By Fernando Márquez
Coca Cola is one of the biggest companies in the world regarding beverage products. It is also the most consumed soft-drink in the world [1]. This trend is also present in México, where Coca Cola has several production plants, most of them in the southern part of the country [2], which is the part that has more rains, which makes it a good place for profiting water usage. However in contrast, the southern state of Chiapas, which is the state with more natural water reception is one of the states with less water availability for the population [3] [4]. People in Chiapas only have running water once every two days in the state that receives more water from natural sources in the country.
The Coca Cola production plant in San Cristóbal (one of the main municipalities in Chiapas) uses 300,000 gallons of water every day, and has had two water concessions for this plant since 1994, which allows this plant to use 500 million liters of water annually [3] [4].
This situation has caused several negative impacts for the population in Chiapas. Water scarcity has been present for more than a decade in Chiapas, problem that benefits Coca Cola, since drinking Coca Cola is more accessible than drinking water, which has also caused the exponential increase of diabetes and obesity in the population of the state [5] [4]. Moreover, a professor of Kettering University in Michigan stated that Coca Cola plants in Chiapas only pay about 10 cents per 260 gallons for the use of water, which is way below the real value [4].
To analyze this situations, González Casanova’s (2006) concept of internal colonialism is relevant; he argues that the elites have perpetuated this system that has increased the amount of poverty, oppression and marginalization (he refers specifically to the case of México), and concentrating wealth into fewer hands; it is important to highlight that his system is not only imposed economically but also culturally, where the elites determine what is acceptable and what is not. This oppression and control use propaganda and mass media to make people interiorize it. In this system, the elites in colonized countries act as an intermediary of the western elites; they only seek to serve the perpetuation of capitalism that is manifested currently as neocolonialism. The colonized elites openly serve the big transnational companies by selling concessions, commonly by corrupt acts (Fanon, 1963, pp. 76, 86).
This situation of internal colonialism can be seen in this situation because Coca Cola in México has obtained concessions through corrupt governments in Chiapas, and uses propaganda (by tv ads, billboards, internet, social media) to make it look like a company that cares for the people while drains their water and fosters chronic diseases.
On the other hand, environmental issues are social processes that are caused by the inequality and power relations in specific contexts, which regarding environment destruction are engrained in the over-consumption and waste of the Global North and in the inequality and poverty of the Global South (Calixto Flores, 2010). This is clearly an environmental issue that takes advantage of the resources of Global South countries like México, that with internal colonialism allowed this transnational company to predate the land and resources of the people without caring for the health and wellbeing of Mexicans.
It is worth noting that the right to water is a human right recognized in the 6th paragraph of the article 4th of the Constitution of México. It is also recognized in the article 11th of the International Pact for Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, as well as in the 10th, 11th and 12th provision of the Protocol of San Salvador (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, 2020, para. 122).
What Coca Cola has been doing for over 20 years in Chiapas is a neocolonial form of oppression by extractivism (Carr et al., 2018), where water is extracted for profit and taken away from the people.
In response to this issue, several communities, indigenous groups, NGOs and even local government authorities have demanded the federal government to revoke the water concession of Coca Cola [6] [7]. Several indigenous groups have been ancient defenders of the land and water for the people, because in their cosmovision water is a gift from the gods and the earth to survive, and as such should be preserved, respected and cared for, like the Zapatistas movement in Chiapas, as well as the Sumak Kawsay philosophy of indigenous groups in Bolivia (Caffentzis & Federici, 2015; Carr et al., 2018; Walsh, 2008).
The production model and amounts of Coca Cola plants in Chiapas need is predating the water of the people and negatively affecting life, agricultural production and water availability for the people. It is necessary that the concession is reevaluated from the federal government to make it a sustainable model that benefits the people not profiting of transnational companies.
References
Caffentzis, G., & Federici, S. (2015). Comunes contra y más allá del capitalismo. El Aplante, Revista de Estudios Comunitarios, 1(1), 51–72.
Calixto Flores, R. (2010). Educación popular ambiental. Trayectorias, 12(30), 24–39.
Carr, P. R., Rivas, E., Molano, N., & Thésée, G. (2018). Pedagogías contra el despojo: Principios de una eco/demopedagogía transformativa como vehículo para la justicia social y ambiental. Revista Internacional de Educación Para La Justicia Social (RIEJS).
Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos. (2020). RECOMENDACIÓN NO. 1 /2020 SOBRE LAS VIOLACIONES AL DERECHO HUMANO AL AGUA EN PERJUICIO DE LA POBLACIÓN EN GENERAL Y AGRICULTORES DEL VALLE DE MEXICALI, DERIVADAS DE ACTOS Y OMISIONES EN DIVERSOS TRAMITES Y PROCEDIMIENTOS PARA LA INSTALACIÓN Y OPERACIÓN DE UN PROYECTO INDUSTRIAL DE CERVEZA, EN EL MUNICIPIO DE MEXICALI. (Recomendación No. 1/2020). Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos. https://www.cndh.org.mx/sites/default/files/documentos/2020-02/REC_2020_001.pdf
Fanon, F. (1963). Los condenados de la tierra (1st ed.). Fondo de Cultura Económica México.
González Casanova, P. (2006). Colonialismo interno (una redefinición). In La teoría marxista hoy. Problemas y perspectivas (pp. 409–434). CLACSO.
Walsh, C. (2008). Interculturalidad, plurinacionalidad y decolonialidad: Las insurgencias político-epistémicas de refundar el Estado. Tabula Rasa, 9, 131–152.
Chaanpal News 