After months of tensions between Mexico’s Cemex and US construction materials producer Vulcan Materials, the two companies have reached a temporary agreement, Cemex spokesman Jorge Luis Pérez said Monday. “Cemex and Vulcan Materials have reached a provisional agreement regarding the use of Vulcan’s port facilities in Punta Venado, Playa del Carmen, Mexico, as the two companies work to finalize a long-term agreement,” Pérez reported, without offering more detail.
The agreement comes after Vulcan claimed that since the federal government closed its operations in Quintana Roo, the contract that allowed Cemex to operate in the port was no longer valid. Vulcan, in addition to quarrying limestone in the area, has a concession to operate the seaport through which Cemex and other companies transport supplies. The Mexican cement company responded with two complaints against Vulcan in Quintana Roo and, on March 14, entered the facilities with an order granted by a judge as part of one of the complaints. Cemex employees were guarded by elements of the Navy and the police.
The event quickly became a point of contention between Mexico and the United States. A US legislator from the State of Alabama, where the headquarters of Vulcan Materials is located, accused on social networks that Cemex’s entry was an expropriation and directly attacked the Federal Government for “shameful” behavior. Even members of Congress asked Secretary of State Anthony Blinken about the Vulcan glass in Mexico at a hearing.
The background to the conflict between the two companies is a lawsuit that Vulcan issued against the Mexican State in 2019. Vulcan alleges that the previous Administration, which closed part of its operations to comply with new environmental regulations, generated losses on investments made in Mexico. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador accused the company of ecocide and destruction of archaeological sites.
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