The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, admitted to having made the decision to flood the Chontal indigenous communities of Jalpa, Nacajuca and Centla, the poorest in Tabasco, in order to save Villahermosa.

The president visited the disaster area and from a helicopter he pointed out that a gate on the Carrizal River had been closed to redirect the water from the dam to Samaria and the lower zone, right where the indigenous communities are located.

"Of course the people of Nacajuca were harmed, they are the Chontales, the poorest, but we had to make a decision, now we are already isolating down there and where most of the people of Tabasco live a major flood was avoided", he said.

The federal executive chief indicated that the situation of disengagement is already different from the previous week, because he assured that it is less.

“Again flying over the Peñitas Dam. The situation is already different, the level has dropped a lot, a week ago I was taking out up to 2 thousand cubic meters per second, now the release is 1,200 cubic meters per second. That means less water for the Tabasco plain, less flooding”.