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<br />FOREIGN AFFAIRS
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<br />tries have expressed a desire to settle the dispute as quickly as possible. Per-
<br />haps they wiD soon achieve a mutually satisfactory arrangement, but first
<br />they will have to contend with men like Arizona's Senator Carl Hayden.
<br />powerful chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. Hayden, though
<br />anxious to end the controversy, insists that the United States is under no
<br />obligation to send Mexico good-quality water.
<br />In the meantime, developments are taking place which are clearly harmful
<br />to the interests of the United States. Angered at American attempts to foist
<br />polluted water on them, Mexicans are muttering about "Yankee imperialism"
<br />and threatening ro take the controversy to the World Court. Particularly
<br />disturbing is the fact that all this is occurring at a time when Cuba is threat-
<br />ening the security of the Western Hemisphere and when the United States is
<br />trying desperately to make a success of the Alliance for Progress.
<br />But the dispute involves far more than an international difference. of
<br />opinion. For it has provided Mexican leftist and Communist groups with a
<br />rallying point for their attacks on both the Mexican and. American Govern-
<br />ments. . Unrest has flared highest in Baja California, the region directly
<br />affected by the polluted water and also an area long beset by political insta-
<br />bility. If current news dispatches are correct, insurgents there have made
<br />great headway. For example, shortly before the water controversy, Alfonso
<br />Garzon.was a little known agitator with few followers. Today, after success-
<br />fully capitalizing on, among other things, the discontent of farmers who suf-
<br />fered crop losses, he is a figure of national significance in Mexico. In fact, so
<br />many embittered farmers had joined his ranks by March 1963 that President
<br />Adolfo Lopez Mateos felt compelled to negotiate with him.
<br />Aside from the legal and political difficulties, the problem has a very real
<br />human dimension. The people benefiting from Arizona's Wellton-Mohawk
<br />drainage operations are relatively few-about 300 or 400 farmers. On the
<br />other hand, there are about 10,400 Mexican farmers dependent on the
<br />Colorado. Moreover, the city of Mexicali, with a population in excess of
<br />300,000, also relies on the river for part of its municipal supply. But Mexicans
<br />are not the only ones threatened by the polluted water, since the city of
<br />Yuma has also been affected.
<br />Obviously, the mistake of 19 years ago has created an enormous headache.
<br />Had the State Deparrment listened to the critics of the treaty in 1945, there
<br />might not be the present crisis over the Colorado River. Only time can tell
<br />how and when the dispute will finally be resolved. Certain things do seem
<br />rather clear, however. It is virtually certain that no arbitration tribunal will
<br />support the United States' contention that the treaty obligation would be
<br />satisfied by. giving Mexico unusable water. Obviously, both countries have
<br />got to sit down and decide just what constitutes "good" or "usable" water.
<br />Perhaps their answer will be modified to include some of Secretary Stewart
<br />Udall's recent suggestions urging both countries to adopt better irrigation
<br />procedures and to step up water conservation projects. And, perhaps, it will
<br />. incorporate some of the latest results of desalinization tests. Whatever hap-
<br />pens, it is imperative that a solution be found quickly. Hemispheric interests
<br />compel it.
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