Mexico City, Mexico — “The Government of Mexico prioritizes the protection of nature which means it will not allow the excessive exploitation of resources as occurred in Playa del Carmen,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday in reference to the subsidiary company Sac-Tun of the U.S. company Vulcan Materials.
“It is not that we are against U.S. companies. It is not our intention to scare away foreign investment. It is that we cannot accept or tolerate it because we would be betraying the people of Mexico. We cannot allow that. What would happen if a Mexican company does the same in Florida?” he said.
His comments came after recent statements by the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. López Obrador insisted that the company, formerly Calica, committed ecocide on national territory and reiterated the invitation to verify the deterioration it caused in the mangrove and jungle area and even an archaeological zone to export construction material.
“The thing about Mr. Blinken is in his role, because he represents the interests of American companies, it is his job, like mine is to represent the interests of the people of Mexico and take care of our territory, so that it is not destroyed.
“It is completely normal. But, perhaps, he does not have complete information and, with all due respect, it would be good for him to know that this Vulcan company, in complicity with the previous Mexican authorities, destroyed our territory, they carried out an ecocide,” he stated.
Even under these circumstances, Mexico and the United States maintain a good neighborly and cooperative relationship .
“President Biden has a position of great respect towards Mexico, we highly esteem him for that, however, in the United States, as in Mexico and other democratic countries, there are autonomous institutions or with relative autonomy (…) that do not necessarily have anything to do with a mandate from President Biden,” he said.
