Cancún. Francisco Remolina Suárez, director of the Yum Balam Flora and Fauna Reserve of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), explained that although the 1994 federal decree during the presidency of Ernesto Zedillo established that national lands would be patrimony of CONANP, the situation changed with the implementation of the Program for the Certification of Ejidal Rights (Procede) in 1999. From that moment on, all lands returned to the ejidos and private owners, so currently CONANP does not possess any square meter within the reserve, which spans 154,000 hectares.
The official noted that this situation has generated confusion, which has been used by the former ejidal commissioner of Chiquilá with annex San Ángel to lead protests alleging that the lands belong to CONANP.
Remolina Suárez added that the reserve includes the ejidos of Holbox Island, Chiquilá with annex San Ángel, Solferino, and Kantunilkín, and that even some hectares have been invaded from the side of the Isla Mujeres municipality. CONANP continues to emphasize that all lands are property of the ejidos or private owners and that there is no federal property within the reserve.
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