Thursday, July 3, 2025

Farmers loot trucks carrying fertilizer as delivery delays continue

Guerrero farmers who are still waiting for government-supplied fertilizer intercepted three trucks carrying the product in Chilapa on Sunday and stole it.

Each truck was carrying 36 tonnes of ammonium sulfate fertilizer and was bound for the municipalities of Zitlala and Tlapa de Comonfort.

The farmers, who belong to the Emiliano Zapata Southern Agrarian League (Larsez), stopped the trucks in an attempt to pressure the government to speed up fertilizer distribution, which they say is delayed by more than a month.

Larsez leader Marcial Díaz Dircio Ortega then tried to convince Jovita Barajas García and Artemio Avelino Abarca, two members of the state delegation of the federal Welfare Secretariat who were aboard the trucks, to allow the farmers to take the fertilizer back to their community.

But when the two parties could not reach an agreement, the farmers, who had come from various communities in the municipalities of Chilapa, Ahuacuotzingo and José Joaquín de Herrera, transferred the fertilizer from the semi-trailers and on to several pickup trucks.

Dircio justified the action by saying that the delivery of fertilizer is urgent because the rainy season is about to start, and that President López Obrador had promised to supply it.

This year is the first year that the federal government has been in charge of distributing fertilizer to farmers as part of a program that has existed for 24 years. Over the last month, Guerrero farmers have protested several times over what they say are irregularities in the process, including delays, changes in the list of beneficiaries and reductions in the amount of fertilizer that beneficiaries will receive.

Last week, federal Agriculture Secretary Víctor Villalobos reiterated his promise that farmers in Guerrero will receive their fertilizer by July 15.

Source: Milenio (sp), La Jornada (sp), El Universal (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Border patrol vehicles drive along the US-Mexico border

US judge blocks Trump’s ban on asylum claims along Mexico-US border

0
Meanwhile, migrant border crossings have slowed to a trickle.
The logos of CIBanco, Intercam and Vector Casa de Bolsa

Have you been affected by the sanctions on Mexican banks? Let us know!

3
U.S. sanctions have left the future of CIBanco, Intercam and Vector up in the air. We want to hear from readers — have your finances been affected?
people releasing fish in shallow water

Environment Ministry releases 40,000 baby totoaba into the Gulf of California

0
The Environment Ministry, working with the private sector and civil society, has been conducting a repopulation project that included the recent release of 40,000 hatchlings.