On March 22, PBI-Mexico tweeted:
“Today, International Water Day PBI accompanied the @fpdtampt [the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water] in the March against the Dispossession of Water and for the Right to Life, No to Militarization! We join the call to respect and defend natural resources against extraction by megaprojects.”
The People’s Front has resisted the dispossession of water by the Morelos Integral Project (PIM) that would draw 50 million litres of water per day from the Cuautla River to cool the turbines of a thermoelectric plant, and the Bonafont bottled water plant in the city of Juan C. Bonilla has taken more than 1,400,000 litres of water per day over the past 25 years.
Photo: The banner says: “The dispossession of water, a war against our peoples. It’s not drought it’s plunder”
On March 22, the Spanish news agency EFE reported:
“About a hundred members of indigenous communities marched on Wednesday in the Mexican capital to protest against the dispossession of water at the hands of multinational companies and government institutions.
Organized by the National Assembly for Water and Life of the National Indigenous Congress, the demonstrators marched from the Angel of Independence to the central square of the Zocalo taking advantage of the celebration of World Water Day.
The protester denounced the collusion of the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador with large multinational companies such as Bonafont, Heineken or Coca-Cola when granting concessions to privatize water with impunity.
Among the different harangues that were launched along the route, reference was made to the manufacturing plant that the electric car company Tesla will build in the northern state of Nuevo León, criticizing that international companies are prioritized in a region where water is a scarce commodity.
The march, in which a variety of demands were demonstrated, was led by a dozen children dressed in fish costumes and a banner that read: “The dispossession of water, a war against our peoples. It’s not drought, it’s looting.””
La Izquierda Diario México adds:
“[Social organizations and defenders of territory and nature] spoke out against the militarization that the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has promoted and which has been responsible for the increase in violence in the communities, as well as responsible for the intimidation and threats to the peoples who oppose megaprojects.
At the same time, they denounce that soft drink and real estate companies maintain a constant hoarding of water, despite the drought conditions that have been experienced in recent years in the country, a situation that exacerbates violence and the criminalization of defenders of the territory.”
A video of the speeches at the march can be seen here.
PBI-Mexico has accompanied the People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala since early 2020.
