Mexico City, Mexico — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he will move forward with international complaints if Vulcan Materials does not agree to halt extraction.
The ongoing battle between the Government of Mexico and American based Vulcan Materials heated this week after the company was denied a judicial order to reopen. The company, who extracts limestone at their Sac-Tun location south of Playa del Carmen, tried to have the government’s May closure reversed.
Mexico’s president says the company needs to stop the extraction of minerals in Quintana Roo and turn the land they have been awarded into a tourist park.
“This is a grievance, a destruction of the territory, an environmental, ecological disaster. (…) they need to no longer continue extracting material, not use it as a material bank because they take that material to the United States,” he said in a June 16 statement.
AMLO says the Government of Mexico is not ruling out the possibility of reaching an agreement, however, it will not allow any more extraction of material, which is why they are seeking other legal options.
“We are going to file complaints at the UN. I am even thinking of notifying the stock exchanges where the company is listed because we all have to take care of the environment,” AMLO said.
He also has not ruled out buying the company’s land at an appraisal price.
“We will see if we declared it a protected nature reserve with the use of some areas for tourist purposes,” he said adding that if an agreement is reached with the company previously called Calica, it will include construction permits with adequate materials and the port concession will serve for the arrival of cruise ships in Playa del Carmen.
On June 14, AMLO announced that he will file an international complaint against the company for the illegal extraction of materials from the Punta Venado area, and that the appeal will be filed with the United Nations Organization and other instances.
