President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Sunday condemned the production of beer and milk in areas of Mexico that lack sufficient water.
The president last year canceled the project to install a huge brewery on the country’s northern border, and on Sunday he questioned the idea of producing that drink for export.
“How to put beer plants in the north? How to produce beer for export? What do we export? Water. If we don’t have water in the north, “said López Obrador.
Mexico has the largest beer export sector in the world with shipments abroad for about 4.6 billion dollars a year, mainly to the United States.
The president made his remarks during a ceremony in northern Mexico that highlighted actions to restore greater water flow to Cuatro Cienegas, a system of salt marshes and saline ponds that support colonies of cyanobacteria and other endemic species.
The government says it has increased the flow of water to the marshes and reclaimed some 100 acres (40 hectares) of wetlands that had dried up.
Local milk production and water consumption for growing livestock feed have put this unique ecosystem at risk.
López Obrador condemned the production of milk in the surroundings of Cuatro Cienegas, which is located in an arid region of the state of Coahuila.
“Milk is water,” said López Obrador. “Why not use the water from the south and the southeast?” of Mexico, where “there is so much water that it suffers from floods.”
López Obrador seeks to promote the development of southern Mexico, a poor but water-abundant region, although distant from the United States, the largest market for Corona beer exports.
A year ago, the Mexican government held a referendum after which the permits to install a huge beer plant of the company that makes the Crown were canceled, arguing that it would consume too much water.
Constellation Brands, based in Victor, New York, had already built a portion of the $ 1.5 billion breweries near the city of Mexicali, which is across from Calexico, California. Constellation owns Corona, Negra Modelo and Pacífico beers.
Source: infobae.com
