There will be fair payment for damages resulting from the construction of the Mexico-Puebla highway, AMLO reiterates

With a new call to the peasants who have blocked the Mexico-Puebla highway, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reiterated that there will be fair payment for the damages caused by the construction of the road decades ago, but warned that there will be no payments above what is established by law and official appraisals.

After pointing out that this is an area where the Antorcha Campesina organization had a lot of influence, he said that the protesters “want to be paid more, and if we do that we would be committing a crime, the President, because we are the guardians of the people’s money.”

In a morning press conference at the National Palace, he affirmed that the federal government will comply with the agreement established with the affected communities. He said, “We ask that they trust us, that what was agreed with them will be guaranteed. Nothing more than that it has to be fair. What does this mean? That they will be recognized for the damage they caused decades ago when they built the road, because regardless of whether it was another government, we are responsible.”

However, he clarified that there are regulations to repair this damage. “There is an appraisal office that determines how much must be paid in the case of the purchase of land or for the right of way, but there are some lawyers there who want to make money, who want to profit. The call is that if it is a fair matter, do not worry, it is a professional body that (…) does not act in a mafia-like manner, it acts with integrity. It does not make appraisals in a way that benefits individuals or the government.”

López Obrador said that “without any espionage, it won’t take long and we will know who is behind it. It is an area where Antorcha Campesina used to have a lot of control,” and he insisted that his government will not repress the protest, as the conservative groups have asked, he said. “They want a heavy hand, they are very hypocritical, because it doesn’t really affect them, what they want is for us to act badly, in an authoritarian, repressive way, and they themselves will accuse us of being intolerant and inefficient.”