Guatemala – Retail Project Spells Dispute in Antigua

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GUATEMALA CITY, Feb 17 2003 (IPS) - The colonial capital of Guatemala is now the scenario of a battle over a shopping center, with construction slated to begin in April. In the southern Guatemalan city of Antigua, considered a gem of colonial architecture, conservationists are clashing with the promoters of a project to build a shopping center in the city's outskirts.

Rodolfo Solares, head of the project, told Tierramérica that construction will begin in mid-April, during the Catholic Holy Week, and that the environmental impact study is in the hands of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

The idea is to resolve the problem of traffic congestion on the weekends, when the flow of visitors to the city's historic district is highest, Solares explained.

“The project is in accordance with Antigua's regulatory plan. It is an urbanization effort that will cover eight blocks in order to house businesses that are not wanted in the historic district. The site will have the capacity for 1,400 vehicles,” he said.

But the president of the Neighbors Save Antigua Association, José Magaña, says it is “just a new pretext of the shopping center planners, who had to abandon the project two years ago under pressure from our organization.”

“The project is moving forward, no matter what Magaña says, because he is not an official. It is not true that it will hurt Antigua,” but instead will resolve some of the city's problems, mayor Víctor del Pozo told Tierramérica.

But the mayor offered different figures than those Solares reported. The shopping center and parking area would cover “20 blocks with space for 3,000 cars… as well as five automatic banks, a cultural space, a couple of movie theaters, a sports area and a few bars,” said Del Pozo.

He said the narrow cobblestone streets of the colonial city, home to 22,000 people, on the weekends endure as many as 10,000 vehicles.

Antigua, considered a unique example of colonial urbanization, was founded in 1543, and served as Guatemala's capital until 1776, under the jurisdiction of the Spanish crown. After a series of devastating earthquakes, Spain ordered the city to be evacuated.

Restored in 1944, two years later it was declared a monument of the Americas by the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History. In 1979, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared it a heritage of humanity site.

“We are fighting to preserve the UNESCO heritage of humanity monuments. We are talking about churches, chapels, homes, the prison and other buildings that were naturally preserved until they were formally restored,” said activist Magaña.

He condemned the “totally 'gringo' (U.S.) approach” of the Solares project, which considers a shopping center entertainment, undermining the value of “the day-to-day, of encountering and greeting your neighbors in the streets.”

The campaign against the project has found support in Mexico. Artist Francisco Toledo is leading a movement against the shopping center, in which the Rodolfo Morales Cultural Foundation is playing a role.

Mexican activists sent a letter to Carlos Morales, director-general of environmental management at the Guatemalan Ministry of Environment. The letter criticizes the planned “center for recreational and sports activities as nothing more than unjustifiable retail development that would destroy a Heritage of Humanity city.”

Some years back, Toledo won a battle against the construction of a franchise of the U.S.-based fast-food chain, McDonald's, in the historic district of Oaxaca, capital of his home state of the same name, in southern Mexico.