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2026-08-01 23:13 UTC → 2026-08-03 18:46 UTC ·
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In mid‑July, civil groups, feminist and environmental organisations and pro‑Palestine supporters announced a nationwide The anti‑Israel march for that began on 1 August to reject the water‑co‑operation agreement between Chihuahua’s state water agency (JCAS) and Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Demonstrators claimed the pact, signed in February 2023 and running to 2027, favoured Israeli private firms, lacked proper registration, and threatened local water access. The Chihuahua governor defended the deal as a technical knowledge‑exchange programme without any water‑rights concessions. By the end of July, the planned protest materialised as a continued into 2026. On 31 July 2026, coordinated anti‑Israel march demonstrations were held again in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico City and at least 21 other Mexican cities. Participants, including Organisers – university students students, feminist and activist groups, demanded the immediate cancellation of environmental groups and pro‑Palestine activists – reiterated calls to cancel the agreement, citing fears of “colonial” privatisation water‑management cooperation pact between Chihuahua’s Junta Central de Aguas y Saneamiento (JCAS) and specific Israel’s development agency MASHAV, warning that projects such as the Cerro del Caballo catchment, an ammonia plant in Sinaloa and the Saguaro gas pipeline. Authorities pipeline could jeopardise national water resources. Andrea Cuéllar, a protest leader, declared that “the water of Chihuahua must not be managed under militarised, colonial models.” Two days later, JCAS executive director Mario Mata responded, asserting that Chihuahua’s water supply remains safe and describing the protest as a partisan action orchestrated by the Morena party. He noted that no contract has been signed with Israeli firm Mekorot and emphasized JCAS’s extensive network of more than 60 agreements with Mexican institutions, highlighting that roughly 94‑95 % of residents have access to potable water. In a related comment, subsecretary Ricardo Mejía Bardeja warned that a small number of families control a significant share of the water volume Mexico must deliver to the United States under the bilateral treaty, linking them to local political figures. Conagua head Blanca Jiménez reiterated that meeting treaty obligations does not endanger local water resources. Authorities continue to maintain that the deal bilateral arrangement involves only technology exchange and no water transfers, while the protests also reflected remain tied to broader Mexican opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza.