Baja homeowners are still facing eviction
MEXICO: O.C. residents are among those told by U.S. Embassy officials that intervention in the dispute is beyond their powers.
October 29, 2000
Mary Heslin of Fountain Valley, center, is overcome with frustration after hearing from U.S. Embassy representatives in Mexico that no progress has been made on halting the possible evictions of her and other homeowners from their homes in Punta Banda as a result of an Oct. 23 order from Mexico's Supreme Court. Click image for larger photo.
Photos by MICHAEL GOULDING/The Orange County Register
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Leigh Zaremba, right, of Villa Park, vice president of Baja Beach Homeowners Association, is grim after introducing Marvin Brown of the embassy, who delivered the news. Click image for larger photo.
By MINERVA CANTO
The Orange County Register
PUNTA BANDA, Baja California - Orange County residents and others hoping to save their homes in Mexico with the help of the U.S. government heard Saturday from U.S. Embassy representatives that the clock on their possible evictions is still ticking.
"My stuff could still be put on the street. So it's not comforting to know that our government can't do anything about it," said Mary Heslin of Fountain Valley, one of hundreds of U.S. citizens caught up in a Mexican land dispute.
Homeowners meeting with two representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City angrily demanded to know what the U.S. government was doing to protect their interests, but the officials had no answers.
Heslin and other homeowners in this beachfront community about 25 minutes south of Ensenada are anxiously waiting to find out whether they will be evicted as a result of an Oct. 23 order from Mexico's Supreme Court.
The ruling found that the land was improperly deeded to a farmers' cooperative, which leased the land to U.S. and Mexican citizens who built homes on it. The court ordered that the land be returned to its rightful owner - a Mexican company called Purua Punta Estero -- by Nov. 3. That could mean eviction for property owners like Heslin, depending on how the Mexican company deals with the matter.
Heslin, a third-grade teacher, planned to retire to this tight-knit beachfront community. Now she finds herself packing.
"Family pictures. Gifts people who have come to stay with us have given us. Trinkets. Things my husband has brought from his fishing trips in Cabo San Lucas," Heslin said, reeling off a list of things she and her husband will be able to fit in their car.
Heslin declined a list of moving-van companies that was handed out at the meeting. Others also refused.
"We are preparing for the worst, but praying for the best," said Irvine resident Anne Stiles, who bought her home on the sandy strip of land here about seven years ago.
"Before we left (Orange County) yesterday, our neighbors offered to help us move."
Stiles and her neighbor, Jan Barreto of Laguna Niguel, also said they, too, were disappointed that no one knew whether an eviction would actually take place and when.
"We were told that we could be asked to leave," she said. "We tried to negotiate with the new owner before all this came down. We offered what we thought was a reasonable amount of money, but there was no guarantee of a title."
Since shortly after the court ruling, the farmers' group has been blocking Mexican federal authorities' access to the road with a sand berm and dozens of cars parked on the road leading to the land in dispute.
They are there 24 hours a day, hoping to ward off eviction as they did after a similar court ruling last year. But the latest order calls for Mexican officials to use force if necessary, and the farmers' group has vowed to fight with their lives if necessary.
The State Department is monitoring the situation to ensure that U.S. citizens' rights are protected, but it is unable to intervene in Mexican legal matters, embassy representative Marvin Brown said.
A complaint was filed Friday by U.S. homeowners, alleging that Mexico violated the North American Free Trade Agreement, said Leigh Zaremba, vice president of the Baja Beach Homeowners Association. The complaint claims that the Mexican government "willingly participated in illegal activities which induced the investors into making investments at the property."
The complaint alleges that the Mexican government has violated NAFTA terms that call for the United States, Mexico and Canada to treat each others' citizens equally.
Homeowners said the Mexican government should have prevented developers from luring them to Punta Banda when they knew the land ownership was in dispute.
Zaremba, a Villa Park resident and business owner, said he wouldn't do anything differently. He and his wife, Sherry, celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary Saturday in the home that was just a cement shell when they first leased the land 12 years ago.
"We've had a good time down here," Zaremba said. "We've met a lot of very, very fine people and no, I don't regret anything."
MEXICO: O.C. residents are among those told by U.S. Embassy officials that intervention in the dispute is beyond their powers.
October 29, 2000
Mary Heslin of Fountain Valley, center, is overcome with frustration after hearing from U.S. Embassy representatives in Mexico that no progress has been made on halting the possible evictions of her and other homeowners from their homes in Punta Banda as a result of an Oct. 23 order from Mexico's Supreme Court. Click image for larger photo.
Photos by MICHAEL GOULDING/The Orange County Register
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leigh Zaremba, right, of Villa Park, vice president of Baja Beach Homeowners Association, is grim after introducing Marvin Brown of the embassy, who delivered the news. Click image for larger photo.
By MINERVA CANTO
The Orange County Register
PUNTA BANDA, Baja California - Orange County residents and others hoping to save their homes in Mexico with the help of the U.S. government heard Saturday from U.S. Embassy representatives that the clock on their possible evictions is still ticking.
"My stuff could still be put on the street. So it's not comforting to know that our government can't do anything about it," said Mary Heslin of Fountain Valley, one of hundreds of U.S. citizens caught up in a Mexican land dispute.
Homeowners meeting with two representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City angrily demanded to know what the U.S. government was doing to protect their interests, but the officials had no answers.
Heslin and other homeowners in this beachfront community about 25 minutes south of Ensenada are anxiously waiting to find out whether they will be evicted as a result of an Oct. 23 order from Mexico's Supreme Court.
The ruling found that the land was improperly deeded to a farmers' cooperative, which leased the land to U.S. and Mexican citizens who built homes on it. The court ordered that the land be returned to its rightful owner - a Mexican company called Purua Punta Estero -- by Nov. 3. That could mean eviction for property owners like Heslin, depending on how the Mexican company deals with the matter.
Heslin, a third-grade teacher, planned to retire to this tight-knit beachfront community. Now she finds herself packing.
"Family pictures. Gifts people who have come to stay with us have given us. Trinkets. Things my husband has brought from his fishing trips in Cabo San Lucas," Heslin said, reeling off a list of things she and her husband will be able to fit in their car.
Heslin declined a list of moving-van companies that was handed out at the meeting. Others also refused.
"We are preparing for the worst, but praying for the best," said Irvine resident Anne Stiles, who bought her home on the sandy strip of land here about seven years ago.
"Before we left (Orange County) yesterday, our neighbors offered to help us move."
Stiles and her neighbor, Jan Barreto of Laguna Niguel, also said they, too, were disappointed that no one knew whether an eviction would actually take place and when.
"We were told that we could be asked to leave," she said. "We tried to negotiate with the new owner before all this came down. We offered what we thought was a reasonable amount of money, but there was no guarantee of a title."
Since shortly after the court ruling, the farmers' group has been blocking Mexican federal authorities' access to the road with a sand berm and dozens of cars parked on the road leading to the land in dispute.
They are there 24 hours a day, hoping to ward off eviction as they did after a similar court ruling last year. But the latest order calls for Mexican officials to use force if necessary, and the farmers' group has vowed to fight with their lives if necessary.
The State Department is monitoring the situation to ensure that U.S. citizens' rights are protected, but it is unable to intervene in Mexican legal matters, embassy representative Marvin Brown said.
A complaint was filed Friday by U.S. homeowners, alleging that Mexico violated the North American Free Trade Agreement, said Leigh Zaremba, vice president of the Baja Beach Homeowners Association. The complaint claims that the Mexican government "willingly participated in illegal activities which induced the investors into making investments at the property."
The complaint alleges that the Mexican government has violated NAFTA terms that call for the United States, Mexico and Canada to treat each others' citizens equally.
Homeowners said the Mexican government should have prevented developers from luring them to Punta Banda when they knew the land ownership was in dispute.
Zaremba, a Villa Park resident and business owner, said he wouldn't do anything differently. He and his wife, Sherry, celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary Saturday in the home that was just a cement shell when they first leased the land 12 years ago.
"We've had a good time down here," Zaremba said. "We've met a lot of very, very fine people and no, I don't regret anything."