The seizure of a US company’s quarry in Mexico by the Mexican military and local state police has sparked outrage among former and current government officials, as well as calls for the Biden administration and the US ambassador to Mexico to intervene.
Members of the Mexican Navy, local state police and federal investigators entered the quarry just south of Playa del Carmen in Mexico’s Quintana, according to Vulcan Materials, a Birmingham, Alabama-based company and the largest producer of construction aggregates in the US. Roo in the early morning hours of March 14. They then forced the company to allow CEMEX, a Mexican-owned materials company, to unload a cargo of cement from a ship in the port.
Vulcan previously leased land to CEMEX and provided unloading and transshipment services there, but the agreement expired last December and talks about a renegotiated contract failed. The company said CEMEX completed the unloading of the forced shipment on Friday. However, the military and police have maintained control of the property and have given no indication that they intend to leave, the company said.
“I am writing to request that your government immediately order its troops and officials to leave our private property,” Vulcan Chairman and CEO J. Thomas Hill wrote in a letter to Mexican Ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragán on Thursday, two days after the initial seizure.
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“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 be ended immediately,” he added.
Vulcan has been in tension with Mexico for months after Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador forced a closure of the quarry in May 2022. Lopez Obrador accused the company of trying to get minerals from Mexico without the required permits and ship them to the US.
The government suspended Vulcan customs permits on May 13, just days after the quarry closed. legislators asked to ask the Biden administration is taking swift action.
The quarry has remained closed amid legal proceedings in Mexican courts, though officials from the Biden administration have been working with the Mexican government to find a solution, the company said.
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Senator Katie Britt, R-Ala., a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, told Fox News Digital that she discussed tensions between Vulcan and the Mexican government with Mexican Secretary of State Marcelo Ebrard during an official trip to Mexico City last month. She told Fox that the Mexican government should focus more on cracking down on the cartels that endanger Mexican citizens and the millions of tourists who visit the country each year.
Katie Britt, R-Ala. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images / File)
“This forced seizure of private property is illegal and unacceptable. It is shameful that this Mexican presidential government would rather confiscate American assets than the fentanyl that kills hundreds of Americans every day,” she said.
“President Biden needs to raise this directly with President López Obrador and assure the American people that this will not be tolerated. The fallout from this unauthorized seizure extends into the United States, causing major U.S. infrastructure, energy and other construction projects that currently depend on Vulcan’s operations in Mexico for materials. My office and I will continue to monitor this situation and ensure that this is not swept under the rug,” she added.
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who served in the Trump administration, responded to the apparent Twitter seizure by calling on the Biden administration to defend Vulcan.
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“Getting pretty used to the fact that the Biden administration let China and Russia kick sand in our faces (covid and fentanyl deaths, spy balloons, the downing of the US MQ-9 Reaper) – but now also Mexico?” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
“The Biden administration must immediately commit to defending an American company and protecting American interests. This is the only deep-water port on the Yucatán Peninsula. Significant geopolitical and economic implications,” he added.
In this photo illustration, a Vulcan Materials Company logo is seen on a smartphone. (Rafael Henrique / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images / File)
Cliff Sims, a former Trump administration official, also commented on the apparent seizure, expressing shock at the Mexican military’s action.
“The Mexican military seized the naval terminal of a US company (Vulcan Materials) in Mexico. This is insane,” he wrote on Twitter, including the security footage of the military entering the facility.
Security footage of the Mexican quarry of Vulcan on March 14, obtained by Fox News Digital, appears to show members of the Mexican military and the Quintana Roo state police arriving at the quarry’s main entrance and forcing the guard to let them in. The armed group was joined by what appeared to be CEMEX personnel.
According to Vulcan, the military told personnel on site that they had an order to bring the CEMEX ship to port to unload its contents. However, the company said the military had not produced or possessed a court order allowing them to legally enter the premises.
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The company also suggested the move could be Lopez Obrador’s first move to take control of his port under the guise of “national security” but with the intention of using it to import materials from Cuba to a rail system called the Maya Train. built in the region.
Vulcan also speculates that CEMEX will try to occupy the property for an unknown period of time with the support of the military and police and distribute the unloaded materials to its customers.
This screenshot from a Vulcan Materials security video shows Mexican police and military entering the company’s facility in Quintana Roo, Mexico on March 14, 2023. (Vulcan materials)
In response to the seizure, Vulcan filed for federal civil and criminal protection and filed a general federal complaint against the Mexican military, Quintana Roo State Police, local prosecution authorities, and CEMEX for acting without a warrant and for violating a prior federal court order regarding the country. It also said it was denied access to one of the files supposedly supporting the actions against Vulcan.
Vulcan provided Fox with a copy of a subsequent March 16 court order from Judge Angélica del Carmen Ortuño Suárez, the judge of the second district in Quintana Roo state that ordered the military to cease its actions, but says the force is still holding the property. has not left.
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Fox News Digital contacted the US State Department for comment, but did not receive an immediate response. Ambassador Moctezuma’s office and CEMEX offices also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @brandon_cg.