Mexicans demand end to 'stealing' of their water under sharing treaty with US
Local people in the drought-hit state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico, who are angered at a water sharing pact with the United States, have staged a protest to call for an end to the agreement, which they deem as the stealing of their water sources.
The long-simmering dispute about shared water rights between Mexico and the United States has recently erupted into open clashes pitting Mexican National Guard troops against farmers, ranchers and residents in Rosales and Delicias de Chihuahua.
The locals are against the extraction of water from the three La Boquilla, Las Vírgenes and Francisco I Madero dams. They are opposed to the Mexican government’s decision to divert water from these dams to the US as part of the water sharing pact.
Large parts of Chihuahua along the US border have suffered moderate and severe drought, and the Mexican farmers argue that they need the water for their own crops.
The protesters told Reuters that the water was being "stolen" and that they had gathered because they worried the National Guard would recover control of the dam.
"We're here united to defend Chihuahua, defend the water they're stealing from us," Marisa Flore, one of the participants in Sunday’s protest said. "This is the most critical time we've been living in Chihuahua."
In the National Water Commission of Mexico’s drought monitor, several areas in Chihuahua have been marked as in severe drought. Much of the rest is marked as abnormally dry.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has been working to maintain a good relationship with US President Donald Trump, said on Friday that Mexico has to abide by the agreement.
Under the 1944 treaty, Mexico must deliver 1,750,000 acre-feet of water to the United States over a five-year period. Mexico also gets US water from the Colorado River.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott last week asked the State Department to help enforce the agreement.
Mexico has until October 24 to meet a five-year quota, and owes nearly a year supply of water, Abbott said.
Earlier this month, the protesters took control of the La Boquilla Dam in Chihuahua, which borders New Mexico, in an attempt to close the dam's valves and cut the flow of water toward the US.
A woman was shot dead and her husband wounded after clashes erupted between National Guard troops and farmers.
The commander of Mexico’s National Guard said later that the shooting death of the woman had been “a regrettable accident.”
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