In response to the July 21 article, ;’One Juane?o group drops opposition to proposed freeway” by Victor Morales [Vol. 28, Iss. 7].
The United Coalition to Protect Panhe, a grass-roots coalition of Native American tribal members, continues to oppose the toll road to save Panhe and San Onofre State Beach in California.
Only one faction of the Juane?o band, headed by David Belardes, has approved a deal to receive $350,000 for mitigation if the toll road is built.
United Coalition to Protect Panhe and The City Project remain committed to stopping the toll road to save the sacred Native site of Panhe and protect the rights of Acjachemen people. Rebecca Robles, a Juane?o from San Clemente who helped found UCPP, was disappointed but reluctant to criticize Belardes’ publicly.
The Transportation Corridors Agency has been trying to buy compliance for the toll road since September 2007, when TCA offered $100 million to others to buy compliance. TCA’s offer of only $350,000 to Native Americans to buy compliance shows how cheaply TCA values Native American rights. TCA has spent more time and money studying pocket mice than studying Acjachemen life, culture and history.
Mr. Belardes, as one tribal leader, does not speak for all Acjachemen tribal members on the toll road, just as Arnold Schwarzenegger does not speak for all the people of California on the toll road.
The Native American Heritage Commission submitted public comments to the U.S. Department of Commerce May 27, stating that the commission agrees with the California Coastal Commission: ”The NAHC agrees with the determination of the Coastal Commission that the proposed mitigation will not reduce adverse impacts to below a level of insignificance. The NAHC believes that the impacts to the Juane?o people who use the site of Panhe for ceremony are completely unmitigated.”
– Robert Garcia
Executive director and counsel The City Project
Los Angeles