They install a memorial for Ana Amelí under the Angel of Independence

The head of Government of Mexico City, Clara Brugada, inaugurated this Sunday the Utopia Acatitla in Iztapalapa. The space, built on a vacant lot full of garbage, now offers multiple free services.

What does Utopia Acatitla offer?

During the tour, Brugada observed the facilities: mammography machines, health services, semi-Olympic pool, fields, jogging track, dog park, baking, carpentry and screen printing workshops. There are also sculptures of animals with movement, a laundry and a day house, among others.

The Secretary of Works, Raúl Basulto, explained the technical complexity of the project. The ground conditions, with sinkholes and cracks, limited construction to five thousand of the 16 thousand square meters of land. Even so, he said, all the characteristic services of the Utopias were integrated, such as the public care system.

“This is the fifth Utopia to be built from October 2024 to date – Basulto highlighted -, and a thousand jobs were generated for its construction.”

Claudia Curiel, Secretary of Culture of the Federal Government, attended on behalf of President Claudia Sheinbaum. He pointed out that the Utopias model transcends Iztapalapa to the world.

Impact on the community

Clara Brugada highlighted that the Utopias “return home” and that 119 million pesos were invested to transform the space. She stressed that these facilities free women from the burden of care and improve people’s emotional health. They also promote culture and sports.

As an incentive, he announced that the first 300 children registered in the semi-Olympic pool will receive their uniform for free.

La Utopia Acatitla represents another step in the policy of recovery of public spaces in Iztapalapa, with a focus on well-being and equity.

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.