This report, THE BARRIERS TO BOCA DEL CERRO, confirms that not only is the Bocal del Cerro dam still underway, but 4 other "small" dams are still being studied.

This is a summary of opposition to the Boca del Cerro dam. It appeared in a publication called "Water Power and Dam Construction" on March 31, 2003, three days after the governor of Tabasco said there would be no dams. He had CFE's word on it.

From the article:

"CFE, however, remains poker-faced about its plans. The closest it has come to an explanation is a news statement that: 'No project exists to build a high dam curtain on the Usumacinta River. Many years ago the CFE cancelled a project with those characteristics.'

But an internal CFE report obtained by the author suggests the electricity commission may have found sites for the 'five little dams' agreed last summer. According to a reliable source, this internal report appeared in late October and is the CFE's latest plan for the Usumacinta river."

"...The report does not indicate Boca del Cerro has been cancelled. It appears on the project map alongside the four new dams, although it is not mentioned in the report.

CFE spokesman Ignacio Cabrera confirmed that feasibility studies were being carried out with regard to the four dams. These studies, according to the report, must be done in Guatemala as well as Mexico."

Here's the link, to a site of Plan Puebla Panama information that printed it in its entirety. I am going to do the same. You'll find it below.

INFORMACION PPP 2003 - THE BARRIERS TO BOCA DEL CERRO

INSIGHT MEXICO; THE BARRIERS TO BOCA DEL CERRO
Mexico's plans to tap the energy of the Usumacinta are highly controversial, as Jason McGahan explains

It has been at least 30 years since engineers from Mexico's Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE) first surveyed southeastern Mexico and learned just how much electricity can be generated at Boca del Cerro.

The site lies at the point where the most torrential river in Mesoamerica, the Usumacinta, rushes at its greatest velocity out of the rugged Chiapan Highlands into a narrow canyon before being released onto the broad plains of Tabasco. A dam at this spot could potentially generate 4200MW.

The locals call it Boca del Cerro, or mouth of the hill. But for the engineers at CFE, it is the punishment of Tantalus. Twice already they have announced plans for the dam that have not been realised. The third attempt is currently under intense scrutiny.

The previous attempts to realise the potential of the site were during the administrations of Miguel de la Madrid in 1988 and Carlos Salinas in 1992. But they failed because although the site's potential is unmatched in Mexico, a dam at Boca del Cerro would flood a large expanse of jungle known as the Lacandon that is famed for its biological diversity, archeological ruins and insurgent indigenous population.

The question of who would finance the project is also unanswered. Mexico's constitution explicitly forbids foreign investment in its energy sector.
President Vicente Fox can circumvent this protectionist measure through the CFE's 'external producer programme', in which foreign investors must sell nearly all the electricity they produce back to the CFE. But the more lucrative independent producer programmes have been stalled since a Supreme Court ruling last spring found them unconstitutional. Fox's subsequent attempt at a constitutional amendment has been met with bitter opposition. Electricity reform in Mexico has no timetable.

An additional complication is the site's location near Mexico's border with Guatemala and the near-certainty that floodwaters would inundate part of the Peten jungle in northwestern Guatemala. The political problem of the effect on Guatemala are more difficult to solve, as opposition in that country has proven itself uninterested in the electricity it would receive from the project.

Binational progress

Despite the barriers, a binational dam agreement has been announced between Mexico and Guatemala, following a 28 June summit meeting of Central American leaders in Merida, Yucatan. Fox and Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo announced they would co-operate on 'five small dams' along the Usumacinta where it constitutes the Mexican-Guatemalan border.

The agreement also marked Mexico's late entrance into an project already begun between the governments of Central America to create a regional power grid connecting six other countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Granted a US$240M loan by the Inter-American Development Bank in December 2001, the System of Electrical Interconnection for the Countries of Central America (SIEPAC) is moving forward with a price tag of US$320M.

Working within the framework already formed by SIEPAC in Central America, Fox agreed to share with Guatemala the hydroelectricity to be generated by the dams in southern Mexico. For his part, Portillo must prepare northwestern Guatermala to accept part of the inundation.

For Fox, the dam construction and interconnected energy grids are key steps in his regional development plan, the Plan Puebla Panama. Once these developments are in place, Fox wants to see inland ports, irrigation projects, hotels and foreign-owned factories in Mexico's tropical southeast. He also foresees Mexico taking part in plans to industrialise the length of the Central American isthmus from Guatemala to Panama.

However, the Boca del Cerro project, considered by many to potentially be the most productive in the region, has been beset by bad publicity since it was announced.

An article in the New York Times on 12 October 2002 warned that the ruins of two ancient Mayan civilisations would be inundated by a dam at Boca del Cerro. CFE moved quickly to announce it had scaled back the size of the dam from 130m to 25m, and that the fears of the archeologists were unfounded. But complaints from archeologists continued. In November, a set of well-preserved Mayan cave paintings was discovered just a few kilometers from the dam site.
Archeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH) who were performing feasibility studies for the CFE estimated that as many as 220 Mayan sites would be flooded. The INH also claimed it was alienated by a lack of information from CFE, eventually publishing an open letter in the daily newspaper Reforma on 22 December, saying that its archeologists had not received any definitive technical plans from the CFE regarding Boca del Cerro.
Environmentalists have begun to publish their opinions in the Mexico City dailies and the project remains in the spotlight. CFE, however, remains poker-faced about its plans. The closest it has come to an explanation is a news statement that: 'No project exists to build a high dam curtain on the Usumacinta River. Many years ago the CFE cancelled a project with those characteristics.'
But an internal CFE report obtained by the author suggests the electricity commission may have found sites for the 'five little dams' agreed last summer. According to a reliable source, this internal report appeared in late October and is the CFE's latest plan for the Usumacinta river.

New dams
Four new dams are being considered to the south of Boca del Cerro along an 89km stretch of the Usumacinta where it forms Mexico's border with Guatemala. None of the four dams is to exceed 19m in height, and each would take advantage of the Usumacinta's northward descent through the Chiapas highlands. The four dams, as they appear on the project map from north to south are: La Linea, 13m; El Provenir, 17m; Isla el Cayo, 17m; and Yaxchilan, 19m. Since the river flows from south to north, all four dams would precede Boca del Cerro, and thus reduce its potential generating capacity. CFE calculates the four dams would have a total installed potential of 2100MW.
The report does not indicate Boca del Cerro has been cancelled. It appears on the project map alongside the four new dams, although it is not mentioned in the report.
CFE spokesman Ignacio Cabrera confirmed that feasibility studies were being carried out with regard to the four dams. These studies, according to the report, must be done in Guatemala as well as Mexico.
'A great limiting factor is to make good use of the river without altering its course,' said Cabrera. 'Dams that alter the course of the river must not be built. We want to avoid inundations.' To this end, the CFE would build these dams so they would be barely visible above the surface of the river.

Generating capacity

One critic of the plan says it would reduce generating capacity and thus rob Mexico of a powerful energy resource. Manuel Frias Alcaraz is an ex-CFE engineer and he said: 'Boca del Cerro is Mexico's most important project, and it's most productive. The Usumacinta is a virgin river. It is the axis of all the other rivers in the region.'
Frias said 25m is too short for a dam on the Usumacinta. He said erosion will clog the dam with mud and offer a smaller return on investment.
He is perhaps the most vocal supporter of the original 130m dam. 'We have to make use of our natural resources,' he said, adding that a dam of this size would accelerate a number of other plans for the region.
For example, it could provide water for the irrigation projects being planned for the Yucatan Peninsula and energy for the inland port being planned for Villahermosa, Tabasco.
'The government says this project would generate a lot of social conflict,' said Frias. 'On the contrary, it will resolve problems of social character through the creation of jobs. It will make social spending unnecessary.'
The Mexican government is taking a more cautious approach with regard to the people of Chiapas, as shown by the frequent references to 'political viability' in the CFE report.
This is not surprising. In addition to outraged environmentalists and archeologists in the region, the insurgent Zapatista Army of National Liberation remains an important factor.
Although voluntarily disarmed for several years, the Zapatistas made front-page news for their New Year's Eve descent into the tourist-heavy city of San Cristobal de Las Casas. Twenty-five thousand indigenous from the region marched into the central plaza wearing ski masks and brandishing machetes and torches. After a series of fiery speeches from the principal command, the rank and file fanned out into the plaza, breaking windows and lighting a bonfire in the central plaza. The stretch of river reserved for the four dams plus Boca del Cerro is known to be inhabited by Zapatista rebels.
'The reality is that the project must be socially viable,' said CFE director of project investments Eugenio Laris Alanis. '(It must be) as socially viable for the investors as it is for the people.
'As of now, we have no investors, because we have no project. We are only doing site studies.' And he pointed out that 'These are projects that, when their moment comes, must pass through the Guatemalan government'.

Dam studies

Studies have been completed for dozens of dams in southeastern Mexico, particularly in the tropical state of Chiapas. And binational dam sites are not restricted to the Usumacinta river. The rivers that form the Usumacinta watershed have been studied by CFE. Two dams known as Huixtan I and Huixtan II along the Santo Domingo river, an important tributary to the Usumacinta, are under consideration. Three other dam sites have also been studied for the same watershed, on the rivers Jatate, Tzaconeja, and Lacantun.
'The directors of the CFE tell me there are many groups on the Guatemalan side that don't want this project because it will destroy their land,' said Frias Alcaraz. 'But the Guatemalan government wants the project because the country lacks electricity.'
He adds 'It has reached a level of international politics where everyone asks himself, 'which is the most palatable scenario?'

Copyright 2003 Wilmington Publishing Limited , Water Power & Dam Construction, March 31, 2003