Intercontinental Cry

Mazahuas Choose Jail over Going Without Water

MEXICO CITY, Dec 30 (Tierramérica) - Although they live near a gigantic water distribution system, the indigenous Mazahuas lack access to water and live in deep poverty. Since Dec. 11, when they shut off the valves of one of the system’s plants in protest, Mazahua women have kept up the vigil — and warn that it could turn radical.

“We prefer jail over continuing without water,” Beatriz Flores, a member of the “General Command of the Mazahua Women’s Army in Defence of Water”, told Tierramérica.

The group, despite its name, declares itself to be a peaceful movement. Its protest consists of maintaining an encampment of 50 to 70 people outside “Los Berros” water purification plant in the Mazahua town of Villa Victoria. The plant where the protesters shut off the valves is part of the Cutzamala water system, which supplies the capital and part of the state of Mexico, neighbouring Mexico City.

Flores, …