{"id":8072,"date":"2023-03-22T04:54:08","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T08:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8072"},"modified":"2023-03-22T04:54:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T08:54:08","slug":"us-concerned-by-mexican-seizure-of-alabama-companys-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8072","title":{"rendered":"US \u2018Concerned\u2019 by Mexican Seizure of Alabama Company\u2019s Port"},"content":{"rendered":"
A general view shows a part of the limestone mining by Vulcan Materials in Calica, in Quintana Roo state, Mexico May 6, 2022. Picture taken with a drone May 6, 2022. REUTERS\/Paola Chiomante\/File Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it was \u201cconcerned about the fair treatment of our companies in Mexico\u201d after Mexican police seized a cargo terminal owned by an Alabama-based company.<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s seizure of the Caribbean cargo port stretched into its second week Tuesday. Police are holding the port and have apparently used it to unload cargo from a Mexican cement and aggregates company, Cemex.<\/p>\n

The Alabama company, Vulcan Materials, said Tuesday that police and prosecutors still had not presented any legal paperwork to justify the seizure.<\/p>\n

The State Department said that \u201ccases like these have the potential to impact our ability to achieve our shared vision for improving livelihoods in one of Mexico\u2019s most economically disadvantaged regions. It also impacts Mexico\u2019s efforts to attract future investments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The office of President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador has not responded to requests to comment on the issue.<\/p>\n

The president has been publicly sparring with Vulcan for over a year. He needs the dock to get cement, crushed stone and other materials into the area to finish his pet project, a tourist train known as the Train Maya.<\/p>\n

Some of the cement unloaded last week was apparently destined for the Maya Train project, which the president has vowed to open by December despite the fact it is well behind schedule.<\/p>\n

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Vulcan said police forced their way into the dock at Punta Venado, near Playa del Carmen, last Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be clear that the rule of law is no longer assured for foreign companies in Mexico,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cThis invasion, unsupported by legal warrants, violates Vulcan\u2019s commercial and property rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vulcan said it had an agreement with Cemex, the Mexican company, to lease it a part of the cargo port, but the agreement expired Dec. 31 and had not been renewed.<\/p>\n

Cemex acknowledged the contract had expired, but said it had been trying unsuccessfully to renegotiate it. Cemex said it had three other contracts with Vulcan that were still valid.<\/p>\n

Cemex said it filed a criminal complaint against Vulcan and was granted \u201cinjunctive relief and a legal warrant to access the property and continue operating\u201d by the state prosecutor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The wording is odd, since such injunctions are normally issued by Mexico\u2019s federal courts rather than prosecutors, and such disputes are seldom resolved through criminal complaints.<\/p>\n

Because there aren\u2019t any local supplies of crushed stone needed to stabilize the Maya Train\u2019s tracks, L\u00f3pez Obrador has been forced to import the stone, known as ballast, from Cuba.<\/p>\n

Even so, ships carrying the Cuban ballast have to land at the port of Sisal, on the Gulf of Mexico side of the Yucatan peninsula, and be trucked about 180 miles (300 kilometers) to some train construction sites.<\/p>\n

The only private freight dock on the Caribbean side that could handle the Cuban shipments \u2014 and other shipments of cement and steel \u2014 is the one owned by Vulcan. L\u00f3pez Obrador has offered to buy the property, but talks have apparently not gone well.<\/p>\n

Last May, the Environment Department closed Vulcan\u2019s limestone quarry and forbade the company from exporting stone that has long been used in U.S. and Mexican building projects. The president accused the company of extracting rock and exporting it without proper permits. Vulcan said it has those permits.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador wants the water-filled quarry to be used as a theme park to rival the nearby XCaret park. He also wants Vulcan to build a cruise ship dock at the freight terminal.<\/p>\n

The 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) Maya Train line is meant to run in a rough loop around the Yucatan Peninsula, connecting beach resorts and archaeological sites.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador touts the train as a way to bring some of Cancun\u2019s tourism income to inland communities that haven\u2019t shared in the wealth. But there are no credible feasibility studies showing tourists will want to use the train.<\/p>\n

– AP News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it was \u201cconcerned about the fair treatment of our companies in Mexico\u201d after Mexican police seized a cargo terminal owned by an Alabama-based company. Mexico\u2019s seizure of the Caribbean cargo port stretched into its second week Tuesday. Police are holding the port and have apparently used it to unload…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":8075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/gcaptain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2023-03-20T215754Z_1125680676_RC2S1U9XPZ4M_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-VULCAN-MATLS.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"US \u2018Concerned\u2019 by Mexican Seizure of Alabama Company\u2019s Port","footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-borders-commerce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8074,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8072\/revisions\/8074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}