Mexico City, Feb 5 (EFE).- Mexican cargo transport organizations carried out a national work stoppage and blocked roads throughout the country on Monday, despite the government’s announcement of a prior agreement to avoid these actions.
Transporters block an avenue in Tapachula, Mexico, on Feb. 5, 2024. EFE/ Juan Manuel Blanco
The Ministry of the Interior on Sunday reported an agreement reached with the Mexican Federation of Transportation and Freight Transport (Fematrac) to address insecurity on the roads, including joint discussions on security, administrative and coordination.
However, organizations such as the Mexican Alliance of Transporters (Amtac) and even Fematrac demonstrated Monday and demanded a greater presence of security elements on all roads in the country.
The protests come after the Confederation of Industrial Chambers of Mexico warned that highway robbery costs the industry an average of more than 7 billion pesos (about $409 million) per year and is concentrated in the State of Mexico, Puebla, Guanajuato, Michoacán and Jalisco.
As part of the national movement carried out by the organizations, the transporters erected banners asking for agreements to eradicate insecurity and the wave of violence in the country.
“We ask for safety on the roads,” “Let me return home, my family is waiting for me,” and “No more downed drivers, we only go out in search of daily sustenance,” were some of the slogans at the protest.
Partial and total road closures occurred in the north, in states such as Chihuahua, Sinaloa; through the center and Bajío region of the country in the State of Mexico, Querétaro, Jalisco; and even in the south, such as in Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Veracruz, among others.
In Tapachula, Chiapas, southern Mexico, where passenger transporters also joined the demonstration, Norberto Fierro Martínez, delegate of the Soconusco region of public transportation, said that conflicts with criminals have worsened in towns in the southern Sierra de Chiapas, bordering Guatemala, such as Frontera, Comalapa, Mazapa de Madero and Motozintla.
Also Monday, public transport was paralyzed in Chilpancingo, capital of Guerrero, after an armed attack against units on various routes that left four dead and one unit completely burned.
In Chihuahua, the blockades reached federal highway 45, a road that connects with the international bridges of Juárez, through which goods from all over the country are exported, this region being the most important customs office in the country in terms of to highway exports, only behind Nuevo Laredo. EFE
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