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CITY OF MEXICO (Process) .- The 10 decrees promulgated by President Enrique Peña Nieto on Tuesday 5 (precisely the World Environment Day) aim to privatize, even partially, the use and water marketing in 295 of the country's 757 watersheds, to preserve the environment and guarantee "the right of access, disposal and sanitation of the country. water for personal and domestic consumption in a manner sufficient, healthy, acceptable and affordable, "as stated in Article 4 of the Constitution, no concessions shall be made.
To preserve the environment, even a new decree was not necessary; it was enough to extend the presidential decrees which indicated that these basins were prohibited. That is to say, there was a total ban on the use of water, precisely to avoid the use of liquid basins. The best way to preserve the environment is precisely to prevent the man from extracting resources, in this case from the water.
And to allow partial use of the resource of these basins for human and domestic consumption and utilities, with the establishment of one of the provisions that are in said decrees and which states: "For the allocation of allocations of national surface waters in the partial reserve area for domestic use … the National Water Commission will grant them [las asignaciones] for up to the total volume of (.. .) cubic meters. "
This provision opened the door to the use of water from watersheds that have surpluses (according to studies by the National Water and Water Resources Commission). international civil society organizations that advised them or, at least, approved their decision) to guarantee the right established in the fourth constitutional article of the reform promulgated on February 8, 2012. The basins have lost their forbidden nature , the limits o It was established to preserve the environment and the door was opened to use water to guarantee the constitutional right.
However, the main objective was to open the door to concessions for private use and, therefore, added an additional specific standard for this: "Volumes available, not incurred by the partial reserve established in this decree , may be exploited, used or take advantage of the title of concession or assignment previously issued by the Water Authority. "
With this provision, they open the door wide so that it can be used. The water from these basins, which had been protected since 1930, is intended to guarantee the volumes required by the mining, oil and privatization companies of urban water systems, as emphasized by the organization. Agua's civil society by Everyone, but also from other organizations preoccupied with the environment and the privatization trend accentuated in this six-year term.
It is obvious that to achieve the objectives that the National Commission for Water announces and that the World Wildlife Fund was necessary to allow the granting of concessions; but it was essential to fulfill the commitment that the current administration had made with the individuals interested in exploiting and commercializing this natural resource.
The decrees are the last link in a series of actions, all in the same direction: allow the exploitation, use and private marketing of water. First of all, the granting of these concessions for the private use of water, which has led since the beginning of the current government, through the first holder of Conagua in this sexennium , David Korenfeld, which was quite obvious in the case of the Constellation Marques brewery, to the detriment of the farmers of the Mexicali Valley and the inhabitants of the same capital, who provoked the social defense movement of the water.
Second, two national water bills were introduced, first by Korenfeld himself, in March 2015; and earlier this year, with a new project promoted by Ignacio Pichardo Lechuga, Mexican MP and Chair of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Commission (19659002). Opposition to the PRI to adopt legislation in this sense, Peña Nieto opted for presidential decrees, which are legal are a way to return to Congress. Of course, the president and his team perfectly calculated the times and thought it was the perfect time to do it because the Mexican political class was particularly distracted by the presidential election process.
This is not the opposition, as the current president points out. of Conagua, Roberto Ramírez de la Parra, who chose the time to denounce this new attempt to open a highway to the privatization of the exploitation, use and marketing of water, but the same president of the Republic; knowing that it was the last chance to do it, they decided to play their last card.
On the other hand, over the six years, the protection that Peña Nieto granted to various business groups, such as the constitutional controversies that, in the early days of 2014, were first presented against the Hearing Rights Guidelines published by the Federal Telecommunications Institute; and, later, against the ecological tax that the Congress of Zacatecas approved to tax mining companies
Thus the decrees published in the Official Journal of the Federation, on Wednesday 6, to open the door to individuals for exploitation, use and the marketing of water in nearly 300 watersheds (equivalent to 55% of the country's lakes and rivers) is part of Peña's commitments with certain groups of companies in order to give them the legal guarantees of # 39; have the volumes required by the mines, oil companies … privatization of water systems. Once the legal hurdle is resolved, the concessions will begin to circulate
This analysis was published on June 24, 2018 in the 2173 edition of Proceso magazine.
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