The Melchor Ocampo Sugar Mill has great influence in the local ruling elite linked to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI - Partido Revolucionario Institucional), and on the ejido sugar cane producers who are organized through the National Peasant Confederation (CNC - Confederación Nacional Campesina) Mexico’s national union of peasants; and on private land owners organized through the National Confederation of Small Land Owners (CNPP - Confederación Nacional de la Pequeña Propiedad), as both of these groups are closely related to the PRI.
Many of the sugar cane growers whom originally sided with the position of the river defence committees withdrew their support over concerns that they would lose their jobs. The growers believe that because the water treatment alternatives are too expensive it will cause the Sugar Mill to close.
The Sugar Mill starts to use the local press to indirectly advocate their position, with articles stating the importance of the mill to the local economy. They argue that the treatment of wastewater will take 3 to 5 years to implement due to high cost of water treatment infrastructure. The Mill management also point out that the local municipalities are also polluting the river.
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