Luis Gutierrez

Lomas del Rubi neighbors re-located south of Tijuana

Four years after the landslide in the Lomas del Rubi neighborhood, which left 200 families on the streets, they were re-located. Andres Espino said that their happiness and excitement about their new homes evaporated when cracks started to appear in most of the complex, 12 miles from the border in the south side of the city. The new site was called by the former governor Lomas de la Esperanza (Hills of Hope).

"Tiny cracks appeared and didn’t stop growing."

Luis Gutierrez

“Houses were given on April 30 (2021), everything was great, but with the passage of months, tiny cracks appeared and didn’t stop growing. We would finally have a house after losing ours due to the landslide, and now we face a similar issue here. We are ready for the worst, we can lose as well the investment we have done already on our homes”.

Espino pointed out that most of the 130 houses the government gave away have the same issue, some less, but some others show really serious cracks.

Federal commissioner Alejandro Ruiz Uribe says that cracks are normal because the houses are settling down on the ground.

Luis Gutierrez

He noted that authorities are not taking this seriously, despite they have reported it and the Secretary of infrastructure, urban development and territorial reorganization said through its federal commissioner Alejandro Ruiz Uribe that cracks are normal because the houses are settling down on the ground, the government claims structures are not being affected.

For Maria del Carmen Serrano, who lived for 30 years in Lomas del Rubi, which is in a better location, just three kilometers from the border and Tijuana’s downtown. She’s 70 years old and explained that for her there’s no other option.

“Our lives are different now, and we are afraid of the real damage our new houses have. After the earthquake cracks grew and now water and the wind are getting in the house. We’d have to invest in repairs."

Andres and the other neighbors will try to organize themselves in order to get a solution from Tijuana’s mayor Monserrat Caballero who promised the neighbors to help them out with the support of the state and the federal government (they are from the same political party), but until now she hasn’t shown up without any support for this new community.

“During Monserrat’s political campaign she promised to help us out with construction materials. We decided to support her to get into Mayor’s office, and now I have to remind her of that promise.”

Neighbors assure that in case their complaints are not heard out, they will have to get organized to protest in the municipal hall in order to make Monserrat’s promise a fact.