Oil spill disrupts livelihoods in Mexico's Veracruz state

Coastal residents in the Mexican state of Veracruz are concerned about the recent appearance of oil on local beaches, which has disrupted their livelihoods, fearing it could contaminate a nearby lagoon where communities farm fish and shrimp.

Residents of Jicacal, on the Gulf of Mexico, have organized themselves to remove as much of the hardened tar as possible from the beaches, while the viscous spill spreads along the coast. Authorities have not told residents what caused the spill.

Veracruz is heavy on oil activity in Mexico, both on land and at sea. State oil company Pemex ruled out any leak or spill from its facilities this week.

“As usual, we went out fishing and cast our nets, and we realized that the net was full of oil,” said Aurora Apolonia Martinez, describing how she noticed the presence of the spilled crude, which rendered the fishing nets unusable.

Pemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether it had new information about the spill following the surveillance efforts it said it would carry out in the area.

Cemda, an environmental organization, said this week that since March 1, over a dozen spill sites have been identified along the beaches of Veracruz and neighboring Tabasco along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Pemex has denied responsibility for the spill. But the company has been involved in several such incidents in recent years. The most recent was in October in Veracruz, where 2.7 million liters were recovered from the Pantepec River following a leak in an oil pipeline.

Both Jicacal and the neighboring town of Las Barrillas, also in Veracruz, are fishing villages and local tourist destinations. The spill has also impacted the local tourism industry, discouraging visits to the coast.

“What we are interested in is cleaning up the entire beach,” said Nicolás Vargas, a tourism service provider in Las Barrillas, who said that otherwise, tourists will not visit the area.

-Tamara Corro/Reuters