The Los Cabos municipal government held a second round of talks on April 28 to address the lack of water and electricity in Colonia Fundadores, an irregular settlement in Cabo San Lucas where families have lived without basic utilities for more than seven years.
Secretary General Alberto Rentería Santana led the working session on behalf of Mayor Christian Agúndez Gómez. Officials from all three levels of government attended, along with a neighborhood committee representing residents of the colonia.
Community Meters on Federal Land
The Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Mexico’s state power utility, proposed installing community electric meter boards on federal right-of-way land as a provisional fix. The workaround avoids the legal obstacle at the heart of the crisis: Colonia Fundadores sits on land caught in an unresolved dispute between the Ejido de Cabo San Lucas and a private developer, Inmobiliaria Los Zalates.
Because the settlement lacks legal land tenure, neither CFE nor other agencies have been able to run permanent utility lines to individual homes. Placing meters on federal property sidesteps that barrier, at least temporarily.
Free Water Through Shared Tanks
On the water side, the municipality directed OOMSAPAS Los Cabos (the local water and sewer utility) to place movable cisterns and water tanks at several points throughout the colonia. Residents will have free, organized access to potable water from these shared stations.
A site inspection is scheduled for Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Technical staff and officials from municipal, state, and federal agencies plan to walk the neighborhood and identify locations for the community meters and water tanks.
Seven Years Without Services
Colonia Fundadores residents recently blocked Boulevard Constituyentes and the Transpeninsular Highway near the Cabo San Lucas bullring to demand action. The protests forced the issue onto the government’s agenda after years of inaction. Rentería Santana acknowledged that the underlying problem is the lack of land regularization, which has blocked formal utility hookups since the settlement was established.
Attending the session were Cabo San Lucas delegate Karina de la O Uribe, OOMSAPAS director Ramón Rubio Apodaca, human settlements director Jorge Luis Sánchez Sandoval, legal affairs director Samuel Lozano Sotres, state government representative Oscar René Núñez Cosío, and representatives from CFE, SICT (the federal transportation and infrastructure ministry), and the Ejido de Cabo San Lucas.
No timeline for permanent infrastructure has been announced. Officials said dialogue and coordination would continue. Originally reported by Colectivo Pericu, Tribuna de México, and El Sudcaliforniano.