Protest blocks border crossing

Thanksgiving weekend tourists returning from Puerto Peñasco, Son., were delayed until early this morning by protesters south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

About 1,000 residents of Sonoyta, 50 miles north of Puerto Peñasco, were protesting the planned construction of a toxic waste dump near their town.

David Mota, a protest organizer, said townspeople fear waste would taint their water supply and cause health problems.

A Mexican customs official said more than 100 vehicles were caught in the protest at the Lukeville Port of Entry. He said protesters were not violent, but were spread across the road, making it impossible for cars to pass.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maier said protesters were allowing a vehicle or two through the line "every now and then."

He said he received word that the protest would last until midnight, when the port normally closes.

The port closed at midnight with no traffic waiting, Maier said this morning, and reopened at 6 a.m. today.

The port of entry saw unusually heavy traffic Friday and Saturday because tourists in Puerto Peñasco heard about the planned protest.

Last spring, Mexico approved construction of a major toxic landfill 25 miles south of the Tohono O'odham Nation without properly informing the United States or local communities whose residents are demanding the project be stopped, protesters said.

The project would bring up to 45,000 tons of industrial waste from northwest Mexico to the Sonoran Desert annually, according to Mexico's office of environment and natural resources.

The site, La Choya Hazardous Waste Facility, would be near Quitovac, Son., a sacred O'odham site about two miles east of the Mexican highway used by American tourists on their way to Puerto Peñasco.