President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured that his government is not against U.S. companies nor that it seeks to scare away investments as warned by the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in the case of the Vulcan mining company, which he accused of having destroyed “our territory” by the hand of the previous Mexican authorities.
“They carried out an ecocide, so it is not that we are against US companies, it is not that we have the purpose of scaring away foreign investment, it is that we cannot accept, tolerate because we would be betraying the people of Mexico, we cannot allow that,” responded López Obrador in his morning show on March 24.
The president ruled out a rift with the United States in the case of the Vulcan mining company with which the Mexican government has a dispute over the extraction of material in Playa del Carmen. The firm denounced on Tuesday the illegal occupation of its property in Quintana Roo and the use of its facilities by Cemex.
“In free, independent and sovereign nations there is debate and there can be differences,” said López Obrador and added that Blinken’s statements in this regard are because “he is in his role” and represents the interests of U.S. companies as he represents those of Mexico.
He considered that the U.S. Secretary of State is not fully informed about the reason for the difference between the Mexican government and Vulcan, for which he said that “it would be good” for him to know that said mining company “destroyed our territory”.
Blinken warned that the seizure of Vulcan’s facilities in Playa del Carmen could “paralyze” investments in Mexico by U.S. companies when they see how they are treated in the country.
“The possibility that a case like this could have a paralyzing effect on achieving greater investment or participation of our companies seeing what is happening should be a real concern for the federal government in Mexico,” he said at a hearing in the lower house.
President López Obrador called yesterday for the panel that will resolve Vulcan’s lawsuit against Mexico to be able to verify the ecocide in Playa del Carmen so that they know the impact of the mining company’s activities in the region.
“I would very much like them to know the territory, to know the destruction, the ecocide caused by this American company, how they devastated natural mangrove zones, but in a wide area and how they even affected archaeological zones”, insisted the president, who clarified that they will respect and abide by the panel’s decision.
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