The bill that arrives after the disaster
Pemex has just put a price on the latest environmental disaster in southern Veracruz: 15 million pesos. It is the amount that the parastatal will allocate, through its PACMA program, to support some 300 people grouped in 11 fishing cooperatives. The money arrives after hydrocarbon was detected in the coastal area.
The communities of Agua Dulce, Coatzacoalcos and Pajapan are those directly affected. There, life revolves around the sea. For them, a spill is not a press release; It is the direct threat to their daily livelihood.
“the situation remains under operational control while cleaning and monitoring work progresses”
That is the official line of Pemex. But behind the neat statement there is a tangible operation: they have already delivered 100 thousand liters of fuel to Pajapan and are evaluating doing the same in other towns. They also launched a Mobile Medical Unit that, in just six days, provided 548 consultations.
Now, the political theater enters its next act. The company deploys its “social care” measures. PACMA is activated. Checks (or promises) come onto the scene. It is the predictable script after each incident.
The question that remains floating, like the oil spill, is another: is 15 million enough to clean up the environmental damage and compensate for months (years?) of ruined fishing? Or is it just the down payment for silence? The meetings with the fishermen have already begun. The real dialogue, the one about the future of its sea, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the machines clean, the doctors provide care and Pemex ensures that everything is “under control.” The curtain has not fallen yet.
