Yes, ready.
Ready. Let's go.
Good morning. Hello.
How are you?
Also
good morning to all of you.
It's already Tuesday, September 30th,
Wednesday.
Wednesday, September 30th. Tomorrow is already
October 1st.
Well,
by the way, this weekend we're only
going to Veracruz.
We're going to inaugurate the entrance bridge
to the port
and an inauguration of
a very large housing project, more
than 1,000 homes.
And on October 4th there is a
celebration for the first Secretariat of
War and Navy
in the port. That will be the agenda for the
weekend.
Well,
today there is a housing link. We just
returned to the housing links.
They are in Zacatecas with Governor
David Monreal, Edna and Rodrigo Chávez, a
housing complex of the National
Housing Commission.
Let's go quickly to the link, and then with us is
the Secretary of the Environment
and Natural Resources,
her secretary, Alicia Bárcena, Efraín
Morales, Director General of CONAGUA,
Marina Robles,
Undersecretary of Biodiversity, whom I hadn't
seen when I came in,
Iliana Villalobo, Undersecretary of
Environmental Regulation, and José Luis
Maniego, Deputy Director of
Sustainable Development and Circular Economy. Mariana
Boy, head of ProfEPA, Andrea
González, head of the CEA, Pedro
Álvarez y Casa, head of the National
Commission of Natural Protected Areas, and
Efraín is accompanied by Felipe Sataraín,
Deputy Director of Drinking Water, and Ariberto
Monte, Deputy Technical Director General of
CONAGUA. All the guests for today.
And to close the morning press conference, the
lie detector. Let's go to the link.
Good morning, David. Good morning, Edna
and Rodrigo. Good morning to all of you.
Good morning, Madam President.
Very good morning, Madam President. A greeting to
you and to all the guests. I would like to
first congratulate you from Zacatecas on
these first two years of government and
congratulate you on this tour you made
through the interior of the Republic on a
constitutional obligation, the accountability
report. Many, many congratulations
for bringing not only the results, but
hope, hope to all the
people of Mexico. And as you well said,
we are concluding September,
the greatest month of our
homeland, for what it means, and here in
Zacatecas today we are materializing
social justice, what truly
transforms, what you have expressed,
public policy made love. And today
here with the delivery of housing in the
municipality of Luis Moya, Zacatecas, one
of the municipalities of our state,
where today we can see materialized one
of the longings of many Zacatecan and
Mexican families, who by the way
also greet our entire
republic and who should have confidence in all
this enormous work that our President of the
Republic is doing. That is why my
congratulations, my expression of
gratitude, and today we see crystallized and
materialized many of the longings in
this social justice, that of housing.
It is truly something that dignifies, something
that motivates, something that inspires, and it is the
certainty and tranquility that our
movement provides in this
transformation of families.
Madam President, many, many thanks and
never forget that here in Zacatecas we
love you very much.
Many congratulations, Madam President, on your two
first years of government.
Good morning, Madam President. It is a pleasure to
accompany here Rodrigo Chávez from the
National Housing Commission.
Governor, the mayor is with us who
is going to receive his key. The
neighbors are here, as you can see, with an
expression of joy that they
transmit.
To comment on the general data in
Zacatecas, the goal is 27,502
homes, 12,000 from CONAVI, 14,000 from
Infonavit, and it's already starting. We are seeing
with Governor Foviste also in
this beautiful entity. We are doing very well, 30%
of the total goal, and this gives us
great satisfaction because it has been possible
thanks to the governor and the mayors
who have also supported us a lot with
the land. Thank you, Madam President. Rodrigo will continue
reporting.
Good morning, Madam President. With your permission,
we are going to deliver a single-family home
that will have an
expansion, it is 60 m². The family can
expand to 90 m². It is a housing
complex of 84 homes. Today
we will deliver 18. We thank the
governor, the municipal president, the
secretary, and the people who accompany us here.
We are going to give her key to our
colleague Saraí, Saraí Esmeralda, who is going
to receive her home, so that she can
show it to the President. Go ahead,
Saray.
Sara, could you tell the
President.
Hello, Madam President, good morning.
Let me introduce myself, I am
and I am very excited about this beautiful and
wonderful project that has been created for
us families with great
dreams. Today a dream comes true for me and for
my fellow beneficiaries of
this project, and I hope that we
are not the only ones, but that all the
families who have longed for a home
have our dream
fulfilled. And whenever you want to come and
visit us here, you are very welcome.
And the facilities are very beautiful, and
for me it is not a home, as I
tell you, it is a dream, and thank you very much,
Madam President, from the bottom of my heart, and believe me that you are
doing a very good job, not only in
this state, but in all the states of the
Republic, and there are no words,
sincerely, to thank you for this
joy that I feel for fulfilling my
dream and for now having my own home
for me, for my family, and to create
beautiful memories here with all my
loved ones above all. And
thank you very much,
many congratulations. They also
showed us that there is an
expansion
for our home, for when we have the possibility
ourselves to expand, to make our
home bigger. We have the facilities
here to put our stairs and to
have more children too.
How wonderful, Saraí.
If not, if not, who is going to occupy the
rooms?
Congratulations. When
Yes, thank you very much, Madam President. It was a
pleasure to greet you
and on behalf of, and not only on behalf of
me, but on behalf of all the beneficiaries,
we give you our most sincere thanks and may you
continue to fulfill more dreams for all
our families.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you,
Governor David.
Madam President,
thank you, Edna and Rodrigo. Thank you. Good day.
Well, now we go. Alicia,
very good morning to all of you. With your
permission, Madam President, I have the
honor today of presenting the results of
the entire environmental sector, which is
made up of 10 institutions. All
these institutions that are there
make up the environmental sector. People talk about
SEMARNAT, but SEMARNAT has
all these bodies, as the President already said,
the CEA, the CONAVIO, the CAME,
the CONAFOR, the CONAGUA, the CONAM, the
IMTA, the INEC, the ProfEPA, that is,
we are a group of institutions
that are present here. I thank my colleagues for being here, and if you
will allow me, as always, I like to get straight
to the point. I am going to
tell you why humanist environmental
policy is so important. Let's go to the
first one. The world is
facing three intertwined crises,
three very complicated crises: climate
change, which is no longer a foreign topic
because we are already in extreme events,
as we are seeing with Hurricane Polo,
with Hurricane Rachel, which is on the
Pacific coasts.
We also have a loss of
biodiversity, even though we are a
country that contains 12% of the
world's biodiversity, it is being lost very
rapidly. And then the pollution
of water, soil, and air is no longer
a technical or foreign issue for us,
it is directly impacting
people's quality of life. That is why
we believe it is very important, and let's go to the
next one, that we take into account, and
for that reason it has really become
our compass in the environmental
sector. On October 1st, the President launched 10 principles of
Mexico's humanist policy. The sixth
is precisely the one that refers to
development and the well-being of the people.
They can only be strengthened with the
care of the environment and natural
resources. This is what became the compass of SEMARNAT's work.
And we base ourselves on a
concrete principle, which is this one, and on a
reality, which is a paradigm shift
from neoliberal extractivism to
humanist environmentalism. And why are we
doing it? And I am going to show the
concrete reasons why it has become
humanist environmentalism. The first one, please,
because today we have in the country a
historic investment.
That is the truth. This is a historic
investment in water as a national good and
not as a commodity.
That is the key. Mexicans have been
given the human right to water. That is the
basis of the policy, and these
actions are being carried out. Of course, Efraín, who
is really in charge of
many of these works, will give a
broader overview, will give more detail of
that. But look, simply
the cleanup of the three major rivers,
the Lerma, the Atoyac, and the Tula, right? And that
includes the Presa de Endo, by
the way, which we have to restore.
We are talking about 20 billion
pesos that are being invested now and
that are benefiting 25 million
people. It is a great job that we have
done together as a whole sector, because it is
not only pipes, right, or
plants, it is also restoration.
We are reforesting riparian zones and we are really rescuing,
I believe, very important areas. Note
that in drinking water, investment is being made,
24,000 works are being carried out in 2,183
municipalities. The country has 2,500
municipalities, so we are almost in
all of them, truly. And there are 17 strategic
projects that Efraín will explain to us
and where 8 billion pesos are being invested.
And something that really touches me deeply
is the recovery of the Tijuana River,
3 billion pesos, and it interests me
because it was one of the first agreements
signed in the environment with the
United States counterpart, which we
know has that concern. The next one,
please.
The second component of this
bet on ecology and humanist
environmentalism is this great bet on
quality of life. What is it about? Well,
it is about working on air quality.
We live in the metropolitan
area of the Valley of Mexico,
we know what it means, and winter is coming.
And there we have a commission that
works with all the states that
make up this commission. Work is being
done mainly on two
components: reducing emissions from
transportation and from industries.
In Monterrey we have already completed
an emissions inventory. We did not have
an emissions inventory in Monterrey.
Now we have it. Now we know where we
need to act, and therefore we have
very specific actions in Monterrey, and
the same is happening in Guadalajara. We have
accompanied all of their
vehicle verification programs, and
that has been very important. 23 entities
have Proaire programs, so yes,
we focus on these cities, but
they are not the only ones. There are 23 entities, and
we provide them with all the technical
support to the states. And something very interesting
that happened this year is that the
importation of
tractor-trucks from the United States was
limited to those that were 10 years old. That
made a difference in terms of
emissions, since they are tractor-trucks that
use diesel, and we did that together
with the Ministry of Economy, and
we are in agreements to
see if we can also limit the
importation of used cars from
the United States. We held large cleanup
campaigns with the people, with the
population, with fishermen, with
producers, with the people, with the
youth. In rivers, seas, and coasts we held
more than 13 campaigns. We collected 14,000
tons. You can't imagine, we have to
make peace with the rivers. They cannot
continue to be the dumping grounds for
plastic and waste. We collected containers
of pesticides in such critical areas
as San Quintín. In circular economy,
for us it is a very important issue
because what we want is, instead of
discarding, to reuse and recycle. We generate
140,000 tons of waste daily in Mexico. So if we
don't get to work on what to do with
that waste, 12 separation projects are being
launched, and three recycling hubs are in
process. And what is the goal? Well, we want to
process tires, rubble, plastic,
scrap metal, and slag. We already
have our Circular Economy Law. The
regulation is being issued that tells each of these
sectors. We have signed an
agreement with, for example, the
Chamber of Tire Manufacturers so that we can organize the entire
tire sector, because the Circular Economy Law says that
we are going to achieve
extended producer responsibility,
meaning that whoever produces the tire is
also responsible, because it is very
important. The next one, please.
Yesterday the President asked us here at the
morning press conference to tell you a little about what
is being done in climate action, and it is very
important. First of all, we have
updated the climate targets in what is
called Mexico's Nationally Determined
Contributions. We presented them in Brazil at COP 30.
I would say that we regained great
leadership, and our commitments are
simple and difficult to achieve. First
of all, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
35%. That is the goal for
2030, but we are already moving in that direction.
To achieve 38% renewable energy by
2030. And there, obviously, this is a
task for the Ministry of Energy and
CFE. We are all collaborating there
so that there is public and private
investment of 170 billion pesos.
That is what is being sought to
achieve that 38% renewable energy goal. And then the President
has instructed us to really
carry out adaptation, restoration, and
reforestation actions. Climate change has already
arrived, so we have to see how
we face it collectively, and a very important program,
Sembrando Vida, which this year has really
managed to plant, covering 36,000 hectares with
75 million plants, and this is being done by
415,000 planters and
planters with an investment of
37 billion pesos, meaning that Sembrando Vida will
contribute. We did that evaluation
ourselves with Sembrando Vida.
How much will Sembrando Vida contribute to climate change? It will help us
reduce 6,000 tons of carbon.
The actions that Sembrando Vida is taking are very important for reducing
emissions. Of course, we have the
program, the zero-deforestation avocado mechanism, which we are applying
mainly in Michoacán and Jalisco,
which is a certificate. The forestry law has already been
reformed, we already have it ready, we already
have the authority to issue a
certificate so that avocado cannot be
exported anywhere if it comes
from deforested orchards. There, exports will be
prohibited, and that is why it is
zero deforestation. And the national
annual campaign involved 256,000
people and 6.6 million plants. This
was something the President accompanied us in, and it was done
simultaneously
in all the countries, in all the states, and that was something
truly fantastic. Recently
we signed the National Agreement on Forests,
Jungles, and Mangroves in Guadalajara. And there
I believe we managed to involve 100
companies that will help us
restore more than 200,000 hectares, and to
payment for environmental services, which is
a very important measure, is paying
communities to conserve. That is,
in addition to the planters of the
Sembrando Vida program, it is also paying
communities so that they conserve the forests or jungles that
are standing. The next one, please.
Of course, caring for and restoring
ecosystems. That is our daily
work. And there, the conservation of 272
natural protected areas that
involve 99.3
million hectares across the country.
We need to reach 152 to achieve
the 30 by 30 goal, which is the
international commitment. We also have
good news, and that is that we managed to
recover 272,000 hectares for the natural
protected areas from mining
concessions that have been cancelled. Those
concessions were cancelled and that land was
returned to the natural protected areas as a
restoration process, and we are
restoring 76 sites with 60,000 hectares
and 17.5 million plants. And something
truly historic is the trinational
corridor of the Great Maya Jungle, something
that should fill us Mexicans with great pride.
President Claudia Sheinbaum was with Bernardo Arévalo of
Guatemala, with Xiomara Castro of Belize, and
it is 5.7 million hectares
protected, but it has a political
significance because our southern border is
not a wall, it is a natural
protected area, it is a biocultural corridor.
The next one, please.
And of course, something that has been in
the public mind are the
emblematic species, how we are
protecting them, how we are
reintroducing them to their natural
habitats. One, we have released 85,000
specimens. The Mexican wolf, for
example, the California condor, the
bison, the jaguar, the totoaba. We
recovered 64% of the habitat of the
monarch butterfly, which is such a beloved species for Mexico. And
of course, the fight against illegal
trafficking. We have managed to seize
20,000 specimens of flora and fauna at
airports. Well, it has been very
complex because this trafficking of wild
species is the third trafficking, it is
arms, it is drugs, and it is
wild species, flora and fauna. And we have banned
dolphinariums and shows with
marine mammals, and we have protected the
vaquita marina. And I must say that
we are very happy because finally,
Madam President, finally the Animal
Welfare Law was approved yesterday in the
Senate. So we are very
happy because we have made progress. The
next one, please.
And finally, in my case, to conclude,
there can be no social justice without
environmental justice. And in this case we
have committed to two major places
that have been neglected for years. One is
the Sonora River. After 12 years, the Sonora
River, finally we have an investment of
100 million pesos that are being
allocated to the construction of the
regional hospital in Ures, which the communities were crying out for,
22
water treatment plants that CONAGUA is installing.
The hospital is being built by
IMSS-Bienestar with the Ministry of
Communications and Transportation, the water,
the 22 water treatment plants, and we at
SEMARNAT are remediating the river, 288
km of river, and we are, let's say,
removing 10,000 tons of contaminated
soil from the river, which will be
confined in special cells to prevent
further contamination. And the Presa de Endo,
which is another major issue of
environmental justice, there the investment is 75
million pesos. 140,000 cubic meters of water hyacinth have been removed,
which was an issue, and the Culex mosquito has been reduced by
47%, which was a huge nuisance for more than 27,000 people who
surround the Presa de Endo. Of course,
we participate in San Quintín,
we participate in Michoacán, in all the
plans, also in Oaxaca we are
working on the Balsas. And I want to say
something very important: we hold many
citizen consultations, many, especially
in relation to investment projects.
We announce investment projects in the
Ecological Gazette every
Thursday, and there it is announced, it is said that they can request
citizen consultations, and we hold them especially
in relation to investment projects. And a fact that I think
is fundamental to tell you is that the
procedures, obviously we are a
regulatory secretariat that also handles
procedures, we have greatly simplified the
procedures, but the volume of environmental
impact procedures resolved is
driving 6.6 trillion pesos of
investment. That is, dear
President, what I wanted to present
today, not without first thanking
my colleagues very much for all the
support they have given us. We are a
small secretariat, but with enthusiasm, and
I say with great enthusiasm, of course, and to tell you that
truly the environmental issue is not a
specialist issue, it is an issue for
all citizens. It is very important
that the entire population accompanies us,
helps us, supports us, and makes their
environment truly a healthy and
happy place for future generations.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Alicia.
Efraín,
thank you.
Oh, my presentation.
Thank you very much.
With your permission, Madam President. Good morning.
We are going to present the main
advances in water matters.
Next, please. We are going to start
with a very relevant topic, which is the
publication of the National Water Law.
As the President has already commented,
during the neoliberal period
very significant impacts were generated in water matters for
all Mexicans, so much so that
water came to be considered a
commodity. With the new law, this vision is being
completely changed, and water is
considered a human right for Mexicans.
And also derived from this, we are carrying out
a process of organizing the
concessions. This has allowed us to
recover on the order of 5,000 million
cubic meters. This is equivalent to
supplying for an entire year
90 million people, and we have also
been able to deliver
12,346
concession titles to communities, to
small and medium producers, even
to municipalities that previously had to pay
for water to private parties, and we are
especially working in favor of those
who have the least. Go ahead, please.
Regarding water for agriculture, the
technification of 250,000
hectares is being carried out. We are technifying the
main infrastructure, which are
canals, dams, and also carrying out
parcel technification. The
progress we have as of today is 38,000
hectares. For that, an investment of around 63,000
billion is planned over the six-year term.
I would like to highlight that this
project also has a very important future vision because it makes us more
resilient to climate change,
contributes to guaranteeing the country's food
sovereignty, and also to using water more
efficiently. Go ahead, please.
And well, regarding the cleanup and
restoration of rivers, I would like to
first point out that, as the Secretary said,
it is a shared effort
among all the agencies of the environmental sector. We are working on the
three most polluted rivers in the country. In
this first stage we are rehabilitating
and building 23 treatment
plants, 282 km of collectors that are already
completed. We have
dredged and cleaned
260 km of riverbeds. 4,663
hectares have been reforested. In addition, we are building seven
public spaces that will allow us to
coexist with the river in a very friendly way.
And 44 monitoring stations are being installed for both quantity and
water quality. This is an important topic because it allows us to
monitor the plan. The progress in this
first stage is already 82%.
As the Secretary mentioned, the
planned investment amounts to 20 billion.
What else is important to
highlight? We are also carrying out
very important work in various
rivers, for example, in the cleanup of the
Tijuana River. We are also working on
the cleanup and sanitation of Lake
Pátzcuaro. Work is being done, for example,
on the Bobos River in Veracruz. We are
working on the La Sabana River in
Acapulco, and we are also about to start
very relevant projects such as
the treatment plant on the
Río de los Perros, in the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, on the Nogales River, on the
Sonora River. In short, it is a very robust plan that allows us to coexist with
nature in a different way. It is
a matter of dignity and also a matter of
public health. Go ahead, please.
Well, we are going to start with the section on
strategic projects. Here we can see
images of healthy water for the
Laguna. We have already completed the
construction of 200 km of trunk
networks that allowed us to connect
the municipality of Tlahualilo, for example,
in Durango. In the case of Coahuila, this
brings very good quality water to
Torreón, Viesca, Madero, San Pedro
and Matamoros. And we are also going to help
municipalities strengthen their
distribution infrastructure. Go ahead, please.
Here you can see the Plan Oriente of the
State of Mexico. We have completed 106
drinking water and drainage works, among
them works as important as, for example,
the Chalco collector in its
first stage and also the Sochiapa drain.
And we are about to start 106
more works. This is a strategy that
we will continue year after year. It is a
region where more than 10 million
people live. So it becomes a
very relevant project for the entire
east of the State of Mexico.
Go ahead, please.
Regarding the comprehensive plan for the
metropolitan area, works of metropolitan
impact are being carried out. I would like to
highlight two projects: Laguna de
Zumpango and Presa de Guadalupe are
projects designed to
take advantage of rainwater with an
innovative vision. They are projects
that will provide up to 8,000 liters
per second during the rainy season for Mexico City and the State of Mexico.
That is a lot of water for the people.
We have 25% overall progress, and this entire
plan will be completed in 2030.
Go ahead, please.
The Ciudad Victoria aqueduct, the
Guadalupe Victoria 2 aqueduct, has
57% progress; we will complete it
in July of next year. This will
allow us to increase by 50% the water that
Ciudad Victoria currently receives.
Go ahead.
Regarding the San José aqueduct, we are
at 50% progress. It is a very significant work for San Luis
Potosí, which has a significant water
deficit. We will complete the
works in December of this same year.
Go ahead.
Water for Colima is an aqueduct that
already has 45% progress.
It is a very robust job. We will
complete the works also in 2027.
This aqueduct will benefit and will
double the water supply for the
city of Colima and will also
benefit the municipality of Villa de
Álvarez. So it is a relevant work for the state. Go ahead.
Here we can see images of water for
Campeche. An aqueduct is being built.
We are also building
storage tanks and distribution networks.
This project has
as its fundamental goal to provide water, especially of very good quality, to the
inhabitants of Campeche, and there is a problem with the
water quality that will be solved with this project.
Go ahead, please.
In the Coatzacalcos aqueduct, as we
have also mentioned in the
previous projects, there is a
long-term vision. It will double
the supply for the city of
Coatzacalcos. It already has 37% progress
and we will complete it in 2028.
Go ahead, please.
Acapulco transforms with you. I am going to
take a moment. It is a very
complete project. We are practically
renovating all the drinking water
supply sources. We are also preparing the infrastructure
against possible climate change phenomena such as hurricanes and also
earthquakes. In addition, we are converting
the entire treatment structure.
Currently we are working on three
plants, but there are nine in total.
We are building collectors, and
works are being carried out to protect the
population from floods, and
at the same time public spaces are being built there.
This project has 23% overall progress, and we will
complete the works in 2028. I repeat,
it is a very robust project. Go ahead,
please.
Regarding flood protection in Tabasco, we have already completed
the first 19 works.
And we are about to start three more in
the coming days. This project has
as its purpose to protect especially the
communities, the population. Tabasco
is a place where there are many
impacts due to the amount of water that
there is in the state, and also the protection
of crops. In the lower image
we can see the complete plan. We are going to
be developing activities year after year until its completion in 2027-28.
There is an error on the slide.
Go ahead.
The Tunal 2 dam already has 17% progress; it will
complete its activities in 2028. With this project we are
guaranteeing the supply for the city of
Durango for the next 50 years, and
it is also complementary to all the
works that have been carried out in this
area.
Last year the President also inaugurated there
the Guadalupe Victoria treatment plant.
They are complementary projects. Go ahead, please.
The Novillo dam, a very necessary work for a city like La Paz,
where there are few supply sources, already has 11% progress.
We will complete it in March 2028, and
in addition to the dam, a sectorization project is planned.
Go ahead.
The Mujer Solteca dam is a dam that
began its works, as can be seen
in the images, a few days ago. We are
in the roads and platforms stage.
It has a very significant social component because the first objective
is to provide water to the surrounding
communities near the dam, which have that
need. And second, we are going to
double the supply that
the city of Oaxaca currently has, and this gives it viability for
more than 30 years. Go ahead, please.
Here we can see images of the
laying of the first stone of what will be the largest and most
modern desalination plant in Latin America, built
during the government of President
Claudia Sheinbaum. It is important
to highlight that among its virtues
is a great optimization in the
operation processes, especially in
the energy part, which will
allow there to be no impact on the
tariff for users. So it is a very relevant work that
benefits especially Tijuana and also
Playas de Rosarito. Go ahead.
Well, in addition to what I have
mentioned, we are working on the
final stage, detailing the
projects for Zacatecas, for
Guanajuato, and also for Sonora. In
the near future we are going to start with them and to
make known what the scope is for
these projects. An investment is planned
that during the six-year term
exceeds 80 billion pesos. It is
a very significant investment.
Go ahead, please.
And I want to take this opportunity in this
part of the presentation to
recognize the effort of the state
governments and also of the municipal
governments that have responded to the
President's call to
work together so that through the combination of funds from
the three levels of government, the most basic works can be
carried out. We are talking about the fact that this effort has
already achieved the development of 24,000
works throughout the country for water supply, sanitation, and
drainage in 2,183
municipalities. It is practically the entire
country, and the investment already exceeds 30 billion.
How much is this? Well, it is three times what was invested before the
start of Dr. Sheinbaum's government.
And it is important that we
continue with this strategy because it
will allow us to strengthen in a very important way the infrastructure of the entire country.
Go ahead, please.
And well, here we can see the
investment during the six-year term. It is a
historic investment with no
precedents, which is also built
with a future vision. We are
working, as you could see in all
the projects, with a very important future vision.
It has quite significant innovation components, but
the central element is the social
sense of these projects, the benefit
that these projects generate in each one
of the places where they are
being developed, and that will be of great
benefit to the people of Mexico. And
finally, if you will allow me,
Madam President, we prepared a short video
that accounts for the works and the
advances that we have mentioned here.
For decades, water was the object of
looting. That is why, in December 2025, the
reform to the National Water Law was
published. With this change, water
ceased to be conceived as a commodity
and was recognized as a human right and
a resource of the nation. Thanks to
this transformation, we de-privatized more
than 5,000 million cubic meters of
water, enough to supply for a
year more than 90 million people.
This allowed us to deliver 12,346
concession titles to communities, as
well as to small and medium producers.
In addition, we assigned water directly to
municipalities like Mexicali and Tijuana, which
previously paid for it to private parties.
We launched the cleanup and
restoration of the Atoyac, Lerma
Santiago, and Tula rivers. We have already built and
rehabilitated 23 treatment plants and
282 km of wastewater
collectors. We cleaned and dredged
riverbeds and built public spaces
to recover these environments. We are
cleaning the Tijuana River in Baja
California, the Sabana River in Guerrero, and
we are about to start the Nogales River in
Sonora. In the countryside, we are modernizing
and technifying the infrastructure of more
than 250,000 hectares in 18 irrigation
districts. This will allow us to produce more
food with less water. To
guarantee the human right to water and
reduce the risk of floods, we
promoted 17 strategic projects in
the entire country. In La Laguna, we completed
200 km of drinking water networks. In the
State of Mexico, we have 40% progress
in the eastern zone plan and 25% in
the metropolitan plan of the Valley of
Mexico. We also advanced in the
aqueducts of Colima, Guadalupe Victoria
2 in Tamaulipas, Coatzacalcos in
Veracruz, as well as the San José toll aqueduct in
San Luis Potosí and the Campeche aqueduct.
The Tunal 2 dam in
Durango, the Novillo in Baja California
Sur, and Mujer Solteca in Oaxaca are already underway.
Acapulco is transforming with drinking water, drainage, and sanitation works, and Tabasco
with flood protection works.
In Baja California, we have already started the
construction of the largest desalination plant in Latin America, which
will benefit the people of Tijuana and
Rosarito. With resources coordinated among
the three levels of government, 24,000 drinking water and drainage works have been
carried out in 2,183 municipalities across the country.
With these actions, we advance to
guarantee the human right to water and
build a Mexico with greater well-being
and social justice.
I was asking Belmont, I don't know if
you found it, there is a figure in the
intercensal
survey on the number of families with access to drinking
water. Let's see if you can find it. The growth.
Well, let's go to the questions.
Let's see.
Let's see, go ahead,
Madam President, good morning, Adriana Santos
from El Soberano. I would like to ask you if this
historic investment that has already been announced regarding
sanitation works and drinking water of 180,000
million pesos, how does it compare
with the investments made in
previous administrations? Here the head of
CONAGUA just told us about some
works that even triple in his
administration the projection. So, if
you could give us a comparison, please.
Efraín, do you want to comment on the comparison with
previous administrations?
Well, as I mentioned in the presentation,
the number of projects has no comparison, but I
would highlight above all the vision. What
we are doing is preparing the country
for the future to have enough water,
especially for people's consumption, but also to
guarantee food sovereignty, and also for the development of the
strategic projects themselves. And to highlight that
apart from the amount of investment,
which is indeed more than triple in many areas, the most important thing is the
social sense that these works have and
that they are designed based on a long-term plan.
Thank you.
Also, Madam President, regarding the
report given to us by the Ministry of
the Environment, I would like to know what
the Government of Mexico is doing to
counteract impacts, for example, like the storms that are
currently hitting the Mexican Pacific, and also how work is done so
that Mexico or the Government of Mexico can
contribute to the fight against climate change.
Please.
Well, thank you very much. Several things.
We have a climate change program that has
several axes. The first axis is
mitigation, that is, the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions. We already have an inventory of
greenhouse gases. We already
know which sectors in Mexico are the
biggest emitters, and for example the sector
that emits the most greenhouse gases is
transportation, 20%. And so
we have dedicated ourselves to working with each sector first so that
they reduce their emissions. But the other
question you ask, which I think is
very related to something fundamental,
which is adaptation, because climate change has already arrived, now we have to
adapt to it, and in that sense we
are working, one, on preventing
beach erosion. For example, a state that has a very serious
problem with beach erosion right now is
Tabasco. So there we are doing
a series of actions with the
state government to be able to
prevent the erosion of, for example,
the beaches. We are losing beaches
in some places, and there the idea is the
rescue of mangroves, which is one of the most important issues, and the rescue of
the dunes, which are what will finally protect
the coasts from the onslaught of
hurricanes. We cannot do anything about the natural phenomenon, but what
we can do is prepare ourselves in
many areas that Efraín Morales has
presented to you, but also in how
to really build adaptation systems
that allow us to work better.
Secretary, taking advantage of the fact that you are at the microphone, could you give us a little more detail about what this Animal Welfare Law is about, which was approved yesterday?
Yes, of course. Well, we are very happy. It was at the President's instruction that we dedicated ourselves to it. I believe it is a very important law. First of all, it recognizes animals as sentient beings, which is fundamental, truly protecting them, both companion animals, I would say that is a very important category. Second, animals for production, which also need to be protected, and flora and, sorry, and wildlife, animals in the wild. So for each of them we have put in the law, and we did it in a very coordinated way with the Senate of the Republic and with the Chamber of Deputies. It has been a collegial effort, it has not been easy because we have worked with Health, because there are also many health issues involved. We have worked with SAGARPA for all production animals and of course with all the federal entities, because what this law also does is distribute responsibilities more clearly between the federation and the states. I believe it is a very novel law, it is a unique law, that we are very satisfied with what has been achieved, I tell you, together with Mai Ortiz from the Senate, with Gabi Benavides in the Chamber of Deputies and with our team, both from ProfEPA and from Vida Silvestre, to protect these three large groups of animals.
Thank you very much, Madam President. I would like to ask you your opinion about the general approval in the Senate yesterday of this reform against dual nationality. What would be the message so that this law can advance and guarantee the people of Mexico candidacies 100% in favor and for the benefit of the homeland?
The presidents of Mexico can only have one flag, one homeland, one people to defend.
They wanted to run a campaign saying that we did not allow dual nationality for our fellow citizens. Absolutely false. Any Mexican, any Mexican woman can have only one nationality. If they are accepted by another country, because nationalities are granted by each country, they can have dual nationality, they can have triple nationality, they can have quadruple nationality, they can be a citizen of four different countries. Any Mexican, born in Mexico or not born in Mexico. Many Mexicans in the United States, Mexican women were born there and have Mexican nationality. People born in another country already cannot be governors or presidents.
They will have to renounce their nationality.
According to what the Constitution of the State says, it must be complied with, and if it is not complied with, then they cannot be a candidate, and if they do not comply, they do not comply. It is that simple. So, any person who wants to be governor or who wants to be president must have only one nationality. Any Mexican citizen, born in Mexico or not, can have many nationalities. But if you want to be governor or if you want to be president, you can only have one nationality.
Thank you, Madam President. And finally, if you already have the data on the homes that have drinking water, just now, but because
who voted against, who could oppose that if you are president of Mexico you defend another country?
When you acquire US nationality, Spanish, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Bolivian, Cape Verdean, South African, French, British.
You swear to defend that country, you swear to the head of state of that country.
So, how are you going to be president of Mexico swearing to two flags?
When there is a problem between those two countries, who are you going to defend?
Another country or Mexico?
But if you have dual nationality, then who voted against?
What does it mean? That they agree that a president has two flags even when he represents the people of Mexico. With the history of the people of Mexico, with the history of Mexico.
It is inexplicable.
And to all our fellow citizens.
Welcome if they want to have Mexican nationality if they were born there. Welcome. That has nothing to do with it. Ah, they were born in Mexico, they went to the United States, they acquired US nationality, they return to Mexico, they want to run for president, they have to renounce their other nationality.
Thank you, President. I was telling you that we finally have the data on homes with running water. Let's see if the growth is there. Look, this is between 2020 and 2025. Availability of piped water inside the home. In five years it went from 77.6% to 82.4%. Those without piped water went from 3.7 to 2.4. The middle one has to do with the increase in the 'aguental' — that is, in five years the number of Mexicans who have running water in their home increased by 5%. Thank you very much, President. That's 7 million Mexicans. 8 million.
Well, let's go to this side now. Let's see, Serrano. President, good morning. Vicente Serrano, host of Sin Censura TV. Continuing with this topic, what do you think of the arrogance shown by some figures who were lobbying for votes against this reform, also approved yesterday in the Senate, on the exclusivity of Mexican nationality? I'm referring to figures like Larry Robin of the American Society or representative of the Republican Party in Mexico, who yesterday in an interview with our colleague Meme Yamel said that it wasn't personal, that he represented millions of people, and I think it's arrogant to call yourself a representative of the feeling when there is so much diversity and complexity in our binational relationship. It seems they won't stop there in their intention to block a reform like this. Do you reject this, I don't know if it's interference, from figures who precisely represent the interests of the United States? Yesterday he was in the Senate.
No, I'm not going to personalize it because I don't think it's worth it. Well, let's put it that way, but let's talk about the other political parties that voted against it. No, no, I really can't understand that a Mexican believes that a president of Mexico could have, for example, U.S. nationality and Mexican nationality. I can't understand it. If you want to be president of Mexico, one flag, one people, one homeland — you can't have two. I really don't understand what the reasoning is, but even more so the lie they used. The lie in the sense of saying that we were taking away the rights of all our paisanos. We are not taking away any rights; it only applies to whoever wants to be president or governor. Why? Because in times of interference it is very important that Mexicans have clarity that their most important popular representatives only have one nationality. To be a Mexican ambassador abroad, you can't be an ambassador if you have dual nationality. Only a Mexican can be, much less if you want to be president or governor. So, honestly, I thought it would be unanimous. I really don't understand what the argument is that it takes away someone's right. Whose right is being taken away? It would take away the right of the people of Mexico to have a popular representative who has dual nationality. It's one homeland, one flag if you want to be president of Mexico. Well, before, the 1917 Constitution required that both your parents be Mexican. So, I don't understand it. And yes, there was a lot of propaganda. So, particularly the message to our paisanos: you are always welcome, you can have dual nationality. What's more, we promote that if you were born there you also become Mexican citizens.
He says he doesn't understand. Would this be the first attempt to turn the Mexican community abroad against this government, President, looking toward 2030 and the vote of Mexicans abroad? That could be one of the... it could be an objective, but the truth is there is a lot of hypocrisy on the right. It's like Moncivais Alfonso says: hypocrisy is the doctrine of the right, because, I mean, daring to lie about a reform that has nothing to do with it. And I'm sure that our paisanas and paisanos will agree more than they do. Imagine that a popular representative at the executive level, whether governor or president, must be only Mexican.
President, as a citizen of both countries with dual nationality, I find it fascinating what has opened up in this debate. Just to clarify what you said a few minutes ago. In the case of Yasmín Bugarín, coordinator of the defense of the transformation and national sovereignty, born in the United States, would she have to resign from that coordination? From her other nationality, right? If she was born in the United States, can she or can't she be... I don't know what the Constitution of Nayarit says. I mean, we'd have to review the Constitution of Nayarit, what it says about birth. But if this reform is approved, it would take effect immediately. President, several topics. Let's see, check the Constitution of Nayarit, please. Several elements on these migrant topics. This afternoon at the Library of Congress in Washington, two Mexican musicians will be recognized — one of those strange things that happen in this binational relationship here in Mexico. Juan Ten and Víctor Pichardo, founders of Sones de México, will receive the 2026 National Heritage Fellowship, the highest recognition in the United States in traditional arts, awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts for their three decades preserving and promoting traditional Mexican music. What a reflection for the binational community, President, from you, who bravely keep singing in Spanish and keep playing sones and keep playing traditional Mexican music in the United States, given the reality that our paisanos suffer. Any message about these Mexicans who receive the most important awards in the United States with their roots and Mexican heritage?
Yes. Now that the Tigres del Norte came, we were just talking about this topic, because the Tigres del Norte are a symbol for Mexicans in the United States, and many of their songs have to do with the lives of Mexicans there. Many others don't; they're about different topics. The Tigres del Norte are recognized in the United States. They have, well, they have Grammys — the Latin Grammy, it's called — but they have Grammys, two Grammys, I think, from the Grammy that isn't Latin, the general one. They have recognition, they have street names in cities in the United States, in California. They live in San José, and here they practically have no recognition. That's why now that they're turning, I think, 50 years old, next year we're going to give them several recognitions, because it's Mexican music that has become popular all over the world. And these two musicians you mention, first of all, congratulations, and it has a bit to do with that. The roots of Mexicans in the United States are very deep, very deep, and it's a source of pride that it's so. Now that there's more communication through the internet, and when I lived in the United States from '90 to '94, well, there was no internet, there was barely email, and you accessed it through the operating system. Yes, I'm getting old. And so they would send us the newspaper La Jornada by mail — that is, we read it with a month's delay, and for us it was the big news. But I always remember, I think I've told it here, that we used to go a lot with my family, my kids were little, to Redwood City, up in Northern California. In Redwood City there are more people from Aguililla, Michoacán, than in Aguililla itself. So we used to go there because there wasn't as much commerce as now. And well, in '94 the first trade agreement was signed, and so we would buy — I don't know if I'm going to make a commercial — but the little kids wanted Pelón Rico, the tamarind candy, the... and there they learned. They are Mexican, but they went there very little with us to study. The best carnitas I had ever eaten until then — because now I've eaten... were the ones in Redwood City, because the tradition is preserved. And that is something beautiful, because no matter how much they want to... first, that territory was Mexican until the mid-19th century, but migration was a natural part. In the Tigres del Norte song that says, 'The border crossed me.' No, I didn't cross the border; the border crossed me. But what's incredible is how this bond with Mexican culture is preserved, and also the creation of new culture since the era of Chicano culture, which continues but developed very importantly in the '60s. So, it's great that it keeps being sung. And México Canta has, among other objectives, that one: to allow young people in the United States to make themselves known here in Mexico.
By the way, the award they will receive this afternoon in Washington is something like the Grammy for traditional music. President, now the good news. A few days ago the New York Times, with the source protected, published that in the Alcatraz of the Caimanes — this is the immigration detention center that has already closed — there were cages. I came here at some point to tell you that the conditions were like that, and you told me that the consuls had already given you a report and that everything was normal. I have maintained that you were being informed badly or incorrectly from the United States. Have they now clarified to you what conditions our paisanos and paisanas were in at that detention center? They were caged, President. How is it that we didn't realize that situation?
