The Chilapa–José Joaquín de Herrera interstate highway has practically collapsed due to the rains and the lack of maintenance by the state government.
Workers, truck drivers, grocery distributors, and residents who travel the highway daily risk their physical safety by crossing the remaining section of road.
Teachers from elementary schools located in the Nahua communities of Chilapa and José Joaquín de Herrera reported that the highway connecting the two municipalities is 90 percent damaged.
The more than 30-kilometer road was rehabilitated in 2015, but is already covered in tar.
Since Monday, August 25, residents of the region have reported a crack and a huge sinkhole on a curve before reaching the community of Alcozacán.
Sixto Mendoza, a community promoter, recalled that the road suffered landslides and roadblocks since Hurricane John in September 2024.
Last February, the Undersecretary of Political and Social Development, Francisco Rodríguez Cisneros, and the director of the Guerrero State Highway and Airport Infrastructure Commission (CICAEG), signed a commitment to repair that section of the road, but they failed to comply.
The CICAEG reported on August 27 that personnel had come to assess the “sliding and settling” of the road caused by the recent rains.
They recommended using an alternate route while the studies and rehabilitation project are developed.
However, the proposed alternate road is impassable because it is uphill, unsurfaced, and has a mud puddle.
Damage was also reported on the dirt roads connecting the communities in the two municipalities.
Authorities from the Guerrero State Education Secretariat (SEG) declined to provide information on the number of schools in the area and the teachers affected.
Roads and roads in communities in the mountain region are also in the same condition.
Source: proceso
