took this one myself.

Visited the town of San Cristóbal while writing this book:

Now I read in the New York Times piece by Oscar Lopez and Andrew Jacobs that the residents don’t have enough water, and so instead are drinking Coke.

Why don’t they have enough water?

Because of the Coke factory.

Buffeted by the dual crises of the diabetes epidemic and the chronic water shortage, residents of San Cristóbal have identified what they believe is the singular culprit: the hulking Coca-Cola factory on the edge of town.

The plant has permits to extract more than 300,000 gallons of water a day as part of a decades-old deal with the federal government that critics say is overly favorable to the plant’s owners.

Bill Clinton in his post presidency used to speak of working with Coca-Cola, which has one of the world’s most effective distribution networks, to bring health care and medicine to remote places in Africa.  Thought that was kind of a cool idea, neoliberalism at its best, you know?  There was a positive story to tell there, but you gotta wonder who is really steering in the relationship of Coke and politicians.

If you want to read about San Cristóbal and San Juan Chamula and the nearby towns of Chiapas, get my book.  A special place, grateful I got to go there.