As Starbase, Texas voted into reality, opponents gather on Boca Chica Beach

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BOCA CHICA BEACH — The downpour Saturday afternoon did not seem to discourage individuals from meandering around Boca Chica Village.

People, many wearing SpaceX shirts and caps, walked in and out of a polling location called the “HUB,” located on the corner of LBJ Boulevard and Esperson Street. When questioned by reporters outside of the building, nearly every person refused to speak and denied working for Elon Musk’s rocket company.

At least one man wearing a T-shirt that read “Starbase, TX” agreed to speak with reporters. He claimed to be an employee, but clarified that he did not live at the location.

A minute or two after speaking with a reporter, he received a call to his cellphone. He abruptly ended the interview and said that he was told not to speak with reporters. He added that security was on its way to disperse the reporters there before hastily leaving the location.

Security did not come.

Despite the historic ramifications of the May 3 General Election, all was relatively quiet at Boca Chica Village.

Two miles down the road, members of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, Border Workers United, and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas were gathering at Boca Chica Beach.

A celebration was planned after the defeat of Texas House Bill 4660, which grants SpaceX authority over beach and road closures; however the celebration became a protest after the bill was revived a few days later.

Nearly two dozen individuals gathered near the sand dunes to listen to speakers share testimony against SpaceX and local officials who they disagree with.

While some held homemade signs calling for Boca Chica Beach to be saved, Natalie Salinas, of Brownsville, brought a piñata she’d made.

One side of the piñata was of Musk. The other side was of Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr.

Salinas said that she was contacted by the organizers who attempted to commission the piñata, but she decided to make it free of charge as a show of solidarity.

“I believe in this (cause),” Salinas said. “Everybody from here has seen the beach at least once or twice in their life, and just knowing that it’s not there for everybody, it just feels unjust and disgusting. I’m enraged a little bit because our politicians, we put them there, and they’re failing us as people. Their best interests are corporations rather than the people that put them there.”

Bekah Hinojosa, the cofounder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, was one of the organizers of Saturday’s protest. She said that she wanted to voice her opposition to the election that would incorporate Starbase as a Type C general law municipality and demand that Boca Chica Beach remain under the county’s authority.

“We were originally planning to be out here to oppose the Starbase election,” Hinojosa said. “Now we’re here to continue opposing the Starbase election, and also to continue to speak out against these house bills.”

She called the incorporation election “unjust and unfair,” and said that she and her organization will continue to speak out against Musk and SpaceX regardless of the outcome of the election.

“We are local Brownsville and Rio Grande Valley residents out here today who are making their voices heard because politicians here haven’t been listening to us for years,” she said.

Christopher Basaldú, a cofounder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network and member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, did not mince words when describing the situation faced by his people and those who have frequented the popular beach for decades.

“I remember when this place had no light pollution and had no industrial pollution,” Basaldú recalled. “SpaceX never existed. SpaceX shouldn’t exist. It shouldn’t be here. They’re polluting the water, they’re polluting the land, they’re polluting the air. They’re lying about their negative environmental impacts. They’re lying about their cultural impacts.”

“Everybody around the world should be boycotting everything that’s related to Musk. Everybody that works here for SpaceX should quit. And if you didn’t live in Brownsville when you started, you should leave. This is, this is our land,” he continued.

At the end of the day, the vote to incorporate Starbase into a municipality passed by a vote of 212 to 6.

In spite of the outcome, Basaldú said that he and others will continue doing what they’ve been doing for many years in opposition of SpaceX and Musk.

“What you’re seeing here today is not just, ‘Oh, people decided to go to the beach on this particular day,’” Basaldú said. “Nah. There’s people here that have been organizing and educating about SpaceX, colonization, their pollution, and the fact that they’re a horrible neighbor.”

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