Cancun, Q.R. — Tuesday highway traffic between Riviera Maya and Cancun was literally at a standstill due to a nation-wide protest. The protest was held by Mexico’s Alianza Mexicana de Organización de Transportistas (Amotac) dump truck workers.
The workers took to the highway in protest of unsafe roads, fuel hikes and tax increases. They were also upset about a new rule that trucks be less than 10 years old.
José Alberto Estrella, state delegate of Amotac, said that the national strike was their protest requesting authorities to provide them with safe conditions to work given the insecurity that exists on different routes in the country as well as protection against high fuel costs.
Roadway travelers between Cancun and Playa del Carmen suffered the most, experiencing a near standstill in highway traffic that generated lines kilometers long. The Amotac protest also created a significant increase in travel time, for many, up to four hours to travel along the 307 section of highway from Riviera Maya to Cancun.
The reason was due to the federal highway literally being reduced to one lane as dozens of dump truck occupied the inside lane, leaving only one lane open.
Tourists trying to get to back their hotels from an excursion or catch a flight at Cancun International became caught up in the traffic chaos as the dump trucks drove at a slow rate of speed. At least 20 states around the country participated simultaneously in the one-day Amotac protest.
According to Sergio González Rubiera of the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies, the protest of the truck drivers was fair, but they affected third parties, citizens, students and tourists who had to get to their hotels, the airport or meet up for excursions.
He said that he knew of one agency who had 600 vacationers trying to maneuver Riviera Maya to Cancun on Tuesday during the protest, something, he says, generates a negative experience for tourists and an overall bad image for the region.
The trucks began their protest at 8:00 a.m., leaving Cancun for Playa del Carmen. Unionized organizations from CROM, CROC, CTM, Untrac and CTC, among others, participated in the nationwide protest of the Alianza Mexicana de Organización de Transportistas (Amotac) dump truck workers.
