Luis Escobar / La Paz
José Otero, a businessman and investor from La Paz, was accused by the neighbors of having decapitated one of the Mallasilla hills, but he was not responsible. He reported that his land is in the lower part and that to date he has not carried out any work, in addition, his land is not part of the natural preservation area that was affected by heavy machinery. Now, the executive initiated lawsuits against the neighbors for defamation.
“My project is in the lower part that borders the Isla Verde urbanization and it is not in the upper part of the hill. It adjoins the Golf Club and other houses of the rest of the neighbors. But in the upper part (on the hill) we do not intend to build houses, not even that there is a connection (through a road) with our urbanization”, explained businessman José Otero.
In October 2021, the residents of Isla Verde denounced an illegal movement of land on the hill that adjoins the urbanization. Officials from the Sub-Mayor’s Office of Mallasa, dependent on the Mayor’s Office of La Paz, arrived at the scene. “At first glance they could not do any earthworks because this sector is considered a natural preservation area,” said Freddy Segales, head of the inspection area of this municipal department.
Otero does not know who the supposed owner of the hill is or for what purpose he removed the land and damaged that preservation area. “We did not even move a stone in the place. We do not do any kind of work like (they say) the people of Isla Verde. They show us as if we had worked at the top. We did not even start the earthwork that was not allowed. Then the rainy season began and we prefer to wait for this season to execute the project”, he explained.
The businessman said that the residents of Isla Verde did not allow him to enter their properties with heavy machinery through the access roads to the urbanization. Therefore, they chose to enter with the heavy equipment from the back and avoid damage. It was at that moment that he was accused of carrying out these illegal earthworks. “There is misinformation about this work of ours,” said Otero.
Once the works are carried out, the urbanization will have an income from the lower part through land that is owned by his family “more than a hundred years ago” and that belonged to his grandfather, one of the founders of the Golf Club . “In 1951, my grandfather built the little house that is there. We have the original papers, cadastre from the Mayor of La Paz, ”he said.
But, the lands that are in the back and that will be part of the project belong to the jurisdiction of Mecapaca, as stated in the property testimony and the real folio. “It can be shown that it belongs to the Mecapaca canton and this land was registered in this municipality,” said the owner.
The urbanization has an area of 10,000 square meters and 40% of it will be allocated to roads and green areas. The rest will be divided into lots for his own family and some will be sold to finance the project.
“They destroyed my name in less than five hours, they published on all social networks accusing me of being a loter or other adjectives. I am a businessman who has been working for 28 years installing security systems, I am not a person who comes to make an enslavement”, said Otero. For this reason, he initiated legal action against the people “who were in charge of defaming and attacking him on social networks.”
We do not have the bad intention of flattening a hill as they are doing throughout the city
said Jose Otero.
