Pretty soon it'll be like Mad Max Fury Road up in there
A WATER TRUCK ON A HIGHWAY IN THE NORTHERN STATE OF CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO. THE NATURAL RESOURCE IS PROVING TO BE A NEW, BOOMING BUSINESS FOR THE SINALOA CARTEL.
“Water is now a valuable asset for us, and as it becomes more scarce, the more we will fight to make sure we have enough,” a cartel operative told VICE World News.
URIQUE, Mexico — Deep inside a canyon in the mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico—a place that’s accessible only by mule or on foot—locals haven’t seen this river full for over eight years. And now, the waterway is the property of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“Here, everything has an owner,” said a mid-level Sinaloa Cartel commander for the region, who asked to be called “El Señor.” “Rivers, creeks, lakes… everything, and especially water.”
During what Mexican authorities called the worst drought in the country’s history last year, thousands of local farmers—many of them Indigenous Raramuri people—lost their crops. But the Sinaloa Cartel saw a new business opportunity: the control and distribution of water.
Using water trucks, pipelines, and an army of lookouts, the cartel is siphoning water from lakes, rivers, and creeks in the mountains of the northern state of Chihuahua. The business model is twofold: The cartel wants to keep its own weed and poppy fields irrigated, and it wants to be the broker that supplies water to farmers, hotels, and other local businesses that have been left dry.
“Water is now a valuable asset for us, and as it becomes more scarce, the more we will fight to make sure we have enough,” El Señor said.
THE SINALOA CARTEL IS USING HUNDREDS OF PLASTIC PIPELINES TO SIPHON WATER FROM LOCAL CREEKS, RIVERS AND LAKES TO KEEP THEIR CLANDESTINE PLANTATIONS AFLOAT.
Water is the new black market throughout northern Mexico as climate change is keeping the seasonal rain away.
In July, armed men hijacked a truck carrying 1,600 containers of water, with a bit over 10,000 liters, while traveling through the Guadalupe municipality in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, according to authorities.
Guadalupe is facing shortages that force residents to be without water for as long as two months. But the rural regions of Chihuahua have been probably some of the worst hit by the drought.
In the summer of 2021, Chihuahua state declared that 100 percent of the crops in the state were “completely lost” for the first time in history as a consequence of climate change, leaving more than 22,000 local farmers in extreme poverty.
This year, however, the rain came pouring down, just recently. The Sierra Madre Occidental used to see the seasonal showers starting in late June and all through July, but this year the rains started in September.
RAMÓN CAMPOY, A LOCAL AGRONOMIST IN THE SIERRA TARAHUMARA, INSPECTS CORN CROPS THAT HAVE BEEN DAMAGED BY DROUGHT IN RECENT YEARS.
Local agronomist Ramón Campoy, who for the last 45 years has been helping local farmers to sow, fertilize, and harvest their land around the Urique municipality, said that although these showers will bring momentary aid to the crops, it will not be enough to fill the state’s dry reservoirs.
“This is the first heavy rain we've gotten in more than 8 or 10 years,” he said as we walked across a golden cornfield owned by a local Raramuri farmer. The ground is still damp from the morning shower, and the crops, taller than us, bend as Campoy makes his way through them. At the very back of the field stands a small wooden barn where the farmer stores the corn for the rest of the year.
CONTINUED:
The Sinaloa Cartel Is Controlling Water in Drought-Stricken Mexico (vice.com)
A WATER TRUCK ON A HIGHWAY IN THE NORTHERN STATE OF CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO. THE NATURAL RESOURCE IS PROVING TO BE A NEW, BOOMING BUSINESS FOR THE SINALOA CARTEL.
“Water is now a valuable asset for us, and as it becomes more scarce, the more we will fight to make sure we have enough,” a cartel operative told VICE World News.
URIQUE, Mexico — Deep inside a canyon in the mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico—a place that’s accessible only by mule or on foot—locals haven’t seen this river full for over eight years. And now, the waterway is the property of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“Here, everything has an owner,” said a mid-level Sinaloa Cartel commander for the region, who asked to be called “El Señor.” “Rivers, creeks, lakes… everything, and especially water.”
During what Mexican authorities called the worst drought in the country’s history last year, thousands of local farmers—many of them Indigenous Raramuri people—lost their crops. But the Sinaloa Cartel saw a new business opportunity: the control and distribution of water.
Using water trucks, pipelines, and an army of lookouts, the cartel is siphoning water from lakes, rivers, and creeks in the mountains of the northern state of Chihuahua. The business model is twofold: The cartel wants to keep its own weed and poppy fields irrigated, and it wants to be the broker that supplies water to farmers, hotels, and other local businesses that have been left dry.
“Water is now a valuable asset for us, and as it becomes more scarce, the more we will fight to make sure we have enough,” El Señor said.
THE SINALOA CARTEL IS USING HUNDREDS OF PLASTIC PIPELINES TO SIPHON WATER FROM LOCAL CREEKS, RIVERS AND LAKES TO KEEP THEIR CLANDESTINE PLANTATIONS AFLOAT.
Water is the new black market throughout northern Mexico as climate change is keeping the seasonal rain away.
In July, armed men hijacked a truck carrying 1,600 containers of water, with a bit over 10,000 liters, while traveling through the Guadalupe municipality in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, according to authorities.
Guadalupe is facing shortages that force residents to be without water for as long as two months. But the rural regions of Chihuahua have been probably some of the worst hit by the drought.
In the summer of 2021, Chihuahua state declared that 100 percent of the crops in the state were “completely lost” for the first time in history as a consequence of climate change, leaving more than 22,000 local farmers in extreme poverty.
This year, however, the rain came pouring down, just recently. The Sierra Madre Occidental used to see the seasonal showers starting in late June and all through July, but this year the rains started in September.
RAMÓN CAMPOY, A LOCAL AGRONOMIST IN THE SIERRA TARAHUMARA, INSPECTS CORN CROPS THAT HAVE BEEN DAMAGED BY DROUGHT IN RECENT YEARS.
Local agronomist Ramón Campoy, who for the last 45 years has been helping local farmers to sow, fertilize, and harvest their land around the Urique municipality, said that although these showers will bring momentary aid to the crops, it will not be enough to fill the state’s dry reservoirs.
“This is the first heavy rain we've gotten in more than 8 or 10 years,” he said as we walked across a golden cornfield owned by a local Raramuri farmer. The ground is still damp from the morning shower, and the crops, taller than us, bend as Campoy makes his way through them. At the very back of the field stands a small wooden barn where the farmer stores the corn for the rest of the year.
CONTINUED:
The Sinaloa Cartel Is Controlling Water in Drought-Stricken Mexico (vice.com)
