The Story of the Punta Banda Takeover - October, 1999
For many years Ken kept a small, old, somewhat rundown house trailer on a lot, on the beach, at Punta Banda, Baja California, Mexico. Over the years we talked about the house that he would like to build there someday. Nothing big, on the contrary, the idea was a small house with space left over for a garden.
The lot the trailer sat on was leased, not owned outright. Foreigners can’t own Mexican beach property outright. Instead the land was owned by an agricultural co-operative. The co-op got the land from the Mexican government during a land reform program meant to distribute land to peasants. The Punta Banda land wasn’t suitable for agriculture so the co-op divided into 20 meter by 20 meter plots and leased the land to people to build beach homes. The leases ran for 10 years, with 2 10 year extension options. The co-op assured people that there would be extension options after that.
Punta Banda itself is little more than a sandspit extending in a northerly direction with the Pacific Ocean on one side and a small lagoon on the other. The northern most part is a bird sanctuary that is not part of the co-op land. Ken’s plot was a couple of rows back from the actual beach front.
Many people leased a plot, or sometimes several contiguous plots, and started out by putting a trailer on the lot. Over the years those were replaced by “real” houses, some very modest, others quite grand. Ken embellished his homestead by adding a small concrete patio, a patio cover, lath and other “walls” to enclose the patio, and a small chiminea or outdoor fireplace. The owners were a mixed bunch spanning quite a spectrum of economic resources. There were Mexican American blue color couples retiring not too far from American medical care, and Angelo Americans with apparently considerable means just wanting a much bigger beach house than they could have at Malibu.
As the years went on there were occasional rumblings and rumors about “people” who claimed that the Punta Banda land didn’t belong to the co-op, it belonged to them and the Mexican government had no right to have given it to the co-op. In Mexico there is no system of central registry of land surveys and deeds, so claims over land ownership are commonplace. There were also rumors of lawsuits being brought against the co-op. The rumors took on greater urgency with the news that the co-op had lost in court. Not to worry said the co-op, we’re appealing.
Toward the end of summer, 1999 devastating news arrived - the Supreme Court of Mexico ruled against the co-op. All the Punta Banda land belonged to the claimants, and the leases were without any legal basis. An official from the Mexican Land Office would deliver papers to the co-op and the homeowners on October 11.
I had been to the beach trailer with Ken many times and knew about the rumors and the land claims. Ken called to tell me about the Supreme Court decision and that there were some actions being planned by the co-op and homeowners. Would I like to come down? I packed up cameras and some clothes and hit the road headed for his house in Altadena. The next morning we set off for Punta Banda.
By the time we arrived the afternoon of the 8th, a Thursday, the co-op had already started to build a sand barricade across the only road into Punta Banda with their big front end loaders. There were lots of local co-op workers milling around, or helping with the work, and a few homeowners setting up as a vanguard of picketers. People were out and about, talking in ones and twos, or small groups. Clearly something big was coming. We settled in to the trailer and set out for friends Tom & Donna’s house to get the latest news. Tom had retired from his job as an Air Force chaplain only a couple of years earlier and they had bought a nice beach front house that was now in jeopardy.
A group had banded together and hired a lawyer and maybe there was some hope. There would be a meeting on Saturday with the lawyer. Some people were hopeful. Others had started to pack. There were trucks and trailers being loaded.
We spent the next couple of days doing what we always did at the trailer. We slept in, ate breakfast, took long walks on the beach, collected prize beach trash, talked to people, ate some more, then slept again.
But, the days were not as they had always been. The little community was normally very quite with hardly a sole in sight. Suddenly it had become an ant colony with people scurrying from place to place, passing on or getting the latest news, moving things about. Another activity was added to the days schedule, day and evening trips to the barricades, now complete and manned by co-op guys and homeowners around the clock. We went up to a little store and bought a case of cold beer which was delivered to those on duty. We earned many points for our thoughtfulness. The meeting with the lawyer came and went. We attended, but found little to satisfy.
On the way back from the meeting we passed a beachfront home that had been built on a plot that encompassed 4 of the 20 X 20 plots. It was 2 wide by 2 deep. The whole of it was enclosed by a block wall and gates at the front allowed entry. Today the gates were open, and so, we realized, was the house. Upon closer inspection it appeared that the owner had no intention of allowing someone to take over and enjoy his lovely home. They might get it, but it would no longer be lovely. The evidence of some hours with a sledge hammer was just about everywhere.
By this point the plight of a group of Americans who were about to have their homes in Mexico seized without compensation by an act of the Mexican courts was making news back home. News crews began to arrive. A Time correspondent was interviewing, as was Newsweek, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC and a half dozen radio stations.
We reminded ourselves that Ken’s loss of the old trailer, far too dilapidated to move anyway, was nothing compared to what others were about to lose. Ken still had his home in Altadena. For Tom & Donna, and many others, this was home. The evening of the 10th we had dinner with a small group in a just completed home that was rapidly being cleared of the just moved in furnishings.
Early the next morning we had a quick breakfast and headed, along with most of the small population of Punta Banda, for the barricades to await the arrival of “the land grabbers.” There were plenty of picket signs, some in Spanish, some in English. The hired lawyer was there as were many from the co-op. People milled about, talking in small groups, trying to figure out what would happen next. Periodically a car would appear near the turn off to the Punta Banda road and a low rumple would pass through the crowd trying to determine if it was “them.” For a while, it was not.
Then a line of cars approached the turn off and one by one turned onto the road heading toward the barricades. It was finally “them.” The caravan proceeded slowly, clearly on guard and aware that they were approaching a confrontation. They could hardly have failed to notice. The resistance had been the subject of nightly news broadcasts for several days. A hundred meters from the barricades the cars all stopped and pulled to the sides of the road. Men embarked. They gathered and conversed. The resistance did the same, but now spreading out across the barricades. “They” beach to walk toward the unknown. We went out to meet them. “They” numbered 25-30. We had well more than a hundred.
The sides met 40 meters from the barricades. Their delegation was headed by an official from the land office, with support from staff, plus at least some of the claimants. Our side was led by the hired lawyer, a co-op honcho, and supporting casts. The core was surrounded by staff, supporters, and news crews. I think in the end we were able to actually surround all of them. Although a pincer action would probably have been quite effective, this confrontation would be entirely verbal. Firm words were exchanged. “This land belongs to the claimants. You are now all trespassing. You must leave.” “We’re not going anywhere.” I circulated with my cameras documenting.
In less than an hour it was over. Superior numbers had carried the day. “They” went back to their cars and left. This day belonged to the co-op and the homeowners. Back home it was the Columbus Day holiday. People wandered back to their homes, or the homes of friends and pondered what would be next. Some hoped they had won, most were not so optimistic.
We spent another night, then headed home. On the way back we went over the situation. It didn’t look very promising. Ken was bringing back a couple of things that he no longer wanted to leave at the trailer.
A couple of weeks later “they” returned, this time accompanied by many armed police and soldiers. The co-op and homeowners were no match. People gathered what they could and departed leaving their homes, and sometimes many belongings, behind. Many went back to the States. A few, stayed on in the area, renting a house outside of the area seized. Tom and Donna did that. But, eventually, they too came home to the U.S. where land deeds are pretty reliable, and property cannot be confiscated by the government without just compensation. An era of life at Punta Banda ended.
The accompanying album of photos were taken by me on the weekend of the first confrontation. I didn’t have the heart to be there for the final one. Photo Album