“Traitors! Traitors!” It was the slogan most heard in the House of Representatives during the past few hours. Lawmakers generally and specifically approved President Claudia Sheinbaum’s new water law at full speed. The multi-day protests that led to the collapse of roads, checkpoints, border bridges and customs across the country were fruitless. Farmers believe that the law, which its critics described as “the final nail in the coffin of rural Mexico,” has undergone cosmetic changes that do not meet the demands. The National Front for the Salvation of the Rural, which includes many associations critical of the reform, has reactivated the protest in several strategic points in the country, and is preparing to intensify mobilization at the time of its approval in the Senate, where it will be discussed on Thursday. Farmers have developed an offer of protection against Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the threat of a siege of the Zocalo district in Mexico City still lurks, where the Mexican president and her followers will be received on Saturday, to mark Morena’s seven years in power.
The discussion has been long. The discussion concluded this Thursday. During more than 24 hours of discussion, the same tone was maintained. The ruling bloc, which bypassed all legislative procedures to approve the clause in record time, maintained its fierce defense of the new text related to presidential composition. From the opposition front, support for the Maidan has been relentless and confrontation continues.
Morena and his allies agreed to a package of last-minute changes, which, according to Ricardo Monreal, Morena’s coordinator in the House of Representatives, address the demands of peasant organizations on the issue of concessions. The amendments address three priority issues for producer leaders: they abolish the transfer of concessions between individuals and replace them with reassignment processes supervised by CONAGUA, provide for the preservation of rights of size, use and duration in inheritances and land sales, and make it possible to regulate existing wells and title deeds, with the promise that the new rules will not have retroactive effect in initiated proceedings. Farmers and the opposition are unhappy.
At the heart of the conflict is the fact that water use concessions can no longer be transferred between individuals, as they have to return to the state so that the National Water Commission (Conagua) can reallocate them. The justification for this ban is to end the illegal franchise market that has been created in the country. According to the farmers, this will make it impossible for them to inherit or sell their land, because without permission to use the water they have no value. Give preference to large companies that will acquire their lands at fantastic prices. This point was not addressed in substance. “Rights protected by liens and waivers will not be transferred.” “We would have been satisfied if the literal phrase in Article 22 had been removed: ‘Rights protected by concessions and concessions are not transferred.’” Point of agreement with farmers, said Rubén Moreira, leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Chair Sheinbaum’s methods were addressed at the table to maintain the spirit of her proposal on the question of concessions and not give in to pressure from agricultural groups, thus breaking the agreements the Legislature had made with rural leaders. The dialogue has collapsed and the prospects for its resumption are almost non-existent. A trail of betrayals stalks the halls of Congress. They accuse farmers of deception. Promises to amend legislation made by the ruling party last week have not been fulfilled, nothing more.
The opposition supported the protest and repeated the tone. In the discussion, there was no exchange of blame. Lawmakers on both sides revealed personal interests in water hoarding. There are lots of examples. Among them is Olga Sánchez Cordero, a retired Supreme Court minister who today represents Morena. “While farmers in the north live with dry wells and no credit, one family close to power, the family of former Minister of the Court, Olga Sánchez Cordero, collects more than 2.6 million cubic meters annually in Nuevo León. Since when do notaries need water concessions to do their work?” said PAN member Ania Gomez. The ruling party sought revenge. “This little angel from the PRI of this industry, Agroindustrias DUM, which has stored 50,100,000 cubic meters, is Cesar Duarte from the PRI,” said Morenista Gabriel García. Former President Vicente Fox also appeared at the debate with 14 titles totaling 13,144 cubic metres.
The seats of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the National Action Party and the Citizens’ Movement voted against this decision. The five abstentions included legislators from Morena, the Workers’ Party, and one from the independent representative of the HATT movement, Araceli Mendoza. The unconstitutionality of the legislation has been put on the table. Institutional Revolutionary Party coordinator Rubén Moreira warned that the law was based on unconstitutional grounds because indigenous people were not consulted.
The farmers remained watching as they drew the road map that would follow the approval of the law. The Senate is ready to receive the bill and repeat the same formula that its counterpart used this afternoon. The ruling bloc will apply its majority to bypass all legislative procedures and approve around the clock legislation bearing the personal seal of President Sheinbaum.