Help Save Some Sea Turtles... it is easy!
maryl...@msn.com
Mexico, the most important green and loggerhead sea turtle nesting
beach in Mexico with plans to develop a 450 room hotel with disco and
golf course. This area also contains the Mexico's only strip of low
forest dominated by Pseudophoenix sargentii, Coccothrinax readii and
Thrinax radiata as well as other threatened wildlife. Because it is in
the Cancún-Tulum tourist corridor almost all of the original nesting
beaches and surrounding forest have been devastated by tourist
development. The conservation of this last scrap of coastline is
therefore critical according to marine biologists and botanists.
Approximately 1,000 children, teachers and parents occupied X’cacel
April 30 through May 2 to protest its pending destruction.
You can help by telling the Sol Melia hotel chain what you
think of their plans. Don't forget to tell the Mexico government too!
Here are the addresses:
1. Mr. Escarrer, President Sol Melia
Gremio Toneleros, 24
Polígono Son Castelló
07009 Palma de Mallorca
Baleares
SPAIN
Tel. (34) 971 22 44 10
Fax (34) 971 22 45 07
email: cal...@solmelia.es & in...@solmelia.es
2. M. EN C. JULIA CARABIAS LILO (SEMERNAP)"Mexican Department of
Natural Resources"
Periferico SUR 4209 6to PISO
Fraccionamiento Jardines en la Montana
Tlalapan
MEXICO D. F.
FAX: Internat’l access code + 525-628-0643
SALUTATION: Dear Maestra Carabias Lillo:
email: cara...@servidor.dgsca.unam.mx
3. Ing. Joaquín Hendricks Díaz (Governor of Quintana Roo)
Calle 22 de enero S/N 2o Piso
Palacio de Gobienro
CD. Chetumal 77000
MEXICO
FAX at the governor's office: (983) 2 42 57
4. SR. ERNESTO ZEDILLO PONCE DE LEON
PRESIDENCIA DE LA REPUBLICA
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos
Puerto Central, Primer Piso
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
CP11850
Mexico D.F., MEXICO
FAX: Internat’l access code +525-516-5762
SALUTATION: Dear Mr. President:
Below is my latest X'cacel update. If you want to receive
future updates just let me know. I only send them out about one every
month.
Thanks,
Mary Louise Whitlow
maryl...@msn.com
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Last Update:
Hi friends of X'cacel,
There is lots of great news:
1. The IUCN issued a statement about X'cacel!
http://www.freeyellow.com/members3/xcacel/page3.html
(Please distribute this statement.)
Thanks to the MANY people who convinced the IUCN to make this
statement!
At the IUCN meeting in Costa Rica several people spread the word about
X'cacel including a group working hard to save the mangrove in Puerto
Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico and Alfredo Quarto of Mangrove Action
Project. They also collected signatures on a petition addressed to Sol
Melia to stop the X'cacel project.
2. The Project AWARE Foundation (part of PADI - Professional
Association of Diving Instructors) sent a letter to Zedillo
http://www.freeyellow.com/members3/xcacel/page4.html
(Please distribute this too!)
3. The "taking" of X'cacel April 30 to May 2 went great according to
all reports! Over 20 local schools, 1,000 children, parents, etc.
participated. To the local people X'cacel is more than a place where
just turtles go, it is the "University of X'cacel"! It has been
instrumental in educational and cultural growth of countless young
Mexicans. Even the turtles celebrated the weekend at X'cacel! FIVE
turtles nested during the weekend! To read the press release go to:
http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~robertof/xcacel/xcacel_toma.html
Many thanks to the people who send donations to GEMA for the above
action!
4. Diane Bolton of Continental Airlines called me a couple of weeks
ago. After the call I was encouraged that Continental would help us
pressure Sol Melia (their travel partner). However I received a letter
a few days ago from another person with Continental saying that they
have no power over Sol Melia. They ARE in a position to influence the
way Sol Melia does business just as we, the consumers, can by choosing
not to do business with them. Please write or fax asking Continental to
pressure Sol Melia into abandoning the X'cacel project:
Ms. Diane Bolton
Manager
Continental Airlines, Inc.
Customer Care Department
P. O. Box 4607 HQSCR
Houston
TX 77210-4607
fax (713) 652 4997
5. Juan Carlos Cantu of Greenpeace Mexico had a meeting in April in
Spain with the president of Sol Melia, Gabriel Escarrer, and the
architect of the X'cacel project (who is also Escarrer's son-in-law).
According to Sol Melia they did not know of the ecological importance
of the area... but they still want to build on X'cacel! Juan Carlos
told them that Greenpeace will not change its position: no buildings at
X'cacel! After the meeting Juan Carlos told us that Sol Melia is afraid
of any bad publicity in Germany. So we have been trying very hard to
get a campaign going in Germany! So far one German NGO has put
information on their web site... if you have any Germany contacts
please ask them to join the campaign!
6. The National Institute of Ecology sent a letter to the group from
the National University in Mexico City, "Ciencia en X'cacel". The
letter is rather long and boring. The only interesting part comes at
the end. "Finally, if the results of the floristic study reaffirm the
arguments for the conservation of the area ... as a zone of maximum
fragility it will be submitted for the consideration of the State
Subcommittee of the Ecological Ordering a proposal for the change from
"conservation" (10 rooms per hectare allowed) to "protection" (no
construction allowed) for the management of the area! To read the
letter in Spanish go to:
http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~robertof/xcacel/INE.html The group
"Ciencia en X'cacel" will answer the letter as soon as the strike is
over at the university.
7. Thanks to Carole Allen and Page Williams who passed out X'cacel
flyers at SEASCAPE in Houston, Texas.
8. Hedelvy Guada included information about X'cacel in her March 14th
"Tortuga News". Thanks Hedelvy!
9. Animal Connection of Texas invited me to do a radio show about
X'cacel May 9, 1999. It went very well!
10. We are asking each of the NGOs to donate $200 towards the campaign
to keep it going strong. Recently, we received $200 from The Sea Turtle
Restoration Project and $100 from Oceanic Research Foundation.
Currently I am owed $500.00 by the campaign and will need approximately
$900 more to continue the campaign for the next 6 months.
11. Despite the announcement by the new governor of Quintana Roo that
he would decide the fate of X'cacel, he decided that the National
Institute of Ecology (INE) had to make the decision. However, the
INE has not made the decision. So the struggle continues...
Thanks,
Mary Louise Whitlow
maryl...@msn.com
X'cacel sites:
http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~robertof/xcacel/
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/3550/xcacel.html
http://www.seaturtle.org/xcacel/letter.shtml
http://www.globalresponse.org/index/gra1098.html
http://cccturtle.org/act-now/xcacel.htm
http://www.earthisland.org/strp/xcacel.html
http://www.tortoise.org/news/1998s34.html
http://www.student.wau.nl/~jellef/herpdigest/hdindex.html
http://www.turtledisaster.org/
http://www2.netcom.com/~harveys/Turtles1.html
http://www.milieudefensie.nl/earthalarm/engframe.htm
http://www.audubon.org/local/latin/
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