Mexican Military, Police Seize Control of American Company’s Port Facility

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning news conference at the presidential palace, Palacio Nacional, in Mexico City, on Dec. 18, 2020. (Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)

Mexican police and military personnel reportedly seized control of a quarry facility owned by Alabama-based Vulcan Materials Company for the apparent benefit of CEMEX, a Mexican building materials company.

According to a letter from Vulcan chairman and CEO J. Thomas Hill, at 5:30 a.m., on March 14, CEMEX employees, along with the Mexican Navy and “state police and special investigative forces answering to the state prosecutor ... arrived at the gates of Vulcan/Calica property at Punta Venado in Quintana Roo.”

The Mexicans then reportedly allowed a CEMEX vessel into the port to unload cement.

Spokespeople for Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said Vulcan, the company, and the Mexican government have been in arbitration over alleged violations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) since late 2018.

“We are limited in our ability to comment on this situation,” Vulcan spokesman Jack Bonnikson wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. “We have confirmed that our Vulcan family members are physically unharmed and are focused on ensuring this remains the case.”

Senator Kaite Britt (R-Ala.) (Office of Sen. Katie Britt)

Britt criticized the Mexican government for what she called an unlawful and unacceptable seizure of private property. In a statement released to the media, Britt said the Mexican government would better serve its people by cracking down on the drug trade.

“It is shameful that this Mexican presidential administration would rather confiscate American assets than the fentanyl killing hundreds of Americans per day,” Britt’s statement reads.

According to Britt’s statement, she had been to Mexico in February to discuss the Mexican government’s increasing hostility toward Vulcan with Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard.

Britt’s Communications Director, Sean Ross, said the senator is in touch with the White House and State Department and could not comment further.

“We hope to have more to share soon,” Ross wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

Vulcan claims it has operated legally in Mexico for over 30 years. It built the port in Quintana Roo to load deep draft vessels with limestone bound for the United States. Mexican officials have accused Vulcan of illegally mining other materials.

The government and company have been in arbitration since 2018.

In documents filed with the U.S. State Department as part of the arbitration process, Vulcan claims the Mexican government has “deployed the full powers of the State to interfere with Legacy Vulcan’s integrated project to quarry limestone and produce aggregates for export to the United States.”

 Tensions Already Strained After Murders

This action comes on top of already strained relations between the two countries. Illegal immigration, drug and human smuggling, and other issues at the Southern Border were exacerbated after the news that four Americans were kidnapped earlier this month.

Two of them were murdered on March 7; the other two were found alive.

“Mexico should be more focused on going after the cartels than law-abiding businesses and hardworking people. President Biden must raise this directly with [Mexican] President Lopez Obrador and assure the American people that this will not be tolerated,” Britt’s statement reads.

In his letter to Mexican ambassador Esteban Moctezuma, Hill claimed he had been given no legal reason for the seizure of Vulcan’s property.

“As of today, March 16, we have not been presented a single legal document, court order, or warrant justifying or ordering this act,” reads the letter obtained by The Epoch Times.

“I am requesting that your government immediately order its forces and officials to leave our private property.”

The U.S. State Department and Ambassador Moctezuma did not return calls or emails seeking comment.