Want to understand... #2 Coca-Cola in Mexico

Hello guys,

Today I just want to talk to you about a social problem in Mexico. 12 millions of Mexican people do not have access to drinking water. The water network is extremely damaged and fragile in Mexico and there is little treatment system for used waters. Water represents a lot of a large part of the families' income.

Because of the lack of water, the consumption of sugary fizzy drinks has increased a lot in Mexico. And the American Coca-Cola company has played a big role in this situation. By making strategic operations of marketing, special prices of Coke for Mexico, Coca-Cola has made Mexico consumes more than 40% of all the Coke drunk in Latin America! Coke is cheaper than water in Mexico and that can explain why. Moreover, Coca-Cola has created new sizes of bottles to facilitate the consumption of Coke by the Mexican population, even the poorest. Besides having terrible consequences on the health (one can see a great increase in obesity), it has also disastrous consequences on the environment and makes stronger the water issue in Mexico!

I explain: To make a liter of Coke, you need 2 liters of water. These companies are placed in strategic places, like nearby aquifers, and pump several hundred millions liters of water, that could be used just to make drinking water.

The Mexican government does not want to upset the Coca-Cola company and then does nothing or just a little (like adding a tax on the production of Coke, but for the moment, the consumption of Coke is not reduced at all, so it is just the government that are making more money). When you look a little closer, you realize that it is one more time a game of power and money: Vincente Fox, the former president of Mexico between 2000 and 2006, was, before he was elected, the president of the Coca-Cola company in Latin America, and before that, he was already a deputy for Mexico. If politics in Mexico continue to be interleaved with Coca-Cola, the issue will not be resolved in the next few years, maybe even never.

Mexico is also the first Coke consumer country in the world. This drink is even sometimes seen as sacred and is used in celebrations, like christenings, births, weddings for example. There are also stories about Coke curing problem of internal devils. They also make sacrificial offerings composed of Coke to the Gods, when a member of the family is sick or something.

An extreme Coke consumption can be very nefast for people and even create a dependence, like alcohol. People can develop an extremely high level of hyperglycemia, morbid obesity, and sometimes their cases are so bad that they have to take medicine to surpass their dependence. The poorest the people, the more they are "forced" to drink Coke because it is the cheaper option they have! A lot of people know an extreme level of diabetes, so strong that one can see a huge number of amputations in Mexico. Moreover, because of the fact that is mainly the poorer populations that drink Coke, they do not have the money to be medically attended.

On their website, Coca-Cola assures that they make all their possible to restore all of the water they used for their products, and support a vast reforestation program in Mexico. According to them, it contributes to return back the entirety of natural resources they take from Mexico. They even say that "this program contributes to preserve the environment and to make better the life quality of communities". I have never gone to Mexico, but it seems to me that things have not become better since the day someone wrote that on the website. This is always an actual problem, that can only be resolved by a rise of awareness at the international level.