HomeNews
NewsTravel

Truckers begin blockading highways in 9 Mexican states

MND Staff
By MND Staff
4
a highway in Mexico
Motorists are advised to consult official information provided by authorities such as Capufe (Mexico’s federal highway agency) and avoid traveling on the indicated roads. (Camila Ayala Benabib/Cuartoscuro)

Truckers and producers, demanding more security on the highways, declared a national transport strike on Monday with plans to establish highway blockades in 20 states after negotiations with the federal government failed to find common ground.

The National Association of Truckers (ANTAC) and the National Front for the Rescue of the Mexican Countryside (FNRCM) confirmed the strike, saying the following highways would be affected:
  • Mexico City-Queretaro
  • Mexico City-Cuernavaca (Morelos)
  • Mexico City-Pachuca (Hidalgo)
  • Mexico-Puebla
  • The Northern Arc beltway around Mexico City
  • Mexicali (Baja California)-San Luis Potosí
  • Mexiquense Outer Circuit 
  • Mexico City-Toluca 
  • Naucalpan–Ecatepec (México state) 
  • Federal Highway 45 (Querétaro, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosí)
  • Federal Highway 49 (Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí)
  • Via Corte a Chihuahua (Chihuahua-Parral highway)
  • Salamanca–Celaya Highway (Guanajuato)
  • Federal Highway 15D (Mexico City through the Bajío to Guadalajara)
  • Culiacán–Mazatlán Highway (Sinaloa)
  • Morelia–Pátzcuaro Highway (Michoacán)

Motorists were advised to consult official information provided by the authorities such as Capufe (Mexico’s federal highway agency) and avoid traveling on the indicated roads.

Early Monday, the federal government acknowledged that 11 of the highways had been blockaded, impacting at least nine states.

The government also managed to convince protesters blocking the Mexico City-Toluca highway to withdraw.

By mid-day, media were describing chaos and severe delays along many of the roadways specified, though Mexiquense Noticias reported that there was no evident strike action along the Mexico City-Puebla highway.

Previous ANTAC-FNRCM blockades lasted about five hours, although partial blockades lasted several hours longer in some areas.

Truckers have been demanding that the federal government provide greater security on the highways and reduce the number of unregulated checkpoints.

ANTAC claims that there are an average of 40 cargo truck robberies each day with truckers also suffering extortion and threats of murder. They are asking that the National Guard be permanently deployed on specified highways. 

The truckers have also complained about massive corruption at the “official” checkpoints. 

The protesters also decry what they describe as “unfair and disloyal” agricultural import rules that cause market distortions.

At the same time, truckers are asking that the IEPS tax on diesel fuel be eliminated.

The government’s stance that dialogue is the only acceptable solution is supported by business organizations such as Concamin, Conacar and Canapat). But the truckers say negotiations have failed to gain traction and the violence on the roads continues unabated.

Additionally, the protesters are demanding direct talks with President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has consistently said that the Interior Ministry is the sole interlocutor for the federal government.

With reports from N+, La Silla Rota and El Universal

4 COMMENTS

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Hurt person who received medical care from the Mexican Red Cross at the Oct. 11 protest in Guadalajara demanding clean tap water

Protesters file complaints with Attorney General’s Office alleging torture at hands of Jalisco state police officers

MND Staff - 3
Officers are alleged to have physically and verbally abused dozens of demonstrators protesting foul tap water in Guadalajara on Oct. 11, later holding them for hours in dismal conditions and, in some cases, torturing them.
cempasúchil

With Day of the Dead less than a week away, Mexico City’s cempasúchil production hits record heights

MND Staff - 0
The Mexican marigold is an essential part of Day of the Dead traditions, as an adornment on altars, or, for those who take the dead's visitations literally, as a path of strewn petals leading the departed to the door.
Dinosaur footprints in Michoacán

Rural Michoacán residents lead researchers to previously undiscovered dinosaur footprints

MND Staff - 1
Though dinosaurs freely roamed what is now Mexico, footprint sites are not as common as one might think: there are only 30 nationwide. The newly discovered fossilized prints appear to be from three different species, one of which could turn out to be a tyrannosaur.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity

VIDEO OF THE WEEK