Saying it is not an exaggeration. It is a citizen obligation and to do it by this means because when requesting official data you must have patience, but this is urgent. I had in my hands yesterday and Monday several plans, photos and videos of caves near the Periferico and Roosevelt bridges, but the capital city has not reported anything. Guatemalans deserve to know this because the current crisis exceeds, in my opinion, the economic effects of the 1976 earthquake and there have already been other recent cases. A few months ago there was a similar phenomenon in the Centro América neighborhood, reported by the press, but today the case of Villa Nueva has aroused citizen interest in the maintenance of drainage, streets, construction of roads and highways, embankments and others.
The technical drawing received places the site of the existing sinkhole a few meters from the base of the bridges over Roosevelt and Periférico. The main nearby buildings with an influx of people are PeriRoosevelt, Megapaca, Walmart and Tikal Futura. The drainage has a concrete cover, now seriously fractured, and this facilitates the infiltration of water and the emergence of caverns near the surface, where the asphalt of the road to the west is. The collector now has a high clearance; this reduces its ability to conduct rainwater and causes landslides. According to my informants it is still possible to repair all this, but reality must be accepted, faced and the work started immediately to avoid a catastrophe.
The municipality must act, and now. This article responds to a minimum journalistic responsibility: reporting to save human lives at stake. The priorities of the municipal work must be changed. The adornment and visual impact —cycle paths, landscaping, parks— reduce importance, as officials understand, as well as where municipal funds should be spent first and responsibly. On the other hand, the necessary and urgent repair of the streets cannot be done without first knowing the state of the infrastructure works located in the subsoil, because it is a city where there is a crazy growth of vehicles, as well as new high-rise buildings. in places too close to the beautiful and dangerous slopes of the capital place.
The urgency of the issue also requires the capital municipality to demand reports of similar risks in places where, by elementary logic, they may exist. An example is zone six, a few blocks from the end of Martí Street —another exit from the city—, where a few years ago a huge and sudden sinkhole swallowed a whole house with its inhabitants. It is a national emergency due to the possible number of human victims and many millions of economic losses due to delays, requirements, as well as damage because the passage is stopped or delayed. The national press will be responsible for reporting, investigating, questioning officials and commenting on everything related to this, especially the lack of information about their plans in this regard.
The objective of this article is not to accuse this mismanagement, as it is a known issue and has been present for a long time in numerous mayors’ offices in the country. The emergency must be attended to immediately and part of this consists in informing the citizens through responsible sources. It should be the authorities, but all information can only be received via those in charge of public relations, who delay responding to requests. The constitutional funds make it possible to solve many needs of the municipalities, but this is impossible if mismanagement of any kind is not eliminated. Finally: the worst thing is the existence of other caverns.
