Sheinbaum announces public consultation for El Sauzal megaport; surfers are offered a "park"

BAJA CALIFORNIA (apro) .- President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and authorities from the Ministry of the Navy (Semar) announced that there will be a public consultation regarding the megaport in the El Sauzal de Rodríguez district, in addition to unveiling a tourist walkway, supposedly for the surfing community.

The federal president made this statement on Wednesday, July 23, at her morning press conference, where she addressed the progress made in the intervention of the country's ports, including the municipality of Ensenada. This is part of Plan Mexico and the public and mixed-use projects, as "there is also private investment in the ports."

"Comment on the population issue right away, in Ensenada. Yes, we're going to hold a consultation," Sheinbaum Pardo said off-camera, but audible, during the presentation by Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, head of the Semar (Semar).

The official participated in the meeting on the topic of "port works" within the National Port System, where he mentioned that there are 103 ports and 15 terminals, of which 36 ports (in 15 ASIPONAS) are under the responsibility of the federal agency.

"We have the other case, in the port of Ensenada as well, the port of El Sauzal. Ensenada's main vocation is tourism, and we want to move cargo to El Sauzal and the fishing area. There, we have some opposition from some environmentalists. We're going to consult with the people of Ensenada so we can all agree," Morales Ángeles assured.

The investment is 4.9 billion pesos, he continued, and the goal is to carry out all cargo handling there.

"The issue is with the surfers because a lot of surfing activities take place there. However, the waves are moving further north. You can see in the latest graphic that a linear park is being built that will take us to a beach with better capacity and better conditions for surfing," he said.

To do this, he based his work on an image showing a public investment of 20 million pesos and the indication “El Sauzal Linear Park (Playa San Miguel).”

According to Google Maps, the linear park would be approximately 5.3 kilometers from the town of Manchuria, or Fondeport Park, to said beach area, located next to the toll booth in charge of Caminos y Puentes Federales (Capufe).

This proposal for the surfing community was not mentioned in the presentation of December 5, 2024, according to a comparison.

"These two projects, both the linear park and the development of the Sauzal port, are subject to three things: first, the agreement of the population and port users; second, that we pass the environmental impact studies," he commented.

This is because they need to review the impact on transportation and ocean currents.

"How the coastal dynamics will behave and those studies will be conducted by CICESE (Ensenada's Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education), which has the most experience in these matters. And I repeat: this will continue until we have all the studies complete," the admiral stated.

Citizens react to the El Sauzal port project

Following the announcement made Wednesday morning, the Ensenada Digna coalition shared with the press its position regarding the "ignorant statements" made by Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles regarding "the territory of Ensenada," as the city extends from El Sauzal to Maneadero (on the coast and to the south) and to the Valle de Guadalupe (east).

In the letter, they clarified to the federal official that the defense against the project is made up of citizens, academics, scientists, fishermen, athletes, artists, businesspeople, winemakers, professionals, environmental groups, and civil organizations, with a total of 39 organizations that have collected more than 14,500 signatures in opposition to the project.

"The admiral declared 'the waves are moving further north.' Waves don't move; they are a non-renewable natural resource, the result of specific conditions of the seabed, coast, and ocean currents that cannot be replicated. The project will destroy the waves that are part of the World Surfing Reserve, including Stacks, Frijolitos, 3 Emes, and Patos beaches, and would also affect the San Miguel wave pool due to reflection and diffraction phenomena, according to specialists," they added.

They added that the waves at Tres Emes and Frijolitos are considered "breeding grounds for generations," and that the expansion undermines sports, "destroys" the landscape of access to the city, and "will collapse mobility to the Guadalupe Valley and the rest of the Baja California Peninsula."

They considered that the “linear park” will bury the Tres Emes (3Emes), Stacks, Frijolitos and Patos beaches in cement, and that it is presented in the rendering as “a coastal corridor on San Miguel beach.”

“It is important to clarify that the image shows that the beach will be covered with wood and palm trees (a species not native to the region) will be planted.

"In that area, where the coastal corridor is planned, the tide rises, destroying coastal bird habitats and completely changing the customs and practices of beach users," they added.

Ensenada Digna recalled that two weeks after Sheinbaum Pardo's recent visit, the promise of dialogue has not been fulfilled, and that the Ensenada National Port System Administration (Asipona) "maintains a secret."

This, in addition to a recent massive diesel spill at Stacks Beach, and the fact that the agency "acted with censorship and repression" by closing a municipal street with armed and riot police, seriously violating the population's right to protest and free expression.

"The ignorance with which this project is being planned is worrying, as the statements and presentations reveal a complete lack of technical, scientific, and social, economic, and cultural knowledge of Ensenada," they stated, reiterating the broad range of sectors to which those opposed to the megaproject belong.