Major news this week in La Perla Tapatia includes continuing water challenges on the city’s east and south sides, a citizen petition to recall Guadalajara’s mayor, and a flurry of new rules for local drivers.
Water scarcity fraying daily life in eastern Guadalajara
Following the Semana Santa break, at least six schools located in eastern Guadalajara were forced to make attendance at in-person classes optional due to a lack of water in the school buildings and surrounding homes.
Residents of Oblatos, Santa Rosa, Santa Cecilia, San Onofre, Guadalajara Oriente, and San Vicente complained to local news outlets Canal 44 and Radio UdG that they had been living without water in their homes for days.
At the José Clemente Orozco elementary school, a lack of water prevented students and staff from attending to basic hygiene, such as flushing toilets and washing hands in bathrooms. While delivery service from water trucks had been requested, nearly a week had elapsed with no deliveries. Parents with children attending the affected schools were given the option of keeping their children at home until water service was restored.
Guadalajara’s public water utility (SIAPA) acknowledged the service cut was due to unplanned maintenance on a storage tank in the Oblatos neighborhood, which distributes water to various communities on the city’s east side. A deep cleaning of the tank is expected to improve water quality and pressure for area residents once completed.
Meanwhile, south of the city in El Salto, immediately east of Guadalajara’s international airport, residents blocked the El Verde–El Castillo highway for almost 12 hours last week to protest the lack of running water.
Residents there complained that for the past three years, they have received water service for just half an hour a day. They accused SIAPA of prioritizing supply to new housing developments over existing neighborhoods, with capacity insufficient to supply all areas simultaneously.
A push to recall Guadalajara’s mayor
In an effort to hold the ruling Citizens’ Movement (Movimiento Ciudadano) party responsible for the city’s mounting unsolved challenges, Guadalajara resident Hugo Lupercio filed a petition last week to recall Mayor Veronica Delgadillo García.
For now, the gesture is largely symbolic, as the state of Jalisco does not have the legal framework to proceed with recalling sitting elected officials via a citizen-led campaign. But that could change.
In conjunction with Lupercio’s petition, two state deputies affiliated with the opposition Morena party launched an initiative seeking to change state election rules. In addition, Erika Pérez García, the president of the Morena State Committee of Jalisco, came out in strong support of the petition.
“The course of Jalisco is not defined by a government, but by … a united, informed, and participatory populace. It is the only force capable of transforming what is not working and building the state it deserves,” Pérez García told local newspaper El Occidental.
It’s not difficult to understand how this campaign emerged at such a crucial time for Guadalajara. Pressure has been building for months as the city readies itself to welcome a multitude of international visitors for the four games it’s hosting as part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Public discontent is running high over unfinished construction projects, worsening air quality, a widening measles outbreak, and numerous examples of government waste on impractical beautification projects tied to World Cup preparations.
These newer headaches have compounded longstanding frustrations over pothole-plagued streets, perpetual traffic jams on most major roads, rapidly rising living costs and the lack of progress in finding thousands of disappeared Jalisco residents.
But the straw that undoubtedly broke the camel’s back is the city’s ongoing and worsening water crisis, which defies easy or quick solutions and has triggered a wave of local protests in recent months.
Mayor Delgadillo, for her part, dismissed the recall effort as a little more than a political stunt.
New fines, requirements for Jalisco drivers with out-of-state plates
Jalisco’s state government is cracking down on vehicles with out-of-state license plates with a slew of new fines. The move, intended to crack down on local drivers circulating with illegal plates and visitors who fail to pay fines incurred in Jalisco, also has the potential to ensnare unsuspecting tourists from neighboring states.
The first change involves a new tax cooperation agreement with neighboring Guanajuato to ensure the collection of fines and outstanding debts.
This new agreement, which takes effect in May 2026, will initiate data sharing between the two states so that driving violations and fines incurred in Guadalajara by out-of-state drivers can be collected in Guanajuato, where drivers are registered. A similar arrangement is reportedly coming soon between Jalisco and Michoacán.
What else is changing for drivers with out-of-state plates:
Temporary Stay Permits are now mandatory. Vehicles with out-of-state license plates circulating in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area must carry a “Temporary Stay Permit.”
The permit is free but has a maximum validity of 20 to 30 calendar days every six months. Exceeding the stay window or failing to comply with environmental verification rules carries fines ranging from 1,131 to 2,375 pesos. Vehicles with out-of-state license plates without a valid temporary permit could also be subject to impoundment.
These permits are available on the websites of the Jalisco Ministry of the Environment or the Jalisco Ministry of Finance.
License plate frames are prohibited. If vehicles use a license plate frame that obstructs the visibility of any element of the license plate, which are widely sold at area retailers, they are subject to hefty fines of up to 20,000 pesos.
Old license plate designs must be replaced. License plates with designs prior to 2019 (“Maguey”, “Gota”, “Minerva”) are no longer permitted. As of press time, it is unclear what type of fines will be applied in these cases.
MND Writer Dawn Stoner is reporting from Guadalajara.
