Posted on 09/24/2024 11:08:05 AM PDT by Red Badger
Mexico finalized plans to take control of a port and quarry owned by Vulcan Materials Co. on its Caribbean coast, deepening tensions days before the nation’s president leaves office.
Mexico finalized plans to take control of a port and quarry owned by Vulcan Materials Co. on its Caribbean coast, deepening tensions days before the nation’s president leaves office.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration declared the land south of the resort cities of Cancun and Playa del Carmen a natural protected area, according to a filing in the federal gazette published hours after US lawmakers sought to dissuade such a move.
Article content The move prevents the Alabama-based construction company from extracting limestone at a site it has been developing for decades. Its shares fell 1.2% to $249.46 in New York on Tuesday morning.
“The expropriation of our company owned land and port is yet another escalation and is a new violation of Mexico’s commitments under North American trade agreements,” Vulcan said in a statement. “This unlawful measure will have a chilling and long-term effect on US-Mexico trade and investment relations.”
The company previously said that the López Obrador government’s actions are illegal, and that it would add the most recent measures to an ongoing arbitration case.
This week’s expropriation marks another move against business interests by Lopez Obrador, a staunch nationalist who finishes his single six-year term this month. A new congress was sworn in Sept. 1 after June congressional elections gave the president’s party large majorities in both houses. It has since approved a judicial overhaul that’s drawn criticism from international investors.
President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office Oct. 1, hasn’t commented publicly on the Vulcan issue since her landslide victory. But a year ago she said she hoped the company would accept the government’s offer to purchase the land.
Article content Bloomberg News reported in July that AMLO, as the outgoing president is known, was moving toward the protection designation. Last year, Vulcan sought the Biden administration’s intervention against what it saw as the threat of a government takeover of the Mayan Riviera property. It said a $360 million valuation deeply undervalued the assets.
On Monday, a bipartisan group of US senators proposed legislation to pressure AMLO to back down from the expropriation plan.
Vulcan has been in litigation with Mexico since 2018 under the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as Nafta. The pact was replaced with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement during the Trump administration.
AMLO had previously alleged environmental damage and sent the Mexican marines to occupy the land. Vulcan’s chief executive officer defended its environmental record, citing international awards and its reforestation efforts.
Vulcan isn’t the only foreign company that has sought legal recourse after a government intervention under AMLO. In December, Mexico took control of operations at a hydrogen processing plant owned by French industrial gas manufacturer Air Liquide. Last year, AMLO announced plans to buy $6 billion worth of energy assets from Iberdrola SA after the Spanish company faced political hostility from Mexico that affected its permits and supply.
AMLO also ordered the cancellation of projects including an airport and a beer plant during his term.
US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar has warned that companies may lose confidence in Mexico as an investment destination as a result of the judicial reform pushed through Congress this month. The change removes a check on government power by making federal judges democratically elected, including at the Supreme Court.
—With assistance from Maya Averbuch.
probably incoming president turns it over to Chinese
Why is Mexico in NAFTA?
He must be following Brandon’s example of declaring a stupid lizard endangered in west TX to negatively impact the TX economy.
Commies doing what Commies do
He learned this from the very same lawmakers who “sought to dissuade such a move”. Want something but want to get around politics and diplomacy? Declare it endangered and seize it. Good job, idiots.
On another note those companies and the countries they are from have been robbing MX blind. They are corrupt to the core and AMLO has called them out.
probably incoming president turns it over to Chinese
^^^^^^
This!
Am I supposed to be upset that a giant corporation, owned by Vanguard, got outmaneuvered in one of it’s offshore operations?
And hell, this place is within a half a mile of some of the Playa Del Carmen resorts and is within sight of Cozumel. I think I’ll root for the Mexicans on this one.
As I say to anyone investing in Latin America, “You pays your moneys and you takes your chances.”
It is past time we slapped the crap out of this third world hell hole.
Are they in violation of the treaty they signed after the war? If so, attack. Should take a week.
We don’t even have a bad president right now, we have a vacuum. US is a captainless ship and people are taking advantage.
“...may lose confidence in Mexico as an investment destination as a result of the judicial reform pushed through Congress this month. The change removes a check on government power by making federal judges democratically elected, including at the Supreme Court.”
Well well well. Mexico deciding they can directly elect judges. I’m sure that will end well.
A friend of mine who lives in a burb of SA was a member of a committee that was pushing to have the Vulcan gravel operation in that burb shut down because they repeatedly violated the ordinances concerning blasting.
He lived about a mile from the place, and while at his home, we heard the blasts, felt the floor shake and saw the pans on the rack swing back and forth, banging together. MrT5, who had been deployed twice in combat zones, said he would have PTSD if he lived there. It took 2 years, but my friend’s group got the Vulcan place closed. I’m on AMLO’s side on this one, too...
Yes! We should go to war against Mexico because Vanguard was stopped from destroying a nice area in the resort zone.
We should all send out 18 years olds to die for this.
Look on the map at Punta Venado. The southernmost Playa Del Carmen resorts are barely 1000 feet from the site. And the claim is that they have dug down below the water table as well.
And AMLO supported Trump to the hilt because he also had an election stolen from him in he past. So I’ll give him benefit of the doubt over Vanguard.
Hmmm. Sounds like an ideal time for a visit from a aircraft carrier and some, uh, aircraft. If Labrador the Communist retriever responds poorly, blow up his car with him inside.
Vulcan/Vanguard is not worth any of that-the company is (in)famous for rule/ordinance violation here and elsewhere. i’m Hispanic although my family is 200+ years removed from Mexico-but i can’t see wasting any blood or treasure over a company that has been sued out of several states in the US for their blatant ignoring of laws and local ordinances. If you are jonesin’ to slap the crap out of someone-go for a real enemy like Iran...
Pffft. We can just launch missles from shops in San Diego!
If Vanguard is “destoying” a nice area then why did Mexico let them build? It wasn’t overnight.
And Mexico doesn’t give a crap about nice areas. Evef seen Tijuana?
I wouldn’t issue passports to go to Mexico. No need to help there corrupt government.
18 year old dying? Boy, you have no respect for our troops.
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