The mystery of oil that never stops
We finally have answers, but they are not comforting. After weeks of official silence, the Mexican Navy admitted this Thursday the triple origin of the environmental disaster off Veracruz. It is not a single culprit, but a dangerous combination.
“Three sources of the spill: a ship anchored in Coatzacoalcos, a natural ‘slosh’ five miles from the port, and another emanation in the Campeche Sound,” acknowledged Admiral Raymundo Morales.
Here is the worrying detail: one of those sources continues to release crude oil. Secretary Morales admitted it bluntly. The famous ‘chapopoteras’ of Cantarell, in Campeche, have a permanent leak that intensified this month.
A ghost ship and 600 km of damage
The most absurd thing: they don’t know which ship caused part of the spill. There were 13 vessels in the area at the beginning of March that have not yet been inspected. Meanwhile, the spot already covers more than 600 kilometers.
The official figures are chilling: 430 tons of hydrocarbons collected so far, affecting 200 km of coast in Veracruz and Tabasco. Seven protected natural areas have visible traces of contamination.
The Secretary of the Environment, Alicia Bárcena, tried to calm things down by saying that “we have not detected severe environmental damage.” But the evidence tells another story.
Organizations like Oceana report dead sea turtles, a manatee and multiple species of fish. They report damage to 17 reefs in the Gulf Reef Corridor. Conanp lists six officially contaminated species.
This is the second serious spill in Veracruz in just five months. Last October, heavy rains broke an oil pipeline that contaminated eight kilometers of the Pantepec River.
While the authorities install containment barriers and talk about “natural emanations”, the political theater shows its saddest script: incompetence disguised as fatality. My father was right: politics always ends up getting our feet wet.
