 |
|
|
 Editorials | Opinions | October 2007 
Cannibalism and Mexico: Just When We Thought Sanitation Was the Worst of It
 Eric Martinez - The Arbiter
go to original
 |  | If you get busted with a boiling carcass in your kitchen, shouldn’t you just admit that it’s possible you were planning on eating some of it? Is making human hide for a rug or a purse really a better alternative excuse anyway? |  | |
This past week a Mexican poet and aspiring horror novelist created his own real-life arena of macabre by eating his girlfriend.
Actually, Jose Luis Calva of Mexico City told police he had boiled some of his girlfriend’s flesh but that he hadn’t eaten it. Why the withdrawal of guilt? If you get busted with a boiling carcass in your kitchen, shouldn’t you just admit that it’s possible you were planning on eating some of it? Is making human hide for a rug or a purse really a better alternative excuse anyway?
Among various pieces of evidence (including a draft of the novel entitled “Cannibalistic Instincts”), officers who searched Calva’s apartment found other body parts hidden in things like cereal boxes and the refrigerator.
Maybe Calva should’ve claimed that he was boiling some water for sanitation purposes instead of attempting to flee officers before getting hit by a passing vehicle. He survived, giving the lame excuse to authorities previously mentioned. In general, Mexican water and sanitation services (although said to be among the best in Latin America) are plagued with poor technical and commercial efficiency of service provision, inadequate sanitation service quality - particularly concerning wastewater treatment - and inadequate water service quality, especially in rural areas. Folks around the world know it as Montezuma’s revenge.
In May 2006, researchers from Michigan Technological University met with a group of Seri members as part of a HED-funded partnership with Universidad de Sonora that tackled water and sanitation problems in the region.
“The interactions with the Seris were part of our effort to understand the roles of the many, incredibly varied stakeholders in water issues in Sonora,” Alex Mayer, director of MTU’s Center for Water and Society said. “These interactions enabled us to include the knowledge and needs of these stakeholders in developing technical and policy solutions to the water problems facing the state.”
MTU’s involvement in the project began with a field engineering class that took on the design of a wastewater treatment system for the town of Rosario de Tesopaco. The design was submitted to the Mexican government for its approval and, after several roadblocks, construction of the wastewater treatment system began.
They should work on Tijuana next, and I mean immediately. If every city in Mexico were like Tijuana we wouldn’t need long arduous steps requiring research and effort on the part of Mexico’s government and institutions. Instead, the United States would ride in, armed with large green garden hoses with a solution known as Aquafina. And we’ve got plenty of it. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us