The reduction to 40 hours divides opinions but boosts productivity

Civil unrest around the water cooperation agreement between the Chihuahua Central Water and Sanitation Board (JCAS) and the Israeli Mashav Agency has escalated to the national level. The mobilization, promoted on TikTok by the user @amigamagica, will take place on Saturday, August 1 at 9:30 a.m. in various cities across the country.

Meeting points include from the Estela de Luz towards the Zócalo in Mexico City, to concentrations in Tabasco, Pachuca, Ciudad Juárez and Jalisco. The agreement, signed in 2023 under the government of María Eugenia Campos Galván, is the center of the debate.

The legal vacuum of the agreement

According to Luis Andrés Rivera Levario, spokesperson for Save the Hills of Chihuahua, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) confirmed that there are no legal instruments in force between Israel and Chihuahua. This, according to activists, violates the Law on the Conclusion of Treaties, which requires any inter-institutional agreement to be registered with the Foreign Ministry.

“It was left in a situation in limbo where it is impossible to request accounts, since it does not legally exist,” said Rivera Levario in an interview with IMER.

The civil organization maintains that the agreement operates in total opacity as it lacks registration with the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (Amexcid).

Technical concern

Beyond the legal, protesters criticize the proposed technological model. Reverse osmosis, they explain, is not viable for Chihuahua due to the absence of the sea. They point out that aquifer wells are already becoming salinized due to poor management, and the technology would only aggravate soil salinization.

“They are coming to offer us a high-risk solution,” added the spokesperson.

The real solution, they insist, is to protect water recharge areas and carry out agricultural and industrial reconversion. The community demands that the authorities terminate the agreement, which they consider non-existent.

New scholarship for university students in Zacatecas

President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the Gertrudis Bocanegra Scholarship, exclusive financial support for students from public universities in Zacatecas. The resource will be bimonthly and will cover transportation expenses, one of the items that most impacts the family economy.

Starting in September, informational assemblies will begin on campuses to detail rules and records. During the event, Sheinbaum handed out cards from the Rita Cetina Scholarship, annual support of 2,500 pesos for uniforms and primary school supplies, which will begin to be dispersed in August.

The Secretary of Education, Mario Delgado, reported that the fiscal year will close with 22 million scholarship recipients throughout the country, a historic figure. In Zacatecas, coordinator Julio César León detailed an active register of 180,627 students, with an investment of more than 1,600 million pesos.

The federal educational strategy includes a staggered scheme: supplies scholarship in primary school, bimonthly benefit in secondary school, Benito Juárez Scholarship in high school, and now transportation in university. In addition, a new campus will be built for the Rosario Castellanos National University and six for the Margarita Maza High School.

These announcements reinforce the government’s commitment to guaranteeing the constitutional right to economic stimuli from basic to higher.

The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Sinaloa is investigating the death of a four-year-old minor, identified as Aldo Emilio N., who was reported not to be located for several hours in the tourist area of ​​Las Glorias beach, in the municipality of Guasave. The boy had gone to the scene accompanied by his parents.

Disappearance and search on the beach

According to the family story, the group came to spend the day and ate at the “Las Palomas” restaurant. After finishing the food, the parents noticed that the minor was no longer there. They immediately called emergencies and elements of the municipal police, civil protection and visitors joined an intense search throughout the beach and nearby businesses.

The authorities reviewed restaurants and businesses in the area, as well as versions on social networks about an unaccompanied minor, but none of them matched.

Finding in a septic tank

Almost four hours later, during a new inspection at the restaurant where the family ate, the child’s remains were found in a septic tank in the establishment. Experts from the Prosecutor’s Office collected evidence and testimonies to determine the causes of death.

The Prosecutor’s Office has not issued a preliminary ruling. The case remains under investigation.