ADVERTISEMENT

Mexico Rushes to Meet 1944 Water Quota as U.S. Adds Pressure

Mexico Rushes to Fulfill 1944 Water Quota as U.S. Adds Pressure

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Mexico will do everything it can to meet an October deadline to send water from its side of the Rio Grande to the U.S. as Texas politicians threaten to take action.

The president said Friday he doesn’t rule out the possibility of meeting the water quota established in a 1944 treaty. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has urged the U.S. State Department to help enforce the water deal, and Texas State Representative Lyle Larson has proposed cutting off the Colorado River as it enters Mexico from Arizona. Access to the river is part of the treaty.

Tensions at the border with Texas include protests on the Mexican side by farmers suffering from drought, and the shutdown of a U.S.-Mexico railway. They’re an unwelcome source of strain between the U.S. and Mexico as Lopez Obrador seeks to keep close ties with his neighbor in the face of the country’s worst economic crisis in nearly a century and as the U.S. presidential election nears.

“Despite the letter from the governor of Texas, the State Department has been respectful, patient, the talks continue,” said Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO. “We are going to ensure that there is no break.”

READ MORE: Morning AMLO: Tensions Over Mexico-U.S. Water Deal Escalate

The president said he didn’t want the water treaty to become a topic in the U.S. election. The lion’s share of Mexico’s output comes from the border state of Chihuahua, where droughts have hurt capacity to irrigate farms.

Earlier this month, farmers blockading a dam were met by the national guard in Chihuahua, escalating after the quasi-military force opened fire on protesters, killing at least one person.

“Farmers should predominantly be natural AMLO supporters, so these protests are awkward for the president,” Nicholas Watson, an analyst at consultancy Teneo wrote in a note. “On top of that, the perception that AMLO is putting the U.S. before a natural constituency could be very damaging to his image.”

In Lopez Obrador’s telling, the governor is himself involved in instigating the protests. Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral, who is from the opposition PAN party, has contested the government’s depiction of the violence, and says that the state has already contributed enough water to the total Mexico wants to send north.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.