At the imposing brick Heineken plant in the city of Monterrey, the pipes never stopped flowing, even as fights broke out at lines for government water trucks and as parasites spread among children who missed regular baths.The water in Blanca Guzmán’s neighborhood had been out for days when she decided to protest, joining a group of activists in July to block the entrance to Heineken’s office.
Heineken, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Constellation Brands all operate large plants in northern states that capitalize on proximity to consumers in the United States, where the most popular imported beers by far are Mexican. Overall, Mexican brewers sold more than $5 billion worth of beer abroad last year, making Mexico the top global exporter of the beverage, according to the World Bank.
López Obrador has yet to follow through on the threat, and industry insiders say that so far, beer production in the north has been unaffected by his comments. But the president’s position reflects a broad challenge to the billion-dollar business, which uses extraordinary amounts of water, at a moment when the effects of climate change are being felt most acutely.
Around the same time, García said that Heineken was using only about two-thirds of its permitted water and demanded the company send the surplus to the state. Heineken agreed to a temporary transfer of 600,000 cubic meters, in addition to a delivery from its wells equal to about 20% of the brewery’s consumption.
“Giving out concessions based on market criteria has created these problems,” said Iván Martínez Zazueta, a doctoral student in geography who has advocated against the expansion of the beer industry in the border city of Mexicali. Martínez has called for improvements to how the effects of a concession are measured before it is authorized.
“It was one of those declarations that the president makes in the morning that is totally off base but that generates real damage to the economy,” he said, referring to López Obrador’s vow to end brewing in the north.