Violence has been escalating in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. The root of this violence is the distribution of water across the U.S.-Mexico border. On February 7, hundreds of farmers rushed a dam on the Río Conchos, forcing the state to call out the National Guard to repel them (Bravo, “Agricultores”). The Boquilla dam was diverting water away from farmers’ fields and into the United States, as mandated by a 1944 treaty. Over the last thirty years, Mexico has developed a significant water debt to the United States (Miranda, “Por qué México debe pagar agua”). The farmers claim there is not enough water to irrigate their parched fields and that they have a right to receive this necessary resource (Stevenson, “Mexican Farmers”).

In the last few months, the farmers showed their frustration with increasingly open displays of rebellion. They blocked railways, burned government buildings, and took politicians hostage. In October, farmers armed with nothing more than sticks and homemade shields stormed the National Guard position on the dam and forced their surrender without casualties. Mexican President López Obrador commented that he was negotiating with the farmers occupying the dam but has also ramped up the National Guard presence in Chihuahua and frozen bank accounts in Boquilla. So far, the National Guard has shot two protestors, killing one and severely wounding the other (Kitroeff, “This is a War”).

These crises may seem modern, but they have deep roots in history extending back centuries. Much of the country is semi-arid or desert, so equitable management of water to the country’s varied interests has been a constant struggle (Endfield, Climate and Society, 140). Poor Mexican farmers have always struggled against the powerful to retain their water rights and have turned to violence when the government fails to equitably manage access (García, “Contaminación y sobreexplotación”). Indigenous communal farming villages have traditionally been at the forefront of this conflict.

Under Spanish colonial policy in Mexico, settlers could not infringe on the property or resources of Indigenous agrarian communities, which were also entitled to sufficient water access to grow their crops (Taylor, “Land and Water Rights,” 194-5). In 1591, however, the crown began a policy requiring all landholders to provide (or purchase) a written title to their land. This initiated a land grab which resulted in many communities losing their land to settlers with written titles (Ruiz Medrano, Mexico’s Indigenous Communities, 101). These private landholders also began drawing more extensively from communal water sources for large-scale irrigation or to power mills. To combat this encroachment, Indigenous communities turned to the courts. Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, Indigenous farmers sought to prove that their claim to water predated those of their competitors. While many communities successfully defended their water access, many other lawsuits ended in defeat or compromise. This resulted in a gradual shift towards consolidated, private water monopolies that rented water access back to the communities that had originally owned them (Lipsett-Rivera, To Defend Our Water, 77-99).

If they failed in court, some communities took drastic measures to defend their water rights. On February 8, 1700 in Zimatlan, Oaxaca, the Indigenous village Santa Maria Lachicho lost a lawsuit over an irrigated field to a Spanish hacienda owner. When the Spanish tried to forcibly evict them from their land, the community repelled their attackers with sticks and hatchets. They used the extra time to grow more food and appeal the court case in Mexico City. In cases like this, threats of violence remained the only alternative when the government had failed to protect these communities from powerful private interests (Love, “The Indigenous Struggle”).

These issues are still very present today. Often, the private interests threatening public water access are American corporations. In this year alone, protests have raged across Mexico over water consolidation or pollution by the mining firm Gold Resource, the brewing company Constellation Brands, and Coca Cola (Agren, “Mexico City,” Arrellano, “Comunidad indígena,” and Henríquez, “Piden en San Cristóbal”). Indigenous communities are usually on the front lines of these protests, risking violent reprisal, imprisonment, or death for speaking out – not to mention risking infection from COVID-19 (Cancino, “Indígenas piden estudio”).

Mexican citizens are now uniting across the country in grassroots campaigns to bring attention to threats on their water rights. Indigenous communities are leading the charge. Agua para Tod@s (Water for All) represents over 400 organizations, Indigenous communities, and universities with the goal of passing a General Law of Water that would enshrine access to adequate and safe water as a basic human right (Contreras, “Citizen Initiative”). On the same day that the Chihuahuan farmers initially stormed the Boquilla dam, Agua para Tod@s presented a petition with 198,000 signatures before Mexico’s National Commision for Water (Conagua) (Mario, “Pueblos indígenas”). Mexico’s current government, controlled by the left-leaning Morena coalition, has committed to passing the General Law of Water through Congress and enacting its recommendations into public policy (“Respalden diputados del PT y Morena”).

Despite these huge steps forward, the future is far from certain. López Obrador continues to call for limiting the power of private interests but has yet to produce any substantive change. He has also been hesitant to resist Trump’s demands, whether they be over immigration, trade, or the water debt (Kitroeff). It is unclear how Joseph Biden’s election will alter this relationship, but the water debt is unlikely to disappear soon. In addition, many scholars and legal experts warn that private interests have strong influence over Conagua’s policy development (Ramírez, “Académicos”).

This problem is only going to get worse as climate change increases the frequency of droughts and floods and the rising population on the border leads to increased demands for water. Mexicans are now turning to tactics developed over centuries by Indigenous communities to resist resource consolidation by powerful monied interests. It is vital that policymakers recognize the leading role Indigenous communities are taking in this national struggle for natural resource rights, because it is ultimately their land and lives on the line. This is why public water reform must be a rural and Indigenous issue first, and not simply an urban renewal program.

Indigenous communities have centuries of history adapting to and resisting changes in environments, demographics, and governments. Mexico’s history shows that, despite the power imbalance, these communities have proven much more durable than the Mexican nation, which has seen countless successful popular uprisings. Acquiescing to the United States may have short-term benefits, but ignoring the demands of an increasingly desperate population is unsustainable.

Bibliography

Agren, David. “Mexican City rejects plans for giant US-owned brewery amid water shortages.” The Guardian (United States). Mar. 23, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/mexico-brewery-mexicali-constellation-brands?CMP=share_btn_tw.

Arrellano, Daniel. “Comunidad indígena contra minera estadounidense.” Regeneración Radio (México). Feb. 13, 2020. https://regeneracionradio.org/archivos/9521.

Bravo, Tomas. “Agricultores ocupan una represa en México para evitar la entrega de agua a EE.UU.” Reuters en Español (México). Feb. 7, 2020. https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/342398-agricultores-ocupan-represa-mexico-agua-eeuu.

Cancino, Karina. “Indígenas piden estudio para determinar contaminación del Río Santiago en Nayarit.” Aristegui Noticias (México). Feb. 20, 2020. https://aristeguinoticias.com/2002/mexico/indigenas-piden-estudio-para-determinar-contaminacion-del-rio-santiago-en-nayarit/.

Conteras, Arturo. “Citizen Initiative in Mexico Boosts Water for All.” Havana Times (Cuba). Feb. 9, 2020. https://havanatimes.org/features/citizen-initiative-in-mexico-boosts-water-for-all.

Endfield, Georgina. Climate and Society in Colonial Mexico: A Study in Vulnerability. Malden: Blackwell, 2008.

García, Viridiana. “Contaminación y sobreexplotación: principales problemas del agua en México.” Contralínea (México). Jan. 19, 2020. https://www.contralinea.com.mx/archivo-revista/2020/01/19/contaminacion-y-sobreexplotacion-principales-problemas-del-agua-en-mexico.

Henríquez, Elio. “Piden en San Cristóbal revocar permiso de agua a Coca Cola.” La Jornada (México) Jun. 24, 2020. https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/estados/2020/06/24/piden-en-san-cristobal-revocar-permiso-de-agua-a-coca-cola-617.html.

Kitroeff, Natalie. “‘This is a War’: Cross-Border Fight Over Water Erupts in Mexico.” The New York Times (United States). Oct. 14, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/world/americas/mexico-water-boquilla-dam.html?searchResultPosition=1.

Love, Cody J. “The Indigenous Struggle for Water Rights in Seventeenth Century New Spain.” Master’s thesis, University of North Carolina, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17615/dcmq-pm89.

Mario, Marlo. “Pueblos indígenas presentan ante el congreso de Ley General de Aguas.” Somos El Medio (México). Feb. 10, 2020. https://aguaparatodos.org.mx/pueblos-indigenas-presentan-ante-el-congreso-iniciativa-de-ley-general-de-aguas-somos-el-medio.

Miranda, Fanny. “Por qué México debe pagar agua a Estados Unidos?” Milenio (México). Feb. 8, 2020. https://www.milenio.com/estados/por-que-mexico-debe-pagar-agua-a-estados-unidos.

Lipsett-Rivera, Sonya. To Defend Our Waters with the Blood of Our Veins: The Struggle for Resources in Colonial Puebla. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999.

Ramírez, Érika. “Académicos, Investigadores, y ONG señalan que viejos grupos de poder manejan la Conagua.” Contralinea (México). Sep. 18, 2020. https://www.contralinea.com.mx/archivo-revista/2020/09/18/academicos-investigadores-y-ong-senalan-que-viejos-grupos-de-poder-manejan-la-conagua/.

“Respalden diputados del PT y Morena iniciativa ciudadana para crear la nueva Ley General de Aguas.” Mi Punto de Vista (México). Mar. 11, 2020. http://www.mipuntodevista.com.mx/respaldan-diputados-del-pt-y-morena-iniciativa-ciudadana-para-crear-la-nueva-ley-general-de-aguas/.

Ruiz-Medrano, Ethelia. Mexico’s Indigenous Communities: Their Lands and Histories, 1500-2010. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2011.

Stevenson, Mark. “Mexican Farmers take over dams to stop water payments to US.” Associated Press (United States). Feb. 5, 2020. https://apnews.com/7863206c51408b958479179c39035e28.

Taylor, William B. “Land and Water Rights in the Viceroyalty of New Spain.” New Mexico Historical Review 50, no. 3 (July 1, 1975): 189–212.