Deliberate Neglect, Fabricated Crimes Used to Transfer CDMX Historic Buildings to Speculators
This article by Angel Bolanos Sanchez and Sandra Hernandez Garcia originally appeared in the September 7, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.
The eviction that occurred on August 27 at República de Cuba 11 is part of a process of “intentional degradation” of certain areas of the Historic Center, intended to justify interventions in which the properties are destined for other uses such as lodging services, warehouses, the sale of foreign goods, or even the construction of something new under a speculative logic, said academics, researchers, and anti-gentrification groups.
Roberto Pimentel Bermúdez, a professor at UNAM, said that a project that serves as an example of rescuing heritage-value properties for social housing in the Historic Center is Casa Covadonga, located at Belisario Domínguez 44—renovated in 2004 by the city government through the then Secretariat of Urban Development and Housing—and currently used for temporary accommodation through the Airbnb platform.
At the Forum Against Gentrification organized by the Interdisciplinary Workshop for Habitat Development and the Comprehensive Workshop for Community Development at the La Resistencia, arte café on República de Cuba 34, evicted residents of Cuba 11 presented their case and solidarity groups called for support for the encampment they maintain in front of the building in the face of pressure from the local government to remove them, announcing a political-cultural festival for September 27.
Noelia Ávila Delgado, from the UAM Xochimilco and researcher at what is now Secihti (formerly Conahcyt), warned about the use of the real estate sector for money laundering, which explains, for example, buildings on Calzada de Tlalpan that have not been built to meet the demand for housing remaining empty.
The Journalists’ Cooperative collective also denounced that the Office of the Prosecutor for the Investigation of Environmental Crimes and Urban Protection, of the Attorney General’s Office, is being used to carry out evictions of properties through the “fabrication of crimes” such as drug dealing , dispossession, theft of auto parts and extortion, in which people who legitimately occupy the properties are expelled “with shrapnel in hand.” They indicated that they have documented at least 36 cases, such as that of Tonalá 125 in the Roma neighborhood.
Just over a week after the eviction of the building at República de Cuba 11, authorities pledged to legally review the case for the recovery or acquisition of the property for the benefit of the people who lived there.
After a meeting with those affected, they stated that they will continue to receive monthly rental support “as long as necessary,” as well as temporary accommodation in hotels near the property. Support will continue “until the end of the process.”
-
People’s Mañanera October 22
President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, with comments on rainfall emergency response, aid delivery, passenger trains, taxation and the fight against invoice mills.
-
National Campesino Confederation Anticipates Agriculture Budget Cuts
Members of the CNC attended the Listening to the Voices of the Field forum at Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies to address their concerns about the budget directly to legislators
-
Campesinos Ride Again
Last week’s strike by agricultural producers against the USMCA and the uncontrolled entry of subsidized grains from the US is part of a fight for Mexican food sovereignty that demands the government’s full attention.
