone who wants to cast doubt on the activists can blame the drought and invoke climate change
a crime with so many culprits that each of them can evade accountability
hundreds of National Guard members and state and local police stormed the occupied Bonafont plant
Activists who were inside told me that the officers pointed guns at them
warned them to keep their cell phones down
A barricade that the activists had built from scaffolding
and a new fence went up at the edge of the highway
Private security guards stood watch with dogs
Bonafont told me that the operation had been court mandated and was carried out “without any violence.” In a press release
the company also said it will “not re-establish operations until the social conditions of respect for the rights of all and civilized coexistence
which allow us to maintain our activity in the state
The sinkhole should be a reminder of this conflict
The herons shuffled their wings and rose in unison
free from human intruders—a quiet patch of land where
A long-ago crime, suddenly remembered
A limousine driver watches her passengers transform
The day Muhammad Ali punched me
What is it like to be keenly intelligent but deeply alienated from simple emotions? Temple Grandin knows
The harsh realm of “gentle parenting.”
Retirement the Margaritaville way
Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Thank You for the Light.”
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An aerial view of a giant sinkhole in Santa María Zacatepec
water-filled sinkhole continues swallowing farmers’ fields in the central Mexican state of Puebla
water-filled sinkhole that appeared in late May at a farm in central Mexico has grown larger than a football field
begun swallowing a house and trapped two dogs in its depths
“It’s a very hard time for us,” said Magdalena Xalamigua Xopillacle
whose brick-and-cinderblock house was slowly collapsing into the sinkhole
“It hurts because this is all that we have
The government of the central state of Puebla managed to pull the dogs out of the sinkhole after emotional pleas from animal lovers to rescue them
The dogs had been trapped for about four days on a ledge on the sheer sides of the hole
Because the loose soil at the edges keeps collapsing into the water at the bottom of the pit
for days it was considered too dangerous to try to rescue the animals
A Mexican soldier stands on guard inside a security perimeter around a water filled sinkhole in Zacatepec
in part by using a ladder to steady the soil on the edge
His colleagues were seen standing farther back using ropes and a pulley system to haul up cages carrying the two dogs
The state government distributed photos of the dogs
looking alert and in the care of veterinarians
The dogs apparently were playing in the farm field surrounding the sinkhole when they fell in
The sinkhole in the town of Zacatepec in Puebla state
is now over 400 feet across in some place and could be 150 feet at its deepest point
though it’s hard to tell because water fills the crater
The Mexican government has sent in soldiers to keep people 2,000 feet from the hole
Some residents believe the sinkhole is the result of excessive groundwater extraction by factories or a water-bottling plant in the area
But the bottom of the hole is filled with water that appears to have strong currents
and the national civil defense office said experts think it was caused by something like an underground river
“It is highly probable that the origin is associated with the presence of subterranean water flows,” the office said
Curious onlookers try to get a glimpse of a water-filled sinkhole in Zacatepec on the outskirts of Puebla
Miguel Barbosa said experts are studying both possibilities
the government warned people to stay away from the site
“This is not a tourist attraction or a place to visit with your family.”
Authorities have set up metal barriers and police tape to keep onlookers out and has restricted flying drones over it
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BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC confirmed on Wednesday that midfielder Marco Bustos has agreed to an 18-month contract extension and has been loaned out to Mexican side Club Atlético Zacatepec
with an option to purchase, through June 30
The new contract for the WFC Residency product includes a club option for the second half of 2019
Bustos joins Zacatepec after spending a month on trial with the Ascenso MX side
“This new opportunity will provide Marco a different challenge competing against quality opponents in Mexico,” said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson
has four starts in 13 appearances across all competitions for the first team
The 5-foot-6 midfielder is also the all-time scoring leader for Whitecaps FC 2
tallying 22 goals and five assists in 57 starts and 59 USL appearances
Manitoba has six senior international caps for Canada
Bustos has also represented Canada at the U-17 and U-20 levels
the second professional level of the Mexican football league system
Zacatepec finished fourth in the 2017 Apertura tournament.
TRANSACTION: Vancouver Whitecaps FC re-sign Marco Bustos to an 18-month contract with club options until 2021, and loan the midfielder to Ascenso MX side Club Atlético Zacatepec through June 30
The emotional reunion took place thanks to two groups from different sides of the border working together. Club Migrante Chinelos de Morelos from New York City and Zacatepec la Fuerza Somos Todos from Morelos, Mexico, spearheaded the initiative to bring families separated by immigration policies back together.
The families will spend 30 days together in their individual homes, said Aurora Morales Gil, president of Club Migrante Chinelos de Morelos. The visitors have been given a visa that allows them to travel to the United States for the next 10 years.
About 70 relatives came from as far as Perris and Riverside to El Paisa Restaurant in Long Beach where they would finally see their loved ones in person. Two large vans picked up the 15 elderly men and women at LAX and drove them down the 405 Freeway to where the excited crowd waited with flowers, balloons and a homemade welcome sign.
Pedro Tovar, 52, of Santa Monica hugs his mother, Felicitas Ramos, 78, of Ayala, Morelos, Mexico. They hadn’t seen each other in 32 years. His brother Hilario Moran, 48, looks on. (Raul Roa / De Los) “I had a lot of hope that one day I would see them and be with them,” said 90-year-old Ignacio Mendoza of Zacatepec, Morelos, Mexico, referring to his family in the United States. “Thanks to God I am here now.”
The Mendozas had not seen each other in person for 34 years.
Beatriz Ortega, 63, from Zacatepec, with tears in her eyes said, “So many years without seeing her. She left very young and now is a complete woman, very good worker,” referring to her 40-year-old daughter, Nadia Ortega of West Covina. The younger Ortega, who has two daughters ages 17 and 14 who also have never met their grandmother, said she came to the United States 19 years ago and had not seen her mother since. “I can’t believe it. I see her and feel it is still a dream,” Nadia Ortega said.
Ernesto Beltran, 37, from Fullerton, had not seen his mother for 17 years.
“I’m very happy. My plans were to go see my mother one day, but this group made it easier and faster,” Beltran said, referring to Club Migrante Chinelos de Morelos.
After a few minutes of hugs, kisses and tears, Beltran’s mother, Lucia Rodriguez Adrian, 63, of Ayala, Morelos, Mexico, said: “I feel like the happiest woman in the world. I felt it would be impossible to see my children, it had been a long time since I saw them. I was afraid I would die without seeing them again.”
Jose Alberto Sanchez, 43, from Riverside, expressed similar feelings of nerves and happiness. “I was nervous, but now I am fine because I have my mother here, thanks to God,” Sanchez said.
Suzett Mendoza, 27, had never met her grandmother. Her father, Alberto Martinez, had not seen his mother in 34 years.
“I think this is a blessing to be given the opportunity to meet my grandmother. I have daughters myself and they are lucky to have their grandparents.” Mendoza said.
Ninety-year-old Ignacio Mendoza arrives to meet his son Raul Mendoza whom he has not seen in 34 years, during a family reunification event at El Paisa Restaurant in Long Beach. (Raul Roa / De Los) Ignacio Mendoza, the 90-year-old from Zacatepec, while showing some photos of his great-grandchildren in Mexico, summed it up by saying, “I feel very happy because I am with my family.”
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is almost 500 feet across and has already swallowed the house pictured above since June 9
A large sinkhole has been growing at a farm in Mexico since May
and two dogs had to be rescued from the hole last week
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The first study into the origins of the huge sinkhole in the state of Puebla discounted overexploitation of groundwater sources
Now a second study has turned that theory on its head
only for its author to muddy the waters further by denying its own participation
soil erosion and recent intense rain caused the ground to part in Santa María Zacatepec and leave a massive sinkhole
She was quoting from a study that analyzed 25 hectares around the sinkhole
finding a number of illegal wells among 47 others that were registered for water extraction
Three years of drought followed by intense rain this year were also named as factors
The study was credited to the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN)
the IPN looked to distance itself from the study and denied having “any official connection” to it on Friday
Guevara assured that there is an agreement between the government and the IPN
but that the organization had failed to process documentation to make the relationship official
It is not immediately clear why the IPN looked to distance itself further on Friday
An earlier study by the National Water Commission decided that the most likely cause of the sinkhole was the dissolution of calcareous rocks
The giant chasm measures 126 meters across
having first emerged as a 10-meter hole on May 29 in Zacatepec
Guevara highlighted the findings of the latest study: the use of illicit wells amounted to a “massive exploitation of water” and in the last eight years the water level in the area had dropped by eight meters
due in part to the intensification of exploitation
“[Overexploitation] has dragged away silt or clay
which is the element that binds the earth,” she said
It revealed that 80% of wells in the area were used for agriculture
15% for domestic use and 5% for industrial purposes
The turbulent climate has also played a role: a lack of rain in the region had caused water levels to drop 35% below the average
this year intense rainfall left the area with levels 85% above average
The study pointed to the combination of factors
“The natural erosion of the soil through human activities and natural erosion
and the natural phenomenon of intense rain has caused the collapse of the soil
Authorities began Monday to extend the perimeter line around the sinkhole and erect a fence to prevent people from accessing the site
given the discovery of unregistered wells and the conclusion that the ground is unstable
An area of 25 hectares is being cordoned off
a move that comes just days after two men entered the secured area and walked to the edge of the hole where one of the two urinated in it
Puebla Governor Miguel Barbosa was keen to point out that the investigations not final
and that opinions from other scientific institutions remain welcome
He added that determining the precise cause could take all the rest of the 21st century: it could be “79 or 78 years from now,” he said
With reports from Milenio
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The Puebla sinkhole that emerged late last month has grown to swallow most of the home that initially stood a few dozen meters from its perimeter
Only one bedroom and part of the outer wall of the the Sánchez Xalamiahua family home remain in tact after most of it collapsed on Friday night. The property was initially 50 meters away from the 10-meter sinkhole that appeared on May 29 in Santa María Zacatepec
The giant pit has gradually expanded to measure 126 meters at its widest point and is 56 meters deep
told reporters that the risk to the property made their situation precarious
Puebla Governor Miguel Barbosa has announced that the local council will donate a piece of land to the family where the state government will build them a new home
Ya cayó la casa que se encontraba junto al socavón en Zacatepec
Video: @EsImagen pic.twitter.com/yODOd2XbQW
— Revista 360 Grados (@revista360) June 12, 2021
Another state intervention saw two dogs rescued on Thursday after they had become trapped inside the pit
Spay and Spike had spent more than 72 hours stuck inside the hole
three local residents have created a cake depicting the sinkhole
The “Memory of the Sinkhole” confection has two dog figurines on top of an ice cream filling at its center
It was created by Citlali Moreno and her father César at the Don Lucho bakery
with help from local ice cream man Ángel Cortez
A cumbia song by Sin Razzon about the sinkhole has also gained traction: it received 1.2 million views in four days
songwriter Armando Martínez Valdez received complaints that the song’s premise was insensitive to the Sánchez Xalamiahua family
With reports from Reforma and Milenio
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