At the beginning of September and after 2 years of litigation with the Vulcan company, owner of the mining operation Calicathe Government will finally declare the site located in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo as Protected Natural Area (ANP).
This was announced by the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador after being questioned during his Morning how the process is going in this regard; the outgoing president said that:
“The process of declaring the area a protected natural area is already underway, the legal process has already begun, and the terms are being met so that, before the government concludes, the area can be declared a Protected Natural Area (…) Consultations are already being carried out, everything established by law, and I hope that by the beginning of September.”
He July 13, 2023López Obrador announced in his morning press conference that nearly 2 thousand hectares of jungle that in previous governments were granted to the company Vulcan Materials, SAC-TUN (Calica) would be declared ANPafter the American company overexploited 400 of them, according to the federal president:
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“We are saying: ‘let’s see, we’ll buy everything’ and the jungle part, regardless of what comes out of the litigation of what has already been impacted, don’t even think about using the jungle part as a materials bank because, before I leave, I will issue a decree to turn it into a protected natural area.”
The announcement came a year after his administration closed the May 6, 2022 exploitation because, according to López Obrador, it did not comply with stopping the extraction of materials.
This, after the President – during an overflight – confirmed that the company continued its work despite the fact that its representatives had promised the Federation to stop its work.
For the above, through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) partially closed the area, and Vulcan was reported to the HIM, as indicated by the head of the Executive at that time.
He June 16, 2022López Obrador said that his government would file complaints with international organizations and issue alerts on the stock exchanges against the Vulcan mining company:
“We are going to file complaints with the UN because I am even thinking of filing a notification with the stock exchanges where the company is listed, because we all have to take care of the environment, really.”
Almost 2 weeks later (July 6, 2022) the President reported that the head of Semarnat, Maria Luisa Albores I was at the headquarters of the HIM in New York to present:
“A complaint about the destruction of the territory that is being brought to the attention of international organizations is what happened in Calica in Quintana Roo.”
Weeks later (July 27th) López Obrador announced that his government offered Vulcan 6 billion pesos for Calica, but after several months the company rejected the offer.
And, just this July 16ththe outgoing president announced that before leaving office he would seek the definitive closure of Calica:
“Before I leave, I have to resolve this, we will resolve it legally, there is already a closure, like that, but I want it to be a definitive closure, because they have caused a lot of damage.”
That day, when questioned on the subject, López Obrador indicated that he is going for closure and is confident that the Government of Mexico will win the subsequent litigation:
“The Mexican government will win, the Mexican government has to win in the arbitration, because there is no way they are going to support the ecocide that has been committed in that area, those who talk about facing climate change and everything demagogically.”
With 76 days to go before leaving office, López Obrador said that his administration has already offered a purchase agreement with the owners, but that they are not well advised, and it affects them “to have Mexican lawyers, very accustomed to the scheme” and although, according to him, they are still waiting for the change of Government to continue with what he called “destruction of the territory,” that is no longer possible due to the “damage they have done to Mexico.”
He also revealed that the company was offered to “remove the fines for the damages caused because they violated all environmental legislation, that is proven.”
He thus accused some lawyers in Mexico of “undermining” them in order to seek protests from US senators with the argument that it would be an expropriation, which he denied; he said that it was a matter of “applying the law.”
In his morning press conference on May 22, López Obrador lashed out at the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinkenwhom Vulcan lobbied on the matter:
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“As long as I am president, we will not allow them to continue destroying the territory (…) we do not want to bring investment at any price, much less for investment to come and destroy our territories, no. It is better that they do not come than that they go somewhere else.”
On May 21, in a session with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the legislator Tim Kaine He questioned Blinken on the issue, telling him that López Obrador “has tried to take over this land on two occasions, including with police and military invasions.”
In response, the Secretary of State said that the case was subject to arbitration and that: “We have raised the issue in general terms with the Mexican government, including the president, that the confiscation of private companies is not a good way to attract investment.”
LEO
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2024-08-24 17:38:38