Oaxaca: Residents of San Bartolo Coyotepec Recover Water Wells from Soft Drinks Company

@Educa

After some 15 years of struggle, the General Assembly of the San Bartolo Coyotepec community and its inhabitants managed to close the wells that since 2002 had been concessioned to the Gugar S.A. De C.V.

It was in 2007 when they started litigation to recover their land, finally this week around 800 people took over the plant for two days and finally, the company agreed to close the wells that it had exploited for years, which caused water shortages in the community. 

Inhabitants of said municipality celebrated this achievement and mentioned “Gugar is the company of the family of the Secretary of Economy of Murat (Juan Pablo Guzmán Cobian), who are not businessmen, they are influence peddlers” and demanded that the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) withdraw the concession to exploit subsoil water from Gugar, which was granted on land that does not belong to the company but is communal property, and without having consulted the legitimate owners.

Thus, this Wednesday, September 7^th, after an agreement between state and municipal authorities and the bottler, the electrical system was uninstalled and an engineer from San Bartolo Coyotepec disabled the hydraulic equipment.

Representatives from Gugar, from the community and a representative from the state government, as well as staff from the Oaxaca Drinking Water and Sewerage Services (SAPAO) and the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) were present during the closing ceremony.

For more information in Spanish:

¡Gugar, entiende, el agua no se vende! Clausuran habitantes de San Bartolo Coyotepec fábrica refresquera (Educa 05 de septiembre de 2022)

Tras dos días de plantón, San Bartolo Coyotepec logra cierre de pozos de refresquera (Educa 07 de septiembre de 2022)

San Bartolo Coyotepec recupera pozo que explotaba embotelladora (La Jornada 08 de septiembre de 2022)

For more information from SIPAZ: 

Oaxaca: Comunidades zapotecas reciben los primeros títulos de concesión comunitaria de agua en México (August 10, 2022)

National: Caravan Ends after 34 Days of Sharing and Solidarity with Water Defense Struggles (April 28, 2022)

Oaxaca: COPUDA Urges CONAGUA to Publish Decree to Guarantee Right to Water for Zapotec Communities in Central Valleys (August 11, 2020)

Oaxaca: Marcha Copuda para exigir cumplimiento de acuerdos a Conagua (October 13, 2020)

Oaxaca : Coordinadora de Pueblos Unidos por el Cuidado y la Defensa del Agua (COPUDA) denuncia riesgo en la consulta para la administración de los recursos hídricos de los Valles Centrales (April 20, 2020)