The Mexican Bar Association announced its legal opinion on the legality of a referendum to halt construction of a brewery in Mexicali, Baja California: they say it’s unconstitutional.

Nearly 37,000 residents of Mexicali and surrounding areas voted overwhelmingly to reject Constellation Brands’ US $1.4-billion plant over the weekend.

The association said in a press release that the consultation violated four articles of the Mexican Constitution, making it illegal to force the company to halt construction.

Calling the vote a “participatory exercise,” it also claimed that the results of the referendum were not intended to be legally binding.

“… its results cannot be binding because that would mean that the [permits] already issued could be revoked by a groundless participatory exercise, … without due process, resulting in the violation of article 14 of the Constitution,” it said.

Citizens of Mexicali have protested the plant for years, citing the threat they say it poses to the area’s water supply, though construction is now 65% complete.

Constellation Brands claims that the plant will not negatively affect the water supply and will create 32,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Although the National Water Commission and the Environment Ministry had both stated that their inquiries revealed that the plant would not negatively affect the water supply in Mexicali, they will not issue future permits as a result of the referendum…