The members of the National Guard were silent witnesses of the umpteenth railway blockade in Michoacán by members of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE).
According to Reforma, four points of the railway network in Pátzcuaro, Múgica, Maravatío, and Uruapan were hampered yesterday in claiming the payment of bonuses and hiring in normal school students.
The activists had threatened since Sunday that they would resume their protests, despite the damage caused to the economy. Despite the warning, rather than protecting the passage of trains and goods, the National Guard chose to step aside, abandon custody of the tracks and let the blockade be consummated.
The act of force affected the circulation of six trains from Nuevo León and another three from the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, according to data from the Association of Industrialists of the State of Michoacán.
“They are talking with authorities and the Guard is in all the blockades, commissions arrived,” acknowledged one of the protesters.
Felipe de Javier Peña, president of the Transportation Commission of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin), said that in the nine months of the year there have been railway blockades on 100 different days; this already exceeds 64 days of locks registered in 2019.
The leader assured that the blockades not only affect the movement of goods within the country, but also damage connectivity abroad, through two of the main points of the Pacific: the ports of Lázaro Cárdenas and Manzanillo.
“Hopefully it can be negotiated now because they are paralyzing the country,” he claimed.
He admitted that although CNTE activists may intermittently lift their obstruction, the threat of once again preventing the passage of trains remains, which generates uncertainty. Only in Michoacán 14 days of blockades accumulate.
According to Concamin, Sonora accumulates 33 days with work stoppages in the train, due to the demonstrations of the Yaqui peoples; followed by Chihuahua with 32 days of peasant demonstrations.
Other states in the country with roads taken by protesters are Puebla, Veracruz, the State of Mexico and Tamaulipas.
Given this, Javier Peña demanded that, in adherence to the rule of law, federal and local authorities settle pending issues with the groups that maintain the blockades as soon as possible, since the losses are incalculable.
Source: cambiodemichoacan.com.mx