Alliance of the countryside and transportation in the face of the security crisis
In an unprecedented event, members of the National Front for the Rescue of the Mexican Countryside and the National Transport Association gathered this morning in front of the National Palace to demand strong measures from the federal government to guarantee security on communication routes and combat the systemic corruption that equally affects the primary and logistics sectors of the country.
The demonstration, held parallel to the morning conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, served as a setting for Alejandro Rodríguez, leader of the Front and producer originally from Chihuahua, to denounce the historical institutional abandonment suffered by the agricultural sector. Rodríguez detailed how the convergence of low crop prices, the lack of effective subsidies and generalized rural insecurity have created a perfect storm that makes productive activity unsustainable.
As a definitive measure of pressure, the representatives announced the call for a national strike scheduled for November 24, an action that seeks to paralyze supply chains and make the critical situation visible.
Road insecurity reaches epidemic levels
From the perspective of cargo transportation, David Estevez, president of the ANT, provided compelling data on the escalation of crime. “While official statistics project an improvement in security, our operational reality shows a catastrophic deterioration. We have gone from registering between five and seven daily thefts of units, to suffering between 55 and 60 cargo vehicles stolen every day“, stated the leader.
Estevez went further in his accusations, directly accusing elements of the National Guard and various state and municipal police corporations of participating in systematic extortion schemes against the operators. “The security forces invade federal powers to impose arbitrary violations, moving the units to private corrals where a true economic ordeal begins, with tow truck charges that range between 200,000 and 300,000 pesos for the release of a single truck,” he explained.
The strategic alliance between producers and transporters represents a front of multi-sector pressure without recent precedents, seeking to force the installation of a dialogue table with the federal authorities that addresses the structural demands of both sectors.
Expansion of sectoral mobilizations and demands
Parallel to the actions in the National Palace, members of the Rural Movement September 9 A.C. announced the preparation of a peaceful takeover of the central building of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, located in the Santa Cruz Atoyac neighborhood of the Benito Juárez mayor’s office.
The organizations also plan to mobilize towards the facilities of the Secretariat of Economy in the Condesa neighborhood, where they will demand the implementation of protectionist measures for the national sugar sector, including the total suspension of sugar imports and the increase in tariffs from $360 to $720 per ton. In addition, they will demand the review of the chapters of the T-MEC related to the exchange of high fructose and cane, as well as the creation of an emerging support program that contemplates 300 pesos per ton of cane produced.
The unified request document also incorporates the comprehensive review of transportation operating costs, the urgent regulation of tow truck service rates and immediate attention to producers affected by the combination of galloping inflation and growing rural insecurity.
The protesters warned that they will maintain staggered mobilizations in different regions of the country and do not rule out expanding the national strike if they do not receive a substantive response from the federal government in the coming days.
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