Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
that the bridges would remain intact. The Governor and the Mayor also
promised to take up the issues of the water spigots and the Naranjo River
bridge with Tela Railroad Company ocials.
However, less than oneweek after the meeting, the assistant mayorof
Mezapa, Ciriaco Torres, informed Governor Miralda that he had ordered
the workers to stop taking up the rails because the Tela Railroad Com-
pany had failed to complete ''the construction of the bridge spanning the
Naranjo River.'' The governor's reply to Torres was firm: the village could
not insist that the company build a new bridge because one was already
in place.
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But the content and tone of his letter to the Ministro de Gober-
nación were very different. Miralda explained that many of Mezapa's 400
inhabitants made a living by selling food and other products to planta-
tion workers in the nearby municipality of El Progreso. Between Mezapa
and these markets lay the Naranjo River and numerous other creeks that
during the rainy season could only be crossed via bridges. Miralda urged
his Tegucigalpa-based superior to pressure the company to rebuild the
bridgeinlightof boththeenvironmentalchangesprecipitatedbythecom-
pany's operations and the potential for further resistance on the part of
Mezapans:
I repeat that the villagers have justice on their side because the problem
has resulted from the channeling work [of waterways] that the
company has done in that jurisdiction. And I am of the opinion that it
is the company that has the most to gain by complying with the just
desires of the inhabitants of Mezapa. The actions that the government
could take to pacify the villagers would not prevent them from taking
revenge upon the company.
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Unfortunately, the historical record does not indicate whether the bridge
was rebuilt, or if thevillagers sought ''revenge.'' Nevertheless, the events at
Mezapa reveal the historical connections between altered landscapes and
transformed livelihoods. The Tela Railroad Company's arrival in the re-
gion created new ways to earn a living while altering the landscape.When
Panama Disease reached the Mezapa area and reduced the profitability of
growing bananas, the company pulled out, removing the infrastructure
that it had placed there. However, the Naranjo River and the area's drain-
agebasinremainedaltered,promptingthevillagerstoimpedetheremoval
of the railroad in order to ensure that the company maintained a series of
local bridges essential to the (twice-transformed) local economy.
The bridge over the Naranjo River, then, can be seen as a symbol
