Alabama construction firm's Mexico plant raided by troops trends now
A US construction firm's plant in Mexico has been raided by Mexican security forces and taken over by a rival company, marking a new low in the years-long row about operations in the country.
Vulcan Materials Co, the multi-billion dollar firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, said its port terminal in Playa del Carmen, southern Mexico, was taken over by military units and workers from Cemex, a Mexican cement company.
Footage filmed by surveillance cameras at the site showed armed troops gain entry through a wire gate before a convoy of police officers, military officials and Cemex works poured in.
Cemex then unloaded a shipment of cement from a ship in the port. The shipment was unloaded by Friday and Mexican authorities have remained in control of the site since - with no suggestion of when they'll leave, Vulcan said.
Vulcan's CEO, J. Thomas Hill, has written to the Mexican ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, urging the government to 'immediately order its forces and officials to leave our private property'.
Vulcan Chairman and CEO J. Thomas Hill (left) has written to Mexican Ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragán urging the government to 'immediately order its forces and officials to leave our private property'
Surveillance footage captured the moment a large group of Mexican troops, armed police and workers from Cemex massed outside the site before gaining entry to receive a shipment of cement
Armed police were brought by truck into Vulcan's port terminal in Playa del Carmen, southern Mexico
The incident follows a five-year fight with the government over Vulcan's concessions punctuated by sharp criticism from the country's president last year.
The firm has been unable to quarry and ship construction materials since the Mexican government shut down its operations last May over concerns of harmful impacts of underwater limestone mining on the local environment and water table.
Mr Hill's letter, sent on Thursday, added: 'The government's participation in this gross violation of our property rights is yet another example of the government's arbitrary and illegal treatment of Vulcan and its investments in Mexico. This occupation must cease immediately.'
A statement from Vulcan, which markets crushed stone as well as asphalt and ready-mixed concrete,
