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The
farmers amassed outside the congressional chamber to protest the
General Water Law proposal, which they say will take water away
from the countryside and re-allocate it for discretionary use.
They say the proposal threatens their livelihoods and chips away
at their fundamental right to water.
“If it affects the countryside, it affects the city!” read a
banner hanging from two tractors.
“We are protesting against the imposition by the federal
government of a new water law, a reform that puts at risk the
ownership of our lands,” said Jorge Robles, a farmer from the
northern state of Chihuahua.
The proposal backed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is
being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies, where the
president's Morena Party has a majority. The law aims for the
federal government to impose stricter penalties for
water-related crimes and regulate water concessions — a sector
plagued by high-profile corruption cases.
The farmers brought their demonstrations to the country’s
capital less than a week after they and groups of truck drivers
lifted road and highway blockades in at least seven of the
country’s 32 states. They were protesting the new water law and
insecurity on the country's highways, and demanding increases in
corn and wheat prices.
They lifted the blockades after reaching an agreement with the
federal government to address their demands but agricultural
leaders warned that they were prepared to escalate their
protests if the proposal advances in Congress.
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