Pemex's fracking is underway: Drilling begins in the Huasteca region.

MEXICO CITY (apro) .- Of all the regions in the country, the Huasteca Potosina region would face the greatest risk with the application of fracking promoted by Claudia Sheinbaum, a scenario that revives memories of the years of Enrique Peña Nieto, the Alliance Against Fracking stated.

Based on an analysis of Pemex's Strategic Plan, presented on August 5, 2025, the organization initially identified the municipalities most vulnerable to this practice.

In the Huasteca Potosina are Tanlajás, San Antonio, Tancanhuitz, Tanquián de Escobedo, Tampamolón Corona, Coxcatlán, Huehuetlán, Axtla de Terrazas, Xilitla, Matlapa, Tamazunchale, San Martín Chalchicuautla, Tampacán, San Vicente Tancuayalab, Ébano, Tamuín and Ciudad Valles.

In the Huasteca Veracruzana, the municipalities indicated are El Higo, Tempoal, Platón Sánchez, Chalma and Chiconamel.

While in the Huasteca Hidalguense are Huejutla de Reyes, Jaltocán and San Felipe Orizatlán.

The report details that unrestricted drilling has already been detected in these locations, a clear indication of the intention to identify and exploit volumes of gas and oil, both in conventional and unconventional areas, i.e., those where fracking would be applied.

For the Alliance, this decision could lead to "catastrophic consequences and irreparable pollution of water, land, and air, serious impacts on human health, destruction of ecosystems, and the collapse of regional economic activity, traditional agriculture, and tourism."

"This terrible and devastating technique, which, if applied, would lead to the destruction of all forms of life in territories predominantly inhabited by indigenous peoples and communities, immediately includes exploration work in two polygons called Maguey and Castañas," the document states.

The group insisted that Sheinbaum's plan, which already violates the Fourth Transformation's commitment not to resort to fracking, repeats what happened between 2014 and 2018.

“The Huasteca Potosina region and other regions of the country were shaken by strong indigenous and popular mobilizations in response to the Peña Nieto administration's attempts to hand over gas and oil to foreign companies, particularly those from the United States, under the guise of the energy reform enacted in December 2013 and the Hydrocarbons Law of August 2014,” the Alliance recalled.

On that occasion, Indigenous peoples and communities organized to confront what they considered a threat of dispossession of their lands and the installation of wells for hydrocarbon extraction using conventional methods and the "terrible practice" of fracking, planned for 382,000 hectares in 18 municipalities in the region.