Mexico City (Francisco Rivas) – In Puebla public schools there are still ruins of the earthquake of 19S that exhibit the corruption with which the public resources assigned to the reconstruction.
A tour of 35 schools who appear as beneficiaries of millionaire contracts under criminal and administrative investigation, confirmed that the works were not executedthey did wrong or were attributed to shell companies when in reality they were executed by private foundations or by parents.
In the Teniente José Azueta Technique, in San Juan Amecac, municipality of Atzitzihuacan, the reconstruction was completed 10 months after the earthquake, not only of the classrooms, but also received a library, furniture for the computer room and new desks, confirmed Rogelio Arellano, president of the Parents’ Committee.
But nothing was on behalf of the Government of the state of Puebla but rather the BBVA Bancomer and Kaluz foundations, as well as the Mexichem organization and the National Monte de Piedad.
It was not until five years later that Arellano found out that the Poblano Administrative Committee for the Construction of Educational Spaces (CAPCEE), during the mandate of Governor Antonio Gali Fayad, awarded a contract for more than 26 million pesos to rebuild that and another 141 schools that resulted in minor damage.
At school they never saw the company that received the resource, Infraestructuras Globales 220.
The same company was in charge of the reconstruction work at the Antonio Garfias Primary School, in Atlixco, Puebla, but according to the testimony of its director Laura Amaro, the rehabilitation of three classrooms was carried out by the municipal government and the management of CAPCEE.
In the Antonio Serrano Official School, also in Atlixco, the affected spaces were intervened, but it was not the company that charged. In addition, five years later, structural failures appeared again.
“The people of CAPCEE came to carry out the work at the time (2017) but see how it is and it is a risk because another earthquake and then if the room falls,” commented a teacher in the place.
The contract with Infraestructuras Globales 220 also established the intervention of the facilities of the Escuela Centro Obrero Federal del Centro de Atlixco and whose cost amounted to 604 thousand 674 pesos. But there was no reconstruction.
Because the student community was moved to a new building, the 18th-century building was used for the offices of the Regional Coordination for Educational Development (CORDE 16) and School Zone Supervision 015.
“There are two or three rooms in the back that were destroyed by the earthquake, you can’t even get in because they were blocked, and they didn’t even allow the façade to be intervened,” commented a CORDE employee.
“It’s a danger because that’s how we come to work, with those damaged spaces,” he added.
The Benito Juárez School in San Juan Amecac, belonging to Atzitzihuacan, was also listed in the reconstruction contract, but its director Pedro Nolasco Lara confirmed that these works were carried out with their own resources.
The case of the Jaime Torres Bodet Secondary School, in Tochimilco, is more critical. Of eight classrooms affected, parents said that they demolished two and rebuilt two, however, the team sent by CAPCEE did not return and another six were left abandoned where the damage is still visible.
“They threw some out and built two new classrooms, but they left the rest, just like they were left after the earthquake. Now they use them as a warehouse, because they are a danger to the students, but there was no more work,” says a mother.
The government of Miguel Barbosa maintains an open investigation into the alleged cases of corruption, although the CAPCEE reserved all the information related to the process with the argument that it could disrupt the investigation being carried out.
Bills and ghosts
In October 2017, barely a month after the 19-S earthquake, the executive secretary of the CAPCEE Public Works Committee, David Rodríguez Sánchez, sent a letter to the legal director of the same unit, Antonio Velasco Arguello, for the hiring of work for the reconstruction of schools.
In this office, companies such as Infraestructuras Globales 220, Sayte Construcciones, Jawhar, Arkon Ingeniería y Proyectos, Urbanizadora ADRP and Liceaga Arquitectura, Diseño y Construcción are recognized. All currently appear as invoices or with false addresses
Jawhar stands out, which on August 27, 2019 entered the definitive registry of companies with non-existent activities, and which had been awarded a contract for 20.8 million pesos to rebuild schools in Puebla.
The firm Arkon Engineering and Projects is not on the SAT list, but when looking for its fiscal domicile and those of its shareholders, it turned out that families unrelated to any business activity or the construction sector live in those points. This firm received 10.1 million pesos.
One of his alleged associates showed up, stated that he had never been a businessman and denied any relationship with Arkon.
“I am recovering from a paralysis that I suffered. My children bring me food and I just rest, but I don’t know anything about that company, this is my home for many years and I don’t know why they gave my address,” he said.
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Liceaga Arquitectura Diseño y Construcción reported fiscal domicile at Calle Félix Parra Number 131 in Colonia San José Insurgentes, interior A 201. On the site, no one identified the company or the partners. This firm received a contract for 10.5 million pesos.
Source: Debate
