A US construction firm’s plant in Mexico has been raided by Mexican security forces and taken over by a rival company, marking a new low in the years-long row about operations in the country.
Vulcan Materials Co, the multi-billion dollar firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, said its port terminal in Playa del Carmen, southern Mexico, was taken over by military units and workers from Cemex, a Mexican cement company.
Footage filmed by surveillance cameras at the site showed armed troops gain entry through a wire gate before a convoy of police officers, military officials and Cemex works poured in.
Cemex then unloaded a shipment of cement from a ship in the port. The shipment was unloaded by Friday and Mexican authorities have remained in control of the site since – with no suggestion of when they’ll leave, Vulcan said.
Vulcan’s CEO, J. Thomas Hill, has written to the Mexican ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, urging the government to ‘immediately order its forces and officials to leave our private property’.
Vulcan Chairman and CEO J. Thomas Hill (left) has written to Mexican Ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragán urging the government to ‘immediately order its forces and officials to leave our private property’
Surveillance footage captured the moment a large group of Mexican troops, armed police and workers from Cemex massed outside the site before gaining entry to receive a shipment of cement
Armed police were brought by truck into Vulcan’s port terminal in Playa del Carmen, southern Mexico
The incident follows a five-year fight with the government over Vulcan’s concessions punctuated by sharp criticism from the country’s president last year.
The firm has been unable to quarry and ship construction materials since the Mexican government shut down its operations last May over concerns of harmful impacts of underwater limestone mining on the local environment and water table.
Mr Hill’s letter, sent on Thursday, added: ‘The government’s participation in this gross violation of our property rights is yet another example of the government’s arbitrary and illegal treatment of Vulcan and its investments in Mexico. This occupation must cease immediately.’
A statement from Vulcan, which markets crushed stone as well as asphalt and ready-mixed concrete, added: ‘We are shocked in Cemex and in the Mexican government entities that supported this reckless and reprehensible armed seizure of our private property.’
Cemex on Monday defended its actions, saying it was backed by a local court and a recent order from state prosecutors. The company referred to a contract with a local Vulcan unit dating back two decades which it said allows it to use the terminal.
The company added that an order from prosecutors granted it access to the port terminal premises, and that on March 14 authorities enforced it. This, Cemex said, followed what the company described as months of failed negotiations with the Vulcan unit.
Mexico’s security ministry has not commented.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has previously claimed the impacts of Vulcan’s operations in Mexico amount to an ‘ecological catastrophe’.
Vulcan has not said how last week’s action was illegal or who currently controls the terminal. The company also contends that a decision by the government last year to shut down its operations was illegal.
Senator Katie Britt, R-Ala., said she raised the row with Mexico Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard during an official trip to the country last month.
‘This forcible seizure of private property is unlawful and unacceptable. It is shameful that this Mexican presidential administration would rather confiscate American assets than the fentanyl killing hundreds of Americans per day,’ she told Fox News.
Senator Katie Britt, R-Ala. and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe were among those who criticized the raid
The raid is the latest development in the long-running row about Vulcan’s operations in Mexico, which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has claimed amount to an ‘ecological catastrophe’
‘President Biden must raise this directly with President López Obrador and assure the American people that this will not be tolerated.
‘The ramifications of this illicit seizure extend into the United States, significantly hamstringing important American infrastructure, energy and other construction projects that currently rely on Vulcan’s operations in Mexico for materials.
‘My office and I will continue to monitor this situation and ensure this is not swept under the rug.’
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said: ‘Getting pretty used to the Biden administration letting China and Russia kick sand in our faces (covid and fentanyl deaths, spy balloons, taking down U.S. MQ-9 Reaper)—but now Mexico, too?
‘The Biden administration needs to engage immediately to defend a U.S. company and to protect U.S. interests. This is the only deep water port on the Yucatán Peninsula. Significant geopolitical and economic implications.’
Former Trump administration official Cliff Sims said the raid was ‘insane’.
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