▲ Panic buying of water was detected in Iztapalapa. Residents fear that the shortage of liquid will increase. In the image, employees and owners of water purifiers block Axis 6, at the intersection with Ermita.Photo Alfredo Dominguez Noriega
Javier Salinas Cesáreo, René Ramón Alvarado, Silvia Chávez González and Israel Dávila, correspondents, and Mara Ximena Pérez, reporter
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, October 28, 2025, p. 4
For almost nine hours, pipe drivers and purifier owners blocked roads in 15 Mexican municipalities, as well as in the country’s capital, which affected circulation in the accesses to Mexico City. The dissidents protested the operation Caudalimplemented by Mexican authorities against the illegal extraction and distribution of drinking water in 48 districts. This operation included the seizure of 189 properties, in which 51 wells and 138 clandestine taps were located.
Due to the mobilizations, thousands of public transport users were affected and had to walk long stretches to find any transportation option. The service of Mexibús lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 was suspended.
In some points, the presence of drivers linked to groups classified by the authorities as criminals was detected, among them the Union of Unions and National Organizations, The 300 and former officials of municipalities such as Ecatepec.
The protests began at 7 in the morning at points in 15 districts of the state of Mexico, including Nezahualcóyotl, Ecatepec, Tepotzotlán, Acolman, Texcoco, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Toluca, La Paz and Chimalhuacán.
One of the first closures occurred on Central Avenue, near the Nezahualcóyotl Metro, where pipe workers and purifier owners were stationed heading towards Mexico City.
Simultaneously, the protesters settled on the Mexico-Pachuca highways, near El Vigilante; the México-Querétaro, in the Tepotzotlán booth; Mexico-Toluca, next to Plazas Outlet; Toluca-Naucalpan, in Plazas Santín; the Peñón-Texcoco and the México-Pírámides, near Acolman.
In Nezahualcóyotl there were seven interrupted points; nine in Ecatepec; two in Acolman; four in Texcoco; three in Cuautitlán Izcalli, and one in Tepotzotlán, at the toll booth on the Mexico-Querétaro highway, where the blockade was partial.
The pipers accused that, after Friday’s operation, the authorities promoted the retention of their tanker trucks and sent them to corralones. “We are aware of the huachicoleobut it is not our case. We provide a water purification service to people, and by closing the wells we have no source of supply. “It’s not worth putting us all in the same bag,” they reproached.
The protesters claimed “not to be thieves”; However, they recognized that there are wells from which liquid is illegally extracted, so they asked the authorities to verify each case of the insured wells.
In Mexico City, more than 200 purifier owners carried out simultaneous blockades on main roads such as Calzada Ermita Iztapalapa and Eje 6 Sur, in Iztapalapa; Central Axis and National Progress, in Gustavo A. Madero; and Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas and Circuito Interior, in Cuauhtémoc, where they demanded the reopening of wells located in Mexican territory that allow piperos to supply themselves with drinking water.
Although delegation authorities assured that “the closure of intakes does not affect the supply in homes,” the panorama in Iztapalapa was almost apocalyptic: families made panic purchases and left the shelves empty.
Sandra López went to a department store at least three times to stock up on liquid. “Yes, it has totally affected us, because there is a shortage of water, whether for personal use or consumption,” he said while carrying three packages of 35 bottles.
