President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced this Friday that if the company Vulcan Materials is not ready to buy the Calica-Sac-Tun mine land, which is about 2,400 hectares on the coast of Quintana Roo, he will issue a decree declaring the place as a Protected Natural Area and the traders will be paid according to the law.
After Vulcan Materials asked the United States government to protect its interests in the face of a possible takeover by the Mexican government, López Obrador confided in his morning press conference at the National Palace that there was no pressure from President Joe Biden. this issue. said he was respectful of Mexico’s decisions and emphasized that Mexico was not a colony.
“What we propose is that we protect the territory, we cannot continue to allow destruction with impunity,” said the chief executive in response to questions on the subject.
López Obrador pointed out that his government is looking for an agreement with Vulcan Materials and that it has offered the company to buy the mine land for between 6 and 7 billion pesos, an amount that was obtained after an official appraisal. The businessmen, who filed a lawsuit against the Mexican government, demanding 1.9 billion dollars in compensation, rejected Mexico’s offer.
“But I want to tell all the Mexicans here that I will not leave without solving this, and the best way to solve it is for everyone to be declared a Protected Natural Area and for them to be paid the equivalent amount according to the law,” said the leader.
“If there is no answer from them, that will be the decision. The 6.7 billion pesos will be deposited in the court and we will issue the decree to set aside the entire area for environmental protection and nothing will be built, this is to preserve this reserve.” , he stated.
When showing videos of the Vulcan Materials mining exploitation, where it was observed how the land was dynamited openly, López Obrador asked: “Can they do that in Florida? Why did they come to do this here?”
The native of Tabasco believes that the company’s strategy, which indicates that it will invoke the Mexico-United States-Canada Treaty to defend its interests, only seeks to gain time to finish the six-year term and to exploit the mine . again.
“They don’t want anything, what they want is for the government to end so they can take advantage of it again,” he said.
