Warning of neglect of SMA heritage

The values that earned the “World Heritage Site” are being lost, said the state INAH delegate, who asked “not to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.”

San Miguel de Allende could lose the appointment of World Heritage Site, warned David Jiménez Guillén, director of the INAH Guanajuato Center.

He recalled that in addition to Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende there are two more areas of historical monuments in Guanajuato: Pozos and Dolores Hidalgo. 
He stressed that “As the hotel sector (of San Miguel de Allende ) commented, there are indeed factors that are already putting the values of authenticity and integrity at risk and that it is necessary to work in that area since the legislature, from the municipalities and state must ensure that those values are not transforming,” said David Jiménez Guillen.
“San Miguel has held its title for 10 years whereas Guanajuato has for 31 years. For San Miguel, we have not been able to implement those mechanisms that allow the preservation of those values which added our name to that famous list,” added David Jiménez Guillén. He noted that there is no indicator to evaluate these values and that a city requires the combined effort of the local government and state government to do so. He added that from the tourism sector he knows how to do their job, but from the field of conservation of municipalities, he questioned: How many have been lost or altered?

He urged those present: local deputies and municipal authorities to allocate resources for the preservation of Cultural Heritage, not pass certain legislation, and to “not kill the hen of golden eggs.
Article by El Sol del Bajio, translated to English by the San Miguel