\n<\/p>\n
O<\/span>n a summer evening in southern Mexico, a percussion group using water bottles as instruments leads a procession through M\u00e9rida, capital of Yucat\u00e1n state. Children walking alongside elderly people are guided by members of M\u00fauch\u2019 X\u00edinbal, a Maya land rights organisation. The placards they carry declare: \u201cWater is not for sale.\u201d A heavy chant accompanies the march: \u201cIt\u2019s not a drought \u2013 it\u2019s plunder!\u201d<\/p>\n At a rallying point in the city, protesters read from a manifesto and accuse the government of prioritising profit over water, health and land. They denounce a wave of mega-projects imposed without their consent, from industrial-scale pig farms to the controversial Maya Train tourist expansion. But they reserve their greatest anger for the Heineken brewery in Kanas\u00edn, near M\u00e9rida, which was announced in June.<\/p>\n To many of Yucat\u00e1n\u2019s Maya people, the plans for the Heineken factory are seen not as a promising development, but as a continuation of a deeper problem: of government-backed industrial developments that threaten water supplies and human rights, leaving local communities caught in an uneven conflict to protect their cultural and environmental survival.<\/p>\n <\/span>Heineken\u2019s chief executive, Oriol Bonaclocha, announcing the brewery plans at the National Palace in June next to Mexico\u2019s president, Claudia Sheinbaum.<\/span> Photograph: Raquel Cunha\/Reuters<\/p>\n As part of a $2.75bn (\u00a32.05bn) investment plan, the Heineken brewery is expected to generate 2,500 jobs, directly and indirectly, including 300 permanent positions. Indigenous communities have criticised a lack of community consent \u2013 disputing the company\u2019s claim that consultations took place last December \u2013 and raising concerns about its environmental impacts, particularly the effects of its water use on local communities.<\/p>\n Beer is primarily water. They are still taking a lot out to make the product \u2026 millions of litres a dayAdrian Forrester, brewer<\/p>\n \u201cIt not only threatens our water through contamination, but could make it harder for people in poverty to access it,\u201d says Pedro Uc Be, an activist with M\u00fauch\u2019 X\u00edinbal.<\/p>\n Kanas\u00edn lies within the Yucat\u00e1n\u2019s Cenote Ring, a network of underground aquifers of spiritual and practical significance to the Maya and an important source of drinking water. Several studies have documented contamination from human activity within the cenote water supply.<\/p>\n <\/span>The brewery in Meoqui, in Chihuahua state. Heineken says the M\u00e9rida brewery\u2019s water usage will follow the principles of \u2018reduce, re-use and replenish\u2019. <\/span> Photograph: Jos\u00e9 Luis Gonz\u00e1lez\/Reuters<\/p>\n Heineken says it will produce 400m litres (100m US gallons) of beer a year, and plans to limit water use to two litres for every litre of beer. But one estimate suggests this could mean losing 1bn litres of water at the current rate of 2.6 litres for every litre of beer.<\/p>\n Activists say this is enough water to support 28,000 families in a region where about 121,000 people lacked access to drinking water in 2020, and water availability has fallen by more than 50% since 2003. The Dialogues on Alcohol Forum has also noted that in some rural areas of Mexico, alcohol is more readily available than drinking water.<\/p>\n The company also says its new brewery will reduce its water consumption with \u201ccircular economy practices that ensure water re-use through cutting-edge treatment systems\u201d and aims to minimise waste and operate using renewable energy.<\/p>\n <\/span>A cenote<\/em> near large pig and poultry farms in Muna, Yucat\u00e1n. <\/span> Photograph: H\u00e9ctor Vivas\/Getty<\/p>\n But Adrian Forrester, founder of the Mexican craft brewery Cerveceria B\u00f3ruma, says this is not enough. Most of the water used to clean production tanks can be recycled, he says, but the enormous volume of Heineken\u2019s production inevitably makes it water-intensive.<\/p>\n \u201cBeer is primarily water; they are still taking a lot out to <\/strong>make the product. That\u2019s millions of litres a day,\u201d he says. The pressure on water supply, Forrester says, is \u201cless about the water recycling, and more about the raw extraction of groundwater to produce at that scale\u201d.<\/p>\n These companies have a history of claiming they will treat the wastewater using the latest technology to prevent contamination, but then they do notPedro Uc Be, activist<\/p>\n Communities are also concerned about pollution. Large-scale breweries are required by law to treat wastewater produced during beer manufacturing, as it contains high levels of chemicals and organic compounds that can harm soils and contaminate groundwater.<\/p>\n Uc Be worries about compliance. \u201cUnfortunately, these companies have a history of claiming they will treat the wastewater using the latest technology to prevent contamination, but then they do not.\u201d<\/p>\n He mentions the huge pig farms, which were accused of polluting the Cenote Ring with untreated wastewater. Allegations were made against the Modelo brewery in Hunucm\u00e1 in 2018 after the discovery of carcinogenic agrochemicals in the drinking water of 40 Yucat\u00e1n municipalities. An analysis of state records published in July found that only 3% of the state\u2019s wastewater was being treated, which it attributes to a lack of operational plants.<\/p>\n <\/span>Industrial pig farms in Opichen, Mexico. Some Indigenous communities have called for a moratorium on such megafarms.<\/span> Photograph: H\u00e9ctor Vivas\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Heineken says it conducted a free, prior and informed consultation with assistance from the Kanas\u00edn state government, in which \u201ccommunities approved the project and agreements for shared benefits were signed\u201d.<\/p>\n The company also says it carried out a water-feasibility study before investing in the project, that its water usage follows the principles \u201creduce, re-use and replenish\u201d, and that it aims for the new brewery to exceed the water consumption efficiency of its Meoqui plant in the state of Chihuahua \u2013 1.7 litres of water for every litre of beer.<\/p>\n I<\/span>ndigenous groups say they are often excluded from decisions that affect their land and water. Mexico has signed an international treaty that requires \u201cfree and informed consent\u201d from Indigenous peoples before activities that could affect them are undertaken, but the Maya feel that right is systematically ignored.<\/p>\n Maya groups and UN experts have criticised consultations around the vast Maya Train rail project as exclusionary and inadequate. A lack of consultation formed part of court proceedings brought against a pig farm by six children in Hom\u00fan, and communities in Cuncunul and Valladolid successfully challenged a solar farm on the same grounds.<\/p>\n <\/span>A M\u00fauch\u2019 X\u00edinbal workshop on leadership and land defence. <\/span> Photograph: Haizel De la Cruz<\/p>\n For Indigenous communities, consultation matters. A global study by 18 researchers has found that large industrial projects often cause severe social and environmental impacts if they are not developed with the full support of local groups.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem with such large-scale projects,\u201d says the research lead, Arnim Scheidel, \u201cis that they significantly change not only social relations, but also the local environment, which is often closely tied to cultural landscapes, sense of place and traditional ecological knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n Uc Be is concerned about cultural erasure caused by the surge of mega-projects across the region. \u201cThe Heineken project will bring gentrification and instability. The jobs it creates will be filled by outsiders who don\u2019t understand our cultural situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Alarmed by the experiences of counterparts along the Maya Train route, he also fears the influx of outsiders could increase his community\u2019s vulnerability to opportunistic organised crime groups. Residents of various municipalities there have reported a rise in the drug trade, substance abuse, sexual harassment and violence.<\/p>\n <\/span>Construction of the Maya Train cuts through the jungle in Yucat\u00e1n. Maya groups and UN experts said there was too little consultation around the project. <\/span> Photograph: Rodrigo Oropeza\/AFP\/Getty<\/p>\n With limited political inclusion, some Maya groups have turned to the courts for support. In June 2024, 21 communities demanded a moratorium on new industrialised pig megafarms; although the request failed, parallel legal actions resulted in the closure of one farm and fines for 26 others.<\/p>\n Last year, in a case that is still pending, the conservation group Guardians of the Cenotes filed a lawsuit against the state to secure legal personhood for the underground lakes.<\/p>\n <\/span>Pedro Uc Be admits he does not know how to stop Heineken. <\/span> Photograph: Haizel De la Cruz<\/p>\n But legal action is expensive and can take years to resolve. By the time courts upheld Indigenous requests to halt work on two sections of the Maya Train in January, the tracks had already been constructed.<\/p>\n Uc Be says he does not know what M\u00fauch\u2019 X\u00edinbal will do next. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a way to stop the project right now. It\u2019s a huge challenge,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n However, they are not admitting defeat. While their resources are dwarfed by the scale of the brewery\u2019s investment and its government backing, the Maya believe their strength depends on staying united.<\/p>\n \u201cWe act because we do not consent to our own murder. Only by recognising ourselves as one body, one life, can we continue as a Maya culture,\u201d he says. \u201cJust surviving is an act of resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n Quick Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/strong><\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS\/Android) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/strong><\/p>\n If you can safely use the Tor network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.<\/p>\n Finally, our guide at theguardian.com\/tips\u00a0lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.\u00a0<\/p>\n Illustration: Guardian Design \/ Rich Cousins<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a summer evening in southern Mexico, a percussion group using water bottles as instruments leads a procession through M\u00e9rida, capital of Yucat\u00e1n state. Children walking alongside elderly people are guided by members of M\u00fauch\u2019 X\u00edinbal, a Maya land rights organisation. The placards they carry declare: \u201cWater is not for sale.\u201d A heavy chant accompanies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[15694,918,1518,1123,15695,6574,364,6386,9894,1390,1183,10715],"class_list":{"0":"post-26084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-brewing","9":"tag-development","10":"tag-fear","11":"tag-global","12":"tag-heineken","13":"tag-maya","14":"tag-people","15":"tag-plants","16":"tag-thirst","17":"tag-trouble","18":"tag-water","19":"tag-yucatan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contact us about this story<\/h4>\n