1. News
  2. Indigenous Affairs
  3. Border officials: No cultural sites where border explosions are taking place
 February 14, 2020

Border officials: No cultural sites where border explosions are taking place

A Tucson Sector official said on Twitter the detonations are happening in areas disturbed by the last border fence project. by Michel Marizco, Fronteras Desk

organ pipe BP villareal VIEW LARGER Image from a Feb. 13 tweet by Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent Roy Villareal, described in the tweet as showing border wall construction near Organ Pipe National Monument.

Border Patrol officials in Arizona say they’ve found no cultural or biological sites within a swath of border land currently being blown up to make way for a new border fence.

Sector chief Roy Villarreal tweeted out a video Thursday morning showing the desert ground jump as it was rattled by the latest explosion.

Villareal declined to be interviewed through a spokesman and said on Twitter that the detonations are happening in areas disturbed by the last border fence project.

Archaeologists have said Monument Hill at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument where the explosions are taking place has been used as a burial site in the past.

The chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation has denounced blasting in the area, saying construction "would irrevocably harm cultural sites, sacred sites and the environment."

AZPM contributed to this report.

Fronteras Desk
Fronteras Desk is a KJZZ project covering important stories in an expanse stretching from Northern Arizona deep into northwestern Mexico.
MORE: Border, Fronteras Desk, Indigenous Affairs, Law Enforcement, News
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona