Neighbors of the Azteca Stadium and visual artists denounced with a mural the water shortage and territorial dispossession associated with the works of the 2026 World Cup, pointing out the collusion of authorities with companies such as Televisa and Coca-Cola, the latter also a sponsor of FIFA.
Mexico City, November 29 (However).– Neighbors of the Aztec Stadiumin the Mayor’s Office Coyoacan of the Mexico Cityo, and visual artists made a mural to denounce the complicity of authorities with companies accused of plundering water, a problem that, they warn, will grow with the works that will be carried out to receive the World Cup 2026.
Villagers Santa Ursula Coapa They intervened in a Coca-Cola Christmas advertisement placed on a stone wall on which neighbors have been pasting illustrations and images for months to claim their right to water. On the mural created by visual artist Vloque Negro on November 23, the phrases were written: “Coapa resists dispossession,” “the World Cup wants to erase us” and “there is no fair play on dispossessed land.”
The mural that is located on the lower bridge of the Azteca Stadium has already been covered by a Coca-Cola advertisement on two occasions, so they called for it to be painted again next Sunday, November 30.
“Coca-Cola has water concessions. Not far from here there is a Coca-Cola factory, a few blocks from the Azteca Stadium. Coca-Cola is also part of the FIFA investors, they have that very specific relationship, Coca-Cola advertising will be here, not only in this ‘merry Christmas’ part, which they just put up, but also inside the stadium when the World Cup takes place. They are part of all this land dispossession.”
“And the same mechanisms that Coca-Cola uses to deprive the towns of their water and sell in this advertising to people, that many of the population in Mexico have diabetes precisely because of this brand, are the same ones that are here with the Azteca Stadium in collusion. It seems ironic to us how advertising that makes people sick is defended and not the messages of the towns,” said Natalia Lara, a member of the neighborhood assembly of Tlalpan and Coyoacán, in an interview.
Adolfo Lara, a resident of Coyoacán, insisted that a problem that affects residents near the stadium is the scarcity of water, while the Televisa company, owner of the Azteca Stadium, has had a water concession since 2019 for 450 thousand cubic meters per year of groundwater. In addition, he is concerned about the expansion of real estate developments that are now promoted by mentioning the 2026 World Cup.
“The World Cup is causing more inflation problems in this area. Many of the real estate projects have messages in their advertising to take advantage of the World Cup, to invest. So housing is no longer built to live in, but to do business with it through rent or Airbnb, that causes prices to rise, we are worried that the people who rent will be evicted and the social fabric of this area will change,” he explained.
Vloque Negro, political scientist and visual artist, believed that artistic expressions are important to transmit different messages of struggle, which is why he highlighted the importance of highlighting, with the intervention of Coca-Cola advertising, the construction of new buildings that bring with them the scarcity of water.
The intervention of the soft drink advertising was supported by other visual artists, among them Francisco who makes engravings on wood and lives in Coyoacán, he recalled that companies such as Airbnb or the Tecnocasa franchise, which is dedicated to real estate brokerage, have expelled neighbors from the spaces they have inhabited for years.
“I am very concerned about the issue of housing, the increase in housing prices, the indiscriminate purchase of real estate, the pressure from companies like Tecnocasa to sell your house, to build. I have seen all of this intensified in my neighborhood through the announcement of the World Cup. It is a big concern because in the neighborhood we are about three stations from the Light Train of the Azteca Stadium and it is very close to the Tasqueña Metro, it is an area that is increasing a lot in home use room, in the use of Airbnb, in the construction of apartments,” he mentioned.
The Government of Mexico City announced the construction of works such as a cycle path in Calzada de Tlalpan and “Coyosauria”, an outdoor theme park on a 5,000 square meter property called “Agua Titla”, closed since 2019 after neighbors denounced the attempt to build a real estate development for which there was no authorization in terms of environmental impact.
Given the announcement, residents have warned of the felling of trees and that the habitat of species such as opossums, cacomixtles and tecuiches – an endemic colorful lizard – that live in the area are at risk.
Rubén González, traditional authority of the town of Santa Úrsula Coapa, explained in an interview in June 2 that as an indigenous people they have the right to be consulted about this decision, to know the studies that the government carried out to conclude that construction on that property and other public works is feasible, in addition to being certain that Televisa, from the Azcárraga family, will not continue to monopolize the water in Santa Úrsula Coapa.
On Sunday, November 23, when for the second time neighbors intervened in Coca-Cola advertising, Natalia Lara emphasized that with her mural they are defending the public space that the soft drink company wants to monopolize.
“We are making it visible that they are dispossessing us and, above all, contravening the entire discourse and narrative that the World Cup is going to bring progress. For us it is dispossession. We cannot call progress just enriching a family, which is the Azcárraga family,” he mentioned and chanted along with other inhabitants the slogans: “Water is life and life is defended,” “water yes, World Cup no.”