![]() In an interview in Tijuana on Wednesday, Gov. Last week, Mexico’s federal government stepped forward to offer “absolute support for the Constellation Brands project,” according to news articles quoting the interior ministry’s top representative in Baja California. “Our problem is that we have a government that is not made up of politicians, but of businessmen, who are experts at conducting business.”īut the state government is not alone in backing the giant brewery. “The perception is one of corruption,” said Daniel Solorio Ramírez, a constitutional law professor at the Autonomous University of Baja California who opposes the brewery. Opponents have questioned the state government’s championing of the project. “Sure, they want to invest a few million, but practically none of it will benefit Mexicali’s citizens.” “The issue here is water and government corruption,” said Leon Fierro, an engineer who was one of the group’s leaders. On Thursday, a peaceful protest brought some four dozen demonstrators outside Constellation Brands’ Mexicali corporate offices, holding signs that read, “Constellation Go Home.” and “Fuera Constellation.” Six people were arrested, and one demonstrator suffered a broken jaw. The police, protected with riot shields but unarmed, also threw rocks at the crowd, according to journalists covering the event. ![]() They threw rocks and dirt at state and municipal police who moved in on the crowd, and one protester drove a vehicle into a line of officers, who were not injured. ![]() Tensions flared earlier this month as several dozen protesters blocked workers from digging a trench for an aqueduct to the facility. “There is doubt because the water is going to an activity that is not necessarily going to bring benefits to this region, ones that are tangible, observable, measurable.” “All projects are important, but this is an emblematic project.”īut even as permits have been issued and construction has moved forward, opposition has continued.Īlfonso Cortéz Lara, a researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, said misgivings over the plant have persisted in the Mexicali Valley, a historically agricultural region. “Mexicali is growing like it never has in its history, and part of the reason is that Constellation Brands is coming to the city,” said Carlo Bonfante, the state’s secretary of economic development. In the initial phase, it expects to produce 132 million gallons annually-the equivalent of 58 million cases of beer at a maximum it would produce four times that amount. The plant, scheduled for completion in late 2019 or early 2020, will be export-oriented, with all product destined for U.S. The stakes are high: The project is a state-of-the-art brewery that represents an investment of more than $1 billion-the largest the region has seen in years, some say decades, and will provide 750 permanent jobs. On one side are government officials who are vowing to see the project through on the other, opponents determined to shut it down, saying the plant will use a large amount of water that should go to local farmers. But not everybody is applauding.Ĭonstellation Brands, maker of Modelo and Corona beers, finds itself in the crossfire of a bitter dispute. ![]() Francisco Vega de Lamadrid’s administration. beer manufacturer’s decision to build a giant production plant in Baja California’s desert capital has been cause for much celebration in Gov. ![]()
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