The Disaster that Reminded us that Infrastructure is not a Meme
It seems that nature decided to make its own viral challenge in several states of Mexico, and unfortunately, it was not fun at all. After some rains that were too intense, as if someone had opened the heavenly key and had forgotten to close it, Puebla, Querétaro, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí and Veracruz were more affected than your mood on a Monday morning. But, in a plot twist that no one expected, the federal government went into ‘saviors of the apocalypse’ mode.
On the scene, Jesús Esteva, the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), who basically became the main character of this season of natural disasters, appeared at the already well-known morning conference to give the report. His speech was not the typical bureaucratic bore; It was more of a ‘here we are, giving the reconstruction a like’. He reported that, after the universal flood version of central Mexico, the number of incommunicated communities has been reduced. Yes, those where the cell phone signal was more myth than reality even before the rains.
The Numbers of Chaos (and a Little Bit of Hope)
Let’s get to the cold data, because even in chaos we need metrics. According to Esteva’s report, there are 108 affected municipalities, of which 69 are priorities (translation: they are on the ‘maximum urgency’ list). And although it may sound like a spoiler for a bad movie, there are still 160 isolated locations. To give you an idea, the breakdown by state is worthy of a thread on X:
In Hidalgo, things looked ugly with 28 municipalities affected and 84 communities cut off. In Puebla, 23 municipalities and 21 communities in the same situation. Querétaro reported 8 municipalities and 10 isolated localities. San Luis Potosí, with 12 municipalities affected, was (relatively) lucky not to have isolated localities. And Veracruz, always in the eye of the hurricane (literally), with 37 municipalities and 45 towns disconnected from the world.
Esteva’s star phrase was: “We are advancing little by little along the roads”. Which in millennial Spanish means: “We are not in turtle mode, but things are going slowly and carefully, because reviving roads and bridges is not like putting together an IKEA piece of furniture.” Of course, he highlighted the liberation works on state and federal highways, which is basically like unclogging the country’s road arteries.
But the real plot twist was given by President Claudia Sheinbaum, who, with the energy of someone who has just had a triple coffee, revealed the level of operation: 68 SICT machines working piecework, to which are added 323 from the Secretariats of the Navy and Defense. As if that were not enough, 47 helicopters for the air bridges, because when the roads say ‘they will not pass’, it is time to go by air. In short, “almost a thousand machines opening all the roads”, what she called “a very important effort thanks to coordination.” In other words, teamwork does work, even at the federal level.
And Meanwhile, the CFE Doing Theirs
Because there is no point in having roads if you are in the dark, like in an episode of *Stranger Things* but without the monsters (as far as we know). Here Emilia Calleja Alor In her intervention, via link (because even in disasters, the home office rules), the head of the CFE explained that they are in the process of returning energy to 197 thousand users who were left in the dark. His statement, somewhat tangled like the plot of a soap opera, was: “We have 93% restoration […] We have 197 thousand users in the process of establishment in the five states that were affected in the future”. Translation: “We’re almost there, people, don’t despair.” And for those places that are more inaccessible than getting tickets to a Bad Bunny concert, the CFE designed a special strategy. In Hidalgo, for example, they mobilized 60 additional emergency plants that were added to the 45 that were already in place. Basically, it’s like when you bring an extra power bank to a party: pure foresight. This entire operation, with its ups and downs, leaves us with a moral: the resilience of communities and inter-institutional coordination can be as viral as a meme, but with a real impact. The recovery of roads and the restoration of electricity are crucial steps to return normality to thousands of people. Of course, with a touch of acid humor, because laughing at chaos is sometimes the only way not to cry. Did you get this information? Share it on your social networks and help spread the word! And if you want to stay up to date with more news that mixes drama with hope, explore our related content.
