| At around 11.30 pm on April 14th,
the glinting stars of the black mountain sky witnessed the sad
loss of one of the country's impassioned environmentalists,
the much-loved Director of the Izta-Popo Zoquiapan National
Park.
Alejandro López López was a popular and enthusiastic
conservationist, caring for all aspects of the parklands around
his cherished volcanoes – from the red-tailed eagles,
to the construction of community stoves, putting a rapid end
to forest fires, and listening carefully to the stories of community
elders.
Tall, agile and with a cheery white beard and CONANP
(National Commission for Protected Areas) cap, Alejandro was
unstoppable. Under the shimmering gaze of Don Goyo's peak –
one nickname for Popcatépetl is Don Gregorio, shortened
to Don Goyo -- he would careen and bounce around the rugged
mountain paths in one of the park's distinctive trucks, decorated
with an illustration of the teporingo rabbit (the furry little
creature – ears short so it doesn't lose heat at that
altitude -- that populates the grasslands high on the volcanoes),
co-ordinating a hundred and one park and community activities
on his radio.
He and his friendly young team would be replanting hundreds
of thousands of pine trees, organizing hikers to bring down
garbage from the mountains, expanding the tree nursery, devising
environmental programs for school children, co-ordinating mountain
rescue, improving an exhibition and information center at the
Paso de Cortés, planning nature trails and sponsoring
photography to publicize the intense beauty of the zone.
This does not begin to count his grueling political work as
Area Director, fending off outside interests that would pollute
and eat into Mexico's precious natural resources, checking
environmental impact statements, fighting for land ordinances
to get legal approval on time, trying to prevent landfills,
pushing for protection in consultation with experts from the
University of Puebla, lobbying with communities, co-ordinating
his team in the battle against illegal logging.
He would attend to scores of local complaints and needs, keeping
a wary eye on regional policy, how it was unfolding and what
written words meant when put into practice. And then he would
charge back and forth to Mexico City to CONANP's national head
office to grapple as optimistically as he could with the usual
melée of bonhomie and back-stabbing, lobbying, jostling,
advising and sparring with his colleagues and superiors –
who had voted him Director of the Year in 2007. It was on the
way back from one of these frequent missions to DF that his
vehicle crashed into an electricity pole.
Alejandro instigated an international accord with the Czech
Republic, after a visit by that nation's leader to the park
in 2006, inspecting the parklands of the republic twice, sharing
presentations and ideas and building plans for co-operation.
He represented Mexico's ecological initiatives and analysis
on behalf of CONANP in a number of Latin American countries,
including Brazil and Cuba.
Always prepared to walk the walk, he was committed to teamwork
and clear communication at home. He would invest in training
sessions and always participate democratically at all levels
with his staff. He and his group at the CONANP office on Amecameca's
Constitution Square led the way in demonstrating that the volcanoes
Izta and Popo are a water factory, as well as providers of clean
air for the whole teeming valley of Mexico, with 30 million
people depending on these giants of nature for their survival.
In recent years they promoted the park's beauty and education
on this topic with a beautiful annual calendar, as well as leaflets
and an appealing website.
Everyone in and around Amecameca
knew Alejandro. Never one to be cooped for long in an office,
or wearing a tie in meetings, he would just as likely be sporting
an embroidered headband and attending ancient rites with the
granizeros in one of the volcanoes' caves or participating in
local festivities, egging on his daughters in one of the conchero
dances, buying local produce in the market, digging, directing,
and disappearing up to the Paso de Cortés in a cloud
of dust.
A champion of indigenous communities ever since he lived with
Oaxaca's Mazateca when bringing up his young family, Alejandro's
early career was in community radio, paving the way for his
exceptional communication skills and winning the hearts of local
people who otherwise would be distrustful of environmental initiatives
and officialdom. His passion for human voices was reflected
in his post as official town chronicler, and he is the author
of the Estado de Mexico's illustrated "monografía"
of Amecameca. He was also a devoted family man, beamingly proud
of his four adult children and adoring of his two grandchildren,
Lucio and Darana.
Alejandro's funeral was held in Amecameca on April 17th,
two months after his birthday and exactly one week following
Good Friday. His brother Raúl reports over 1,500 mourners
were in attendance, from campesinos to blue-shirted CONANP officials.
Local schools stopped activities so the children could come
out into the street and applaud the cortege.
In the words of Alejandro's dear friend Vicente: "The
volcanoes Izta and Popo filled the horizon. We gathered around
the tomb … prayers began and Alejandro's mother
broke the silence with her grief. The grave was filled with
earth and his children threw rocks from the volcano inside,
we all did. At that moment the shrill sirens of the mountain
rescue vehicles sounded and it was hard to contain our tears."
We recognize and mourn the unmistakable energy and appeal
of a rebel, a maverick – a true eccentric -- with his
pack of xoloesquintles (Mexican hairless dogs – who Alex
chatted to happily and were so well behaved they would not enter
the house) at his simple and sunny home in Amecameca, flanked
on the one side by calves, and the other by a field of wild
flowers.
The tender memory of this ecologist's passion for his work
and tangible calidad humana will live on in those who
loved him and his team; colleagues and friends have made a commitment
to continue with his labors in environmental protection, around
the volcanoes, in Mexico and worldwide.
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