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Dozens of farmers arrived with their tractors in a caravan Mexico Blocked the entrance to the city and Mexico Congress on Wednesday to protest a new national water law that imposes strict controls on water use.
Farmers gathered outside the congressional chamber to protest the General Water Law proposal, which they say would take water away from rural areas and reallocate it for discretionary use. They say that this proposal is threatening their livelihood and their fundamental right to water has been lost.
“If it affects the countryside, it affects the city too!” read a banner hanging on two tractors.
“We are protesting the imposition of a new water law by the federal government, a reform that jeopardizes our land ownership,” said Jorge Robles, a farmer in the northern state of Chihuahua.
Proposal supported by Mexican President claudia sheinbaum The discussion is being held in the Chamber of Deputies, where the President’s Morena party has a majority. The purpose of this law is for the federal government to impose tougher penalties for water-related crimes and regulate water concessions – a sector plagued by high-profile corruption cases.
The farmers brought their protest to the nation’s capital less than a week after groups of truck drivers lifted road and highway blockades in at least seven of the country’s 32 states. They were protesting new water laws and insecurities on the country’s highways and demanding increased prices of corn and wheat.
They lifted the blockade after reaching an agreement with the federal government to address their demands, but farm leaders warned they were prepared to escalate their protests if the proposal moves forward in Congress.