Santa María Community Hopes for a Better Life

by Maureen Dietrich
19 Jan 15
mazmessenger.com

The town has stood beside the Baluarte River for five decades.

Inhabitants of the tiny Santa María pueblo in the municipality of El Rosario which stands in the path of the new Santa María dam say despite the planned destruction of their town, the people will benefit.
The town has stood beside the Baluarte River for five decades, but today is a shell of a community inhabited primarily by the elderly and children.

Today the town is a shell of a community inhabited primarily by the elderly and children.

Violence by roving gangs and unemployment have taken their toll forcing fifty percent of the population to flee to safer locations where work might be found.

Residents have demanded the relocation of the adobe temple of the Virgin María de Gracia.

In exchange for abandoning their ancestral homes, the residents have demanded fair payment for their land and houses, relocation for families, exhumation of those buried in the local cemetery and relocation of the cemetery to the new town, and relocation of the adobe temple of the Virgin María de Gracia.

Construction on the Santa María dam began three months ago. Santa María residents say once the dam is operational their town will be found 130 meters below water level.

(from Noroeste)