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Valley farmers plot out bridge 'tractorcade' May 17, 2002 By Dulcinea Cuellar The Monitor PHARR, Texas - Rio Grande Valley farmers are expected to hold a protest Thursday morning [May 23, 2002] at the Pharr International Bridge to highlight the need for the Mexican government to release the 1.4 million acre-feet of water it owes the United States under a 1944 treaty. Farmers are calling the protest a "tractorcade" and will not decide until Thursday morning if they will block access to the bridge. Organizers of the protest said they did not know how many farmers would take part in the rally. "If they don't come, they will be either out in the fields or praying for rain in their church," said Harold Seiver, one of the organizers. Seiver, the group's spokesman, said the protest is to voice the farmers' frustrations over the ongoing water dispute between the United States and Mexico. The Farmers for Treaty Compliance, a grassroots organization made up of local farmers, contend that Mexico has violated the treaty and owes the United States the water. Farmers should not have to suffer the consequences of the U.S. Department of State's failure to force Mexico to comply with the treaty, Seiver said. "We can't wait until the end of May," he said. "We need the water now." Seiver said he is disappointed in the Mexican government for not letting some of the water flow down the Rio Grande. "We have already been hurt," he said. "The river belongs to both of us, and when water flows down, it's both of ours, not just Mexico's." A report released this month by the U.S. State Department says the state of Chihuahua has used more than 10 times more water than it owes to the United States. The 50-page report, written by the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission [IBWC], details that both the United States and the state of Tamaulipas are in dire need of the water. "The Mexican government denies that Chihuahua is green, but we have satellite pictures," he said. "Their land is green, and then look at ours." Tommy Garcia, a citrus farmer that owns and manages 500 acres of citrus crops in the Valley, said he is "barely hanging on" to his crop, but if Mexico releases the water, the crop may have a chance of survival. "Right now, I only have one (irrigation allocation) left," Garcia said, "and we're not even half-way through the year." He said water intensive crops like sugar cane and citrus are feeling the brunt of the water shortage. "You need to constantly water those crops," he said. "If not, they start to dry. that's what is happening now." Garcia said he hopes the tractorcade makes people aware that the water shortage is a problem not just for farmers, but for everyone who lives and works in the Valley. "I don't think residents know the severity of the water problem," Garcia said. "Every time they need water to shower or cook, all they need to do is turn on the faucet and the water comes out. "It's easy to take advantage of it, especially when they say that municipalities will be the last ones to shut down." No water for farmers can mean a big economic loss, he said. "It really has a domino effect," he said. "If the agriculture goes, it pulls down the tractor and feed companies and, before you know it, it's hitting everyone." U. S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, has said that he has considered sanctions against Mexico for withholding the water. He also said he supports the farmers' efforts, as long as they do not disrupt commerce on the bridge. "They have the right to protest," Ortiz said Friday from his office in Washington, D.C. "I can understand their frustration." U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, said he is "neither for or against" the farmers' protest, and may impose economic sanctions against Mexico if they do not pay back the water debt. "This is unacceptable," Hinojosa said. "The farmers are not being treated fairly by Mexico and we ought to help them." http://www.themonitor.com/NewsPub/News/Stories/2002/05/17/10216917272.shtml ========================================== Leading lawmaker says Mexico has no water to give to the U.S. May 18, 2002 TheNewsMexico.com A leading lawmaker from President Vicente Fox's party told U.S. legislators on Friday that Mexico has no water to give its northern neighbor, Reforma daily reported. Mexican and U.S. lawmakers are meeting in the central state of Guanajuato to talk about bilateral issues. One of the most sensitive topics is the demand of the U.S. government that Mexico live up to the terms of a 1944 water treaty, according to which Mexico supplies the U.S. with 500,000 cubic meters of water annually from the delta of the Rio Grande River - known as the Rio Bravo in Mexico. "Mexico is aware of its responsibilities but no one is obligated to do the impossible," said Felipe Calderon, the coordinator of the National Action Party in the Chamber of Deputies. Calderon said Mexico, which has several regions experiencing a severe drought, cannot afford to give the U.S. water it does not even have for its own citizens. Northern border towns are in a state of alert due to the drought. Calderon's statement seemed to undercut President Fox's promise on Wednesday, in which he said he would come up with a plan within 15 days to pay off Mexico's water debts to the U.S. The U.S. has been applying political pressure on the Mexican government to resolve the problem, which, it says, has caused heavy economic losses. "The Texas governor says his state is losing more than one billion dollars and has lost more than 45,000 jobs," U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow told Reforma. But Calderon said instead of blaming the other country, it would be more constructive to find a mutually beneficial solution. "Let's work together to find a way to better preserve our natural resources before starting to fight over water that doesn't exist," he said.
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