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Teras Valley, Mexico

The Comisión Nacional de Irrigación, acting under the orders of President Lázaro Cárdenas, evicted the ejidatarios--or communal farmers--of the Teras Valley to make way for La Angostura Dam. The Mexican government relocated Teras Valley residents to land near Ciudad Obregón, over five hundred miles away. Farmers downriver from La Angostura found that the dam diverted water flow, leaving that part of the river and their irrigation canals parched. Oputo, shown here, was among the impacted towns.