Greenpeace México took its campaign against industrial pig farms underground this week, staging a protest inside a cenote in Samahil and releasing water tests from 17 wells and cenotes across Yucatán. The results, and what Maya communities say they are living with.Photo: Greenpeace Mexico
Greenpeace México activists climbed down into a cenote in San Antonio Tedzidz, a small community in the municipality of Samahil, and hung banners over the water. “Paradise at risk,” read one, in Spanish. Another demanded an end to the pollution of cenotes.
The target was Yucatán’s industrial pig farms, which the group blames for fouling the state’s water with animal waste because, it says, many do not handle that waste responsibly.
Alongside the protest, Greenpeace released results from water samples taken at 17 wells and cenotes around the state. None are tourist cenotes. The samples came from Kinchil, Sitilpech, Chocholá, Molas, Celestún, and San Antonio Tedzidz.
Of the 17 samples, 16 reached the upper limit for total coliform bacteria and 13 showed elevated levels of fecal coliforms. Coliforms are a standard warning sign that water has come into contact with feces. The study also flagged one sample from Texán with what Greenpeace called worrying levels.
Representatives of Maya communities joined the protest. They say some farms sit very close to cenotes and wells that families use for drinking water, cooking, and crops. Residents blamed the farms for stomach illnesses, a heavy stench, and the deaths of large numbers of bees.
“Many bees are dying, and it started when the farm moved in near us,” said María, a beekeeper from Maxcanú. “There’s a lot of smell and a lot of green flies, and people are upset because we never had those things before.”
She said her family keeps bees and grows vegetables and citrus, and that the bees no longer pollinate the way they used to.
Why Yucatán’s water is so exposed
Yucatán has almost no rivers on the surface. Its fresh water flows underground through porous limestone, and cenotes are the openings into that aquifer. Waste that is spread or spilled on the ground can seep down quickly and travel far.
That fragility is why Mexico’s federal government is drawing up an underground reserve to protect the rivers and caves beneath the Peninsula.
Pressure on the pork industry has been building for years. Mexico’s federal environmental protection agency, Profepa, has confirmed damage to water, soil, and air tied to more than 500 pig farms in the state. In 2024, regulators [fined 26 operations on the Peninsula for breaking environmental laws.
In Santa María Chi, on the edge of Mérida, more than 41,000 pigs were removed from a farm that Profepa had ordered closed for operating without environmental permits. Last month, a United Nations human rights report raised alarms about the spread of pig farms in Yucatán and the risk of creating “sacrifice zones” in Maya communities.
What the groups want
Greenpeace México and the Red To’oné Ja’o’on network called on authorities to carry out real environmental inspections, make public the status of cases against farms, and set up independent, regular testing of the state’s water.
The groups also asked for stronger protection of the rights of Maya communities. Greenpeace added that it wants the farms regulated, sanctions for those that break health rules and, above all, repair of the environmental damage already done.
With reporting from La Jornada Maya and Por Esto!
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