Nicole Marysse Guerrero Márquez

Prioritazing our public rights: water, light and.. wifi?

1. Introduction
This last weeks we have analized on the International contracts class many
topics of the National Development Plan 2019-2024 and as mexican citizens it
is our obligation to analyze what our governor proposed 3 years ago and how
it had been doing since then, and taking that into consideration I want to
profundize about Chapter 3: The economic part, more specifically the topic
“Internet connection fo the whole country”.

For me, this topic it is really controversial, because as we know, most of our
population lives in the poverty, so why would our governor add this proposal
to the PND if we live in a country where not all the people has access to basic
public services like clean water or electricity, so what makes us think that they
would have access to a cellphone or a computer?
This topic on the PND affects the economy because it is fundamental that the
government guarantee the right of the citizens to light and water and then
implement the internet connection, it will be a high added cost for
implementing the program but as we are living in a globalized era, we need to
take this step forward now and not in 20 years when our business and
economy could get affected because of the disconnection of our citizens.

2. Justification
In August 2022, AMLO announced a 1500 MDD investment to hire
sindicalized workers of the CFE so they could install all the required
infrastructure so they could take internet connection to 7500 communities that
don't have the conditions to even make a phone call. (Revista Alto Nivel,
2022), but why is he spending so much money on this initiative when we have
1,015 million people without electricity (CFE, 2021).

According to the CFE, the company in charge of this project together with
Altán Redes, the program “Internet para el bienestar” currently has 78%
coverage in the 531 municipal capitals that did not have connectivity until
2018, with which there are only 117 municipalities without internet service. In
addition, the CFE has already installed 62,413 free internet connection points
in schools, federal buildings, rural medical units, health centers, libraries and
public places.
The INEGI describes another other perspective of poverty, where 47.6% of
households in Mexico do not have access to the internet, a tool that became
indispensable during the Covid-19 pandemic and that has also been
considered a human right.For another three million 37,000 homes do not have
a television, while another 11 million 294,000 do not have a device to tune in
to the radio either.
 Nicole Marysse Guerrero Márquez

“The information society represents a social evolution, in which the economic

and cultural vision is changing the focus of its main attention from industrial
production processes to the generation, distribution and electronic processing
of information. The information society is then a post-industrial society that is
characterized by being connected and by providing connectivity to individuals,
so the analysis of certain connectivity indicators -such as the number of users
who own a computer, who are connected to the Internet or that have access
to mobile telephony- will allow us to characterize the societies that participate
culturally, business, socially and politically in the global information society.”
(Casillas, M., Ramirez, A., Carvajal, M., Valencia, K., 2016).

This last paragraph is the exact description of the consequences for the
economy and business, a connected country with the world, means a country
with information, a country where the citizens can know what's going around
them, a country with the power of information, which, at a long term, can
attract other countries to invest in and with us.

3. Conclusions
My personal point of view about this is that the government, and specially the
president keeps talking about how he wants to help the unprivileged people
but sometimes he forget about how hard is it for them to have access to
things that for others can be seen as a basic need, and for them acquiring this
things is more like a privilege that can not be achieved.

It is important to remember that we need to adapt to modern life, we live in a

globalized world where connectivity is important but it should not be a priority
for a country that has more than half of its population living in poverty, then, I
propose to boost initiatives such as “Programa de Energía para tu Vivienda”
from la Secretaría de Bienestar, this program has brought both services
closer to marginalized communities in the states where there is no electricity
network or pipes for drinking water. Both services were taken to homes that
really needed it, since the beneficiary communities and municipalities were
targeted based on Inegi and Coneval indicators that have to do with poverty
and marginalization. (Muñeton, 2022)

To conclude, the government needs to prioritize, as we´ve seen there had

been some good ideas but there hasn´t been follow up to those who were not
on the PND, and if this is already an initiative that is working why not
implement this at the same time that they implement the internet connection
to guarantee that citizens really gets beneficiated and not half beneficiated.
 Nicole Marysse Guerrero Márquez

References

● EFE, (2022). Internet gratis en todo México: AMLO anuncia inversión de

1,500 mdd para conectar a todo el país. Revista Alto Nivel. 11(2), 13-14.
https://www.altonivel.com.mx/actualidad/internet-gratis-en-todo-mexico-amlo-
anuncia-inversion-de-1500-mdd-para-conectar-a-todo-el-pais/
● Muñetón, K. (2022, Noviembre 22). Con programas del gobierno, llevan agua
y luz a zonas marginadas. El Sol de Tlaxcala.
https://www.elsoldetlaxcala.com.mx/local/con-programas-del-gobierno-llevan-
agua-y-luz-a-zonas-marginadas-9122904.html
● México planea conectar a 20 millones de personas sin internet para finales
del 2023.(2023, Febrero 15). Axis Negocios.
https://www.axisnegocios.com/breves.phtml?id=116797
● Casillas, M., Ramirez, A., Carvajal, M., Valencia, K., (2016). La integración de
México a la sociedad de la información. (1ra edición). Instituto de Investigaciones
Jurídicas. Universidad Autónoma de México.
https://archivos.juridicas.unam.mx/www/bjv/libros/9/4065/18.pdf