Developer needs to be a good corporate citizen

Corporations that partner with taxpayers through their governments have a responsibility to be good corporate citizens. That’s why the El Paso-based Verde Group needs to step up to the plate and, at the very least, denounce alleged human-rights abuses across the border in Lomas del Poleo.

Residents and a wealthy businessman both claim ownership of the almost 800 acres of land south of Sunland Park and across the border. The issue is in court, but businessman Pedro Zaragosa has, in the meantime, surrounded the land with a barbed-wire fence and built a compound for armed men.

Residents can only reach their homes through a guarded entrance. Activists claim that residents have been pressured to sell their homes, a chapel was destroyed and at least one resident has been killed in a confrontation with employees of the businessman.

What does that have to do with Verde? The company is planning to develop Santa Teresa, located west of Sunland Park, into a new manufacturing center. In a partnership with Doña Ana County and aided by the state, the company plans to move the rail hub from El Paso to Santa Teresa and take advantage of that and the port of entry to develop a new city.

Verde’s plans have made development of San Jeronimo, located directly across the U.S.-Mexico border, practical. I’m sure that means land on that side of the border, including that at Lomas del Poleo, has increased in value.

If human-rights abuses are occurring there, they may be an unintended consequence of Verde’s plans here. That’s not to say Verde is to blame, but if Verde is to be a good corporate citizen, it should take the allegations seriously.

Verde is asking for public investment in infrastructure in Santa Teresa to help its development. Its board of directors once included Eloy Valina, a wealthy Mexican businessman who owns most of San Jeronimo, so local activists upset about the situation in Lomas del Poleo were understandably concerned that their taxpayer dollars might be helping fund a project whose developers were involved in human-rights abuses.

That apparently isn’t the case. Vallina is apparently no longer on Verde’s board. Verde sent a letter to commissioners last week stating that it has no formal or informal role in developing land on the Mexican side of the border.

But the letter also makes clear that Verde has a policy of not communicating with the media because its concerns are meeting shareholders’ expectations and providing a “rewarding” environment for its employees. Since it bought the land at Santa Teresa, Verde has consistently refused to communicate with the Doña Ana County taxpayers who have already spent $12 million on its water and sewer system and whose commission has also agreed to pay for additional water rights if more are needed in the future to accommodate the growth of Verde’s development.

Those taxpayers are also shareholders. And they’re understandably concerned about potential human rights abuses that, indirectly, may be encouraged in part by the investment of their tax dollars in the development of Santa Teresa.

County commissioners have taken seriously their duty to denounce what’s allegedly happening at Lomas del Poleo and are seeking help to stop it by writing letters to the governors of New Mexico and Chihuahua. That came after activists took their concerns to the county commission last week. You can watch the video by clicking here.

Gov. Bill Richardson should use his influence with officials in Chihuahua to help ensure any human-rights abuses stop. He has a good relationship with Verde, and should push the company to do the same. At the very least, Richardson and Verde should join the chorus of voices that are denouncing the situation at Lomas del Poleo.