Mexico City, February 15 (EFE).- The Mexican Alliance of Transport Organizations (Amotac) paralyzed Mexico’s roads this Thursday with a national strike to denounce an increase in organized crime violence, with losses estimated at 7,000 million pesos (more than 400 million dollars) in 2023.
After an increase of close to 5% in thefts of trucks with merchandise in 2023, according to the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation (Canacar), tens of thousands of transporters demanded measures from the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who accused them of being ” conservatives” and refuse dialogue.
Amotac, with more than 100,000 members and an estimated almost half a million vehicles, blocked the country’s main highways, such as those that connect Mexico City, Toluca, Querétaro, Puebla, Veracruz, and Pachuca Guerrero.
A protest from border to border
The drivers’ protest also ranged from Tamaulipas, on the border with the United States, to Chiapas, on the border with Central America.
“It hurts to lose trailer drivers day following day, safety on the roads is minimal and excessive toll charges are increasing, we have excessive charges for tow truck services,” the Amotac delegate told EFE in San Cristóbal, Chiapas, William de Jesús Arellano.
As in other places in the country, the demonstration in Chiapas began at 8:00 a.m. (2:00 p.m. GMT), when regarding 100 units were installed on the San Cristóbal-Chiapa de Corzo road and the Ciudad Comitan-Cuauhtémoc international highway.
The organization assured that for 10 years the transporters have pointed out the most violent routes to the Mexican Government, but the authorities “were overwhelmed.”
“To all the government authorities, state and federal, please look at us once more, here in the state we were attacked in the Mal Pasito stretch and in that assault my brother died and right now it is very difficult,” Marco Antonio López told EFE. , Amotac delegate in Comitán.
Human and financial losses
Due to assaults on merchandise trucks, the industry lost approximately 7,000 million pesos (more than 400 million dollars) in 2023, according to the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin).
Canacar reported in January nearly 13,000 robberies with and without violence in 2023, in addition to an estimated between 50 and 150 drivers killed.
“The comrades who are on the border, the transporters, have had their units taken away, they have been asked to collect the right (extortion), and if they don’t (pay) they disappear and it is the saddest thing,” Pascual commented. Hernández, a transporter who protested in Chiapas.
The Government dismisses the transporters
Although it is already the second national protest so far this month, President López Obrador stated that “there are leaders of these organizations who are members of conservative parties and, since the elections are coming (on June 2), they take advantage of the trip.”
“Yes, because they are offered: Let’s see, let’s talk, let’s find a solution. The leaders don’t want it. That’s why I take this opportunity to speak to the transporters, tell them that we are with them and committed to protecting them,” he expressed in his conference. morning
The Secretary of the Interior, Luisa María Alcalde, indicated that “120 attention meetings have been held with Amotac members,” to whom they promised to deploy 600 new elements of the National Guard and 2,000 patrols.
But the president assured that “they got up from the table because they already have a clever plan.”
By: EFE
2024-02-15 20:28:49
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