MEXICALI, Baja California.
- Lucía Laguna has her destiny tattooed on her face.
From the corner of her mouth to her chin, black lines cut across her coppery skin like the ripples of a choppy river.
He says that, in life, the tribal tattoo honors his people, but the most important thing will happen later.
“
After my death, he will guide me to my ancestors.
With the tattoo they will recognize me and can take me where they are, ”he explains on the banks of the Colorado River.
Under the merciless sun, Laguna, 51, has sweat beaded on his forehead as he talks about the Cucapá, his indigenous people.
At the end of April, in Baja California the temperature exceeds 91 degrees Fahrenheit (about 33 centigrade), but the thermal sensation is much greater near the river, muddy and green, with some foam among the sparse vegetation on its banks.
Alerts are triggered in California due to lack of water, 74% of the state is in extreme drought
June 3, 202101: 48
[The United States returns to the Paris Agreement with a great goal against climate change: zero emissions by 2050]
"Cucapá means people from the river, that's why we are fighting for it," he explains, pointing to a decrease in flow every year.
“We cling to the river and fight because they give us water so that the fish can arrive and we can earn our livelihood.
But it is a fight that it seems that we will never win,
”he says disheartened.
Mexico experiences the worst drought in three decades.
Images from the Landsat 8 satellite released days ago by NASA showed the extremely low levels of the Villa Victoria dam, one of the capital's main water reservoirs.
But it is a national problem.
The meteorological service assures that three quarters of the country suffers from drought;
in 16 of the 32 states it affects their entire territory.
Thus, 60 large reservoirs, especially in the north and center, are below 25% of capacity.
A Cucapá man walking near the desert border between Mexico and the United States, in Baja California, April 2021.Alejandro Cegarra
[Biden pledges to cut US carbon emissions in half by 2030 as part of the Paris climate pact]
"In the last 70 years, the temperature in Mexico has a clear and conclusive trend of increase. In the last decade it increased very rapidly and
that rise is even higher than the average for the planet
", explains Jorge Zavala Hidalgo, general coordinator of the National Meteorological Service .
From October 1, 2020 to April 18, 2021 (during the dry season), the country experienced around 20% less rainfall than average, and several areas in the east, west and southeast reached temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 centigrade).
Due to low supply, many residents have been left without running water in various regions of the country.
Rainfall has always fluctuated, explains Zavala, but now the rain is concentrated in fewer days.
"And that is bad because we all want it to rain," he explains, "but
nobody wants it to flood, especially the farmers, because that destroys the crops.
That is why we are studying everything that is happening."
Planet Earth: They pressure oil companies to reduce their polluting emissions
May 30, 202101: 31
[Six-month summers: the climate change alert that worries experts]
The increase in temperature especially affects the forests, which go from being a paradise of greenery to becoming time bombs for fire.
As of May, 5,562 forest fires have been registered, 27% more than in 2020. And the burned area grew 69%, reaching almost 900,000 acres (360,000 hectares).
"There is more drought and therefore the vegetation is waiting for someone to arrive, turn on a leaf and from there the fire begins," says César Robles, deputy manager of the Fire Management Center of the National Forestry Commission.
"The area affected by fires is directly correlated with the increase in temperature and the decrease in rainfall," he adds,
"the drought makes the fires more aggressive
and there are more areas affected by fire."
["We don't want to steal anything but to have a future": climate migrants seek the American dream but are returned to Mexico]
Abandoned boats in the areas where the Colorado River used to reach, in Baja California, April 2021.Alejandro Cegarra
Every drop of water has an owner
"Sometimes
we feel that we are dying of thirst.
Although many deny it, the climate has changed," says Imelda Guerra Hurtado, pointing to the barren lands of El Zanjón, an arid, semi-desert enclave that reaches the banks of the Colorado River delta. .
Guerra, 43, remembers when she was a child and her grandmother brought her to accompany all her relatives on fishing.
To walk with her is to travel through ghost territory.
Every so often he stops, and says: "The water reached there."
Now there is only dusty, cracked earth left there.
"We have always lived off the fish in the river, since I can remember.
Now we can only fish once a year
and it is our main livelihood," he says.
A fisherman from the Cucapá indigenous people, during preparations to sail, in El Zanjón, Baja California, April 2021. Alejandro Cegarra
[The melting of glaciers flows so fast that it could sink a country like Switzerland under meters of water every year]
The Cucapá are one of the five native tribes of Baja California, and they descend from the Yuman people, who emigrated to that area around 1000 BC According to official data, there are
now only between 350 and 400 members of the Cucapá people
but, in the 19th century , Western colonizers documented between 5,000 and 6,000 nomads who organized into clans.
"You have to understand that these indigenous people see the entire region, both the part of Mexico and the United States, as their territory. In their traditions it is remembered that they received a lot of water and, little by little, they were running out of that flow." says Osvel Hinojosa, director of the Coastal Solutions Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
The history of the Colorado River, and the problems it suffers today, is an ode to progress and engineering that tried to tame nature.
It is the most important water system in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States;
As with the Nile River in Egypt, it is essential for farming in a semi-desert region.
The area near a reservoir in Baja California, Mexico, April 2021. Alejandro Cegarra
[Boiled frog syndrome: the danger of adapting to global warming]
In the 19th century the river reached Mexico with a wild power of about 42,000 cubic feet (1,200 cubic meters) per second.
At the beginning of the 20th century, however, the United States began struggling to convert the arid regions of the Southwest to arable land, thus undertaking engineering works to divert water to the Imperial Valley of California.
"From 1922 everything started badly," explains Hinojosa with resignation, "The United States did a study to divide the water from the Colorado River and, coincidentally, it was the 10 wettest years in the basin."
Thus, a distribution was made on paper that included more water (16%) than there actually is.
And then the reservoirs began to be built
In 1936 the Hoover Dam was inaugurated, between Nevada and Arizona, which lowered the flow
to 164 cubic meters per second
for Mexico.
In 1944, a bilateral treaty was signed that guaranteed Mexico about 1.8 million cubic meters of water per year, but most of it goes to agriculture.
Planet Earth: The masks against COVID-19, a destructive element for the ecosystem
April 25, 202101: 30
["This is the most decisive decade in history to face the climate crisis": Biden is asked to transform the world's energy systems]
The agreement did not consider the rights of the Cucapá people and their ancestral relationship with the river.
But it affected their traditional ceremonies, causing a shortage of fruits and grains, and of the trees and shrubs used to make houses, boats, and clothing.
"Nobody asked us anything,
at that time it was as if we did not exist",
complains Guerra, "there are many companies here that never lack water, one sees the fields of green vegetables and the rest, our land, it is desert. "
In 1966, the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona was erected, and
the river's flow decreased to 8 cubic meters per second.
But what no one seemed to count on, between treaties and dams, was climate change.
"In Mexicali it has never rained," explains Hinojos, "the flow that reaches the region and that sustains agriculture comes from snowfall 2,600 kilometers [1,600 miles] in the Rockies."
It all depends on precipitation in Wyoming and Colorado, but since 2002 snowfall has been below average, he explains, which has depleted the river, causing a "bleak outlook."
Indigenous fishermen navigating the waters of the Colorado River, April 2021 Alejandro Cegarra
[Diseases hidden for thousands of years under the ice can be revived, experts warn]
California and Baja California share the same geography and climatic conditions.
Years of warmer temperatures, a failed rainy season last summer, and low snow cover have combined to cause the region's rivers to decline.
Severe drought, largely related to climate change, thus affects the entire western half of the United States, from the Pacific coast through the Great Basin and the southwestern desert, and through the Rocky Mountains to the plains of the United States. North.
Planet Earth: Thousands of tons of plastic float on the Bolivian lake Uru Uru
April 8, 202102: 01
[Bill Gates finances project to 'cover the sun' and thus stop global warming]
In California, the wells are running dry;
Lake Mead, on the Arizona-Nevada border, lacks so much water from the Colorado River that both entities could face eventual water outages.
California and other southwestern states depend on melting snow for much of their water resources.
The snow cover is essentially a frozen deposit that is released in the spring and summer.
But that is changing as the West Coast warms.
Fishermen from the Cucapá people fishing for curvina golfina in El Zanjón, Baja California, April 2021. Alejandro Cegarra
The narco also fishes
Since 1993, the Cucapá fishing territory has been included in the El Alto Golfo de California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve, which has a surface area of 2.3 million acres (935,000 hectares).
This protected area was created to preserve the flora and fauna, such as the
vaquita
porpoise (Phocoena sinus) and the totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi), which are in danger of extinction.
"We abide by the rules, we know that species have to be protected because we are an indigenous people, we use the nets and equipment that the Government asks of us and we do not go out when it does not correspond to us," explains Rubén Flores, captain of a panga, a boat of traditional fishing.
The ban on fishing, the main activity of the indigenous people, and the crisis fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, have nevertheless plunged the Cucapá into a depression that forces the exodus of the youngest people.
When they are lucky they manage to sell a kilo (2.2 pounds) of fish for nine pesos (0.45 dollars), but the normal is six.
The companies that market it later get up to five times more, they lament.
Planet Earth: Sea Level Rises on the East Coast
March 28, 202101: 28
[Sea level will rise more than expected and will affect millions of people, according to study]
The 2010 earthquake also affected fishing.
"It left us huge cracks that got bigger, and that doesn't allow us to fish as before," explains Hilda Hurtado Valenzuela, 68 years old and president of the Sociedad Cooperativa Pueblo Indígena Cucapá, one of the associations that groups together the people who are still fishing.
"Now the ocean currents enter where the old banks of the river used to be,
they damage it and we are left without part of our territory,"
adds Hurtado, who, he says, was born on the banks of the Colorado River.
Hilda Hurtado Valenzuela, 68 years old and president of the Sociedad Cooperativa Pueblo Indígena Cucapá, one of the associations that groups together people still engaged in fishing, in Baja California, Mexico, April 2021. Alejandro Cegarra
[Natural monuments of the world are about to disappear and experts explain why]
Sitting on a plastic chair near the patio of her home in El Indiviso, a semi-desert ejido, she explains that she likes to get away from the sun.
He has not seen him for a long time as a source of life but as a tough enemy who takes out his tribe, destroys the river and forces them to live at night during the harshest moments of summer.
"The heat here is unbearable, we have never experienced this. There
are
even
people living on the streets who die because they cannot stand the temperatures.
And it also affects the animals because less water comes from the river and the fish reproduce with the mixing of the water. sweet with salty, that's why there are fewer and fewer fish, "she reels worriedly.
Planet Earth: Deforestation in tropical forests causes annual carbon emissions like 570 million cars
April 4, 202101: 46
The townspeople insist that they do not fish the totoaba, whose swim bladder is considered a delicacy in the Asian market for its supposed medicinal and aphrodisiac properties (a kilo
can cost 5,000 dollars in Mexico, and when it reaches China it rises to 55,000 or $ 60,000
).
But the intense demand leads to fishing with professional nets, thus also trapping the vaquitas and leaving them on the brink of extinction.
Various environmental and journalistic investigations have pointed to the Dragon Cartel, a criminal network with Mexican, American, Chinese and other intermediaries that conspire to exploit the totoaba in that region.
Rubén Flores, captain of one of the fishing boats of the Cucapá town, in El Zanjón, Baja California, April 2021. Alejandro Cegarra
"Fish don't like heat"
Flores was forged in the waters of the delta and just by looking at the sky he knows what the weather will be like.
That's why he shakes his head disapprovingly every time he sees the perennial fried egg sun that evaporates everything.
He is a fisherman and does not know much about atmospheric measurements, but his diagnosis matches that of scientists.
"
Something strange is happening here. It is as if the sun lasts longer, so the fish do not like that heat. They
are born less and weigh less, which we used to fish in two days, today we have a whole week to look for the curvina "he explains looking at the river.
March and April are the months in which the Cucapá people connect with their traditions and go fishing for curvina golfina.
But the intense drought also affects the reproduction of the fish, so they must go further and further, with poorly prepared boats, with small engines and without much fuel.
"We comply with everything, but the people of the surrounding towns also fish and do nothing. And many times they punish us for that," explains Paco, a veteran fisherman with more than 25 years of experience.
Planet Earth: 2020, one of the hottest years in history
Jan. 10, 202101: 25
"And we must also be careful
because the narco is there, they follow our routes through the area and no longer fish to hide tons of drugs underneath.
We tell the police, but nobody does anything," adds Paco, who asks to keep his anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Baja California has long been the scene of the bloody territorial dispute between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel.
It is common that, at night, convoys of armored trucks speed through the desert in extermination operations of the rival gang.
Especially in the Valley of Mexicali (state capital) and in San Luis Río Colorado, in Sonora, groups of hitmen often assault the houses of their adversaries to subdue and execute them in rural ejidos or the vast emptiness of the most arid areas of the condition.
With 1,063 homicides registered between January and April, it is the second bloodiest state only behind Guanajuato (1,263).
An irrigation canal in the Mexicali Valley, Baja California, April 2021. Alejandro Cegarra
["We're Breathing Smoke": These Oregon Farm Workers Harvest in Fire Hazards and Call for More Protection]
The United States issued a security alert in April for tourists and officials to take great precautions when traveling in and around the city of Mexicali and its rural area due to widespread violence.
"We do not feel safe, we are exposed to everything that is happening because there is a lot of crime. We try to protect ourselves and always be on the lookout for a stranger, because you never know who can attack you," says Laguna with fear painted on his face .
Abandoned jet skis in a vacant lot in the Mexicali Valley, Baja California, in April 2021.Alejandro Cegarra
Hell on earth
But heat also kills.
In 2019 there were at least eight deaths in Mexicali associated with high temperatures;
in 2020 they were 83.
"People cannot live with those temperatures, that is, people die", explains Zavala, "although they are used to the heat, even small increases break the threshold for the human body to survive."
On August 14, 2020, Mexicali registered 122 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the record of 121 that dated from August 1981.
Froilán Meza Rivera, a veteran journalist and writer from northern Mexico, consulted the archives of the Secretariat of Hydraulic Resources where it is stated that in July 1966, in Riíto, a Mexicali community, a thermometer reached the unprecedented figure of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
And that was his limit: the mercury rose to the top and could not measure any more.
It would be the highest figure in the world: according to the World Meteorological Organization, the highest recorded temperature is 134 degrees Fahrenheit (almost 57 centigrade) on July 10, 1913 in California's Death Valley.
The region is exposed to the worst possible scenarios in terms of a climate emergency, denounces Roberto Sánchez Rodríguez, an academic from the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, but "governments have mismanaged resources and that is why there is less water available."
A photograph of a Cucapá child, taken in 1900, exhibited at the Cucapá Community Museum, in Baja California, April 2021. Alejandro Cegarra
It is up to the Cucapá to fight against the effects of a global problem that they have not generated.
Far from the industries and the great centers of pollution, they suffer the erosion of their customs and lifestyle.
Lucia Laguna considers herself a guardian.
They have studied their language, their customs and their traditional clothes to preserve them, and their memory is one of the most important reservoirs of the Cucapá past.
Kneeling on the banks of the Colorado River, she touches the dark water with special devotion, while reciting an ancient song accompanied by two girls.
"My great-grandfather [grandfather]
takes fish because without that we cannot eat
. I too would like to be a fisherman, because I really like the river and being here," said 10-year-old Marleny Sáenz.
"I want the river to stay, to have our traditions. I like to sing because it is part of me, I feel very proud to be part of this town," she explains before singing an ancient blessing of the Cucapá.
Lucía Laguna with two of her students who learn the traditions and songs of the Cucapá people, in Baja California, Mexico, April 2021. Alejandro Cegarra
[El calentamiento global se acelera, elevando el nivel del mar y alimentando incendios y otros fenómenos naturales destructivos]
Se trata de un rito que solían celebrar a orillas del río. Desde tiempos inmemoriales quemaban la cachanilla, una planta silvestre de aroma fresco, mientras salmodiaban sus cánticos para que los pescadores tuviesen suerte en sus largas expediciones en el mar.
"Se trata de abrir caminos, para que todo salga bien", explica Laguna.
"Estamos pagando las consecuencias de la contaminación de otra gente. Las personas de las ciudades tienen que entender que nosotros nos vemos afectados por lo que ellos hacen. Ellos no viven solos en el mundo", agrega con tristeza mientras toca el agua y le canta a su río.
Si usted tiene información sobre casos de los efectos nocivos del cambio climático en México o Centroamérica puede escribir a albinson.linares@nbcuni.com