The Mexican government sent marines on Friday to take over part of a private railway line in southern Mexico.
It was unclear whether the seizure of the railway line on the Tehuantepec Isthmus constituted expropriation.
The government has said it will compensate the owners for what it called the “temporary occupation” of the railway operated by a Mexican company, Grupo Mexico Transportes.
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President Andrés Manuel López Obrador needs the rail line to complete the rail-seaport network he is seeking to build on the isthmus to connect Pacific coast ports with the Gulf of Mexico. He hopes to establish industrial parks and LNG terminals on the intercoastal route to stimulate development.
In a statement, the company said that “the surprising and unusual acquisition of the installations by the military is being analyzed by Grupo Mexico Transportes, its investors and advisors.”
The company said it would continue to offer the service on an approximately 60-mile stretch of the freight line, formally known as Ferrosur SA de CV. He said the trains were running “with the surveillance of the armed forces”.
Mexican Marines have been deployed to take partial control of a private railroad line. (Fox News)
The line runs between the railway junction of Medias Aguas and the port of Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf coast.
The government cited “the public interest” in the takeover, a term usually used for expropriations. But the president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it was an expropriation.
López Obrador had previously relinquished control of the Interoceanic Rail Corridor to the Mexican Navy.
It is the second time this year that López Obrador’s administration has seized ports or railway lines from private companies. In March, police and soldiers raided to seize a seaport on the Caribbean coast owned by an Alabama company, Vulcan Materials.
Authorities then used the port near Playa del Carmen to offload cargo from a Mexican cement and aggregates company, Cemex.
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The US State Department said after the port seizure it was “concerned about the fair treatment of our companies in Mexico”.
“Instances like these have the potential to impact our ability to realize our shared vision to improve livelihoods in one of Mexico’s most economically deprived regions. They also impact Mexico’s efforts to attract future investment,” the Department said. of state.
López Obrador has been publicly battling Vulcan for over a year. He needs the dock to bring concrete, crushed stone and other materials to the area to complete his favorite project, a tourist train known as the Train Maya.
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The 950-mile Maya Train line is designed to travel in a rough loop around the Yucatan Peninsula, connecting beach resorts and archaeological sites.
