(Courtesy Mexicali Resiste / Alcohol Justice)

Constellation Brands, home to popular beer brands Corona and Modelo, who have been building a brewery in Baja, Mexico are facing unexpected challenges from the local Mexicali community…challenges that have put their not-yet-completed $1.4 billion brewery in danger.

Constellation first announced plans for its mega-brewery in Mexicali, one of the driest regions in Mexico back in January of 2016. And they had hoped to have it running at full capacity by December of 2019.

But responding to farmers and activists like Mexicali Resiste who argued that the new brewery would overburden the region’s already limited water resources, Mexico’s president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador abruptly called for a referendum on the development – putting it to an informal vote of the people.

In that vote, which took place just as the country was shutting down due to the coronavirus and critics argue was poorly attended as a result, 76.1% cast their ballots against the initiative and the president called a halt to the project.

But now, the state’s current Governor, Jaime Bonilla, former President of the Otay Water Board in San Diego, CA, has announced his support of efforts to allow Constellation Brands to continue operating in Mexicali, which led to an August 6 protest outside Constellation’s San Francisco office by Mexicali Resiste, along with members of alcohol industry watchdog Alcohol Justice.

“The people of Baja, California, especially Mexicali, have opposed the looting of water from an overexploited aquifer,” stated Leon Fierro, Diana Arangure, Mexicali Resiste. “It is for this reason that a series of activities have been carried out where the population has expressed its rejection with massive marches, meetings, consultations and collective actions.”

Constellation Brands has reaffirmed its commitment to the northern Mexican state by stressing that it will be investing $4.5 billion over the coming years, but protesters who are calling for boycotts were having none of it…

The Victor, NY-headquartered drinks giant is not the only company with breweries in the northern Mexico.

Heineken has a plant in Baja California, where they recently expanded capacity. Anheuser-Busch has two breweries in the north Mexico, and Constellation Brands already has two breweries online in the country, Mexicali would be its third.