MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 An American quarry company said Tuesday the Mexican government carried out a de facto expropriation of its properties on Mexico鈥檚 Caribbean coast.
Mexico's Interior Department issued a decree late Monday declaring the firm鈥檚 seaport and quarries to be a natural protected area, in effect prohibiting the company鈥檚 activities on its own land.
President had previously threatened to expropriate the property and , saying at the time he wanted to turn it into a tourist attraction.
Alabama-based Vulcan Materials said in a statement Tuesday that the move violates the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement. It said the measure formed part of 鈥渁 series of threats and actions by the current administration against our operations.
鈥淭he expropriation of land and the seaport belonging to our company is another escalation and another violation of Mexico's obligations under trade agreements,鈥 the statement said. 鈥淭his illegal measure will have a long-term paralyzing effect on trade and investment relations between Mexico and the United States."
The decree published in the official gazette shows a strangely patterned nature reserve that follows exactly some of the company's property lines.
While the decree states the purpose of the park is to protect local animal and plant species, in fact the seaport and stone quarries are very disturbed areas, do not much resemble a nature reserve and would add little to that effort.
Moreover, the decree comes after L贸pez Obrador's administration cut down tens of thousands of trees in a broad swath through native jungle to build a tourist train line not far from the stone quarries.
The company, which was already involved in a dispute resolution panel complaint against the Mexican government, said Tuesday it would use 鈥渁ll available legal channels鈥 to fight the new decree.
In June the American company rejected the Mexican president鈥檚 buy-out offer, saying it 鈥渟ubstantially undervalues our assets.鈥
In papers filed on the case in an international arbitration panel, Vulcan Materials valued the almost 6,000-acre (2,400-hectare) property, located just south of the resort town of Playa del Carmen, at $1.9 billion.
The Mexican president has in the past threatened to expropriate the extensive property, claiming the pits the company has dug to extract crushed limestone have damaged the fragile system of underground rivers and caves in the area.
But Vulcan Materials rejected the charge at that time. 鈥淥ur operations have not adversely affected underground caves, cenotes or archaeological sites. In fact, we have mapped, protected and preserved these valuable resources,鈥 the company said in a statement.
Instead, the company alleged that some other quarries in the area have been operating unlawfully. 鈥淯nlike other quarrying sites that have been operating unlawfully to supply the Mayan Train, our operations were duly permitted,鈥 the company said.
The Mayan Train is a pet project of L贸pez Obrador to build a tourist train around the Yucatan peninsula. Activists, cave divers and archeologist say , which hold
L贸pez Obrador has said in the past that the most attractive part of the property was the company鈥檚 freight shipping dock 鈥 the only deep port on the coast鈥檚 mainland 鈥 which he previously said he wanted to turn into a dock for cruise ships.
L贸pez Obrador has also said he wants to use the flooded pits that the company dug out of hundreds of acres of the limestone soil as 鈥渟wimming pools鈥 or an 鈥渆cotourism鈥 area that would be operated as a concession by a private operator.
However, the huge quarry pits are inhabited by crocodiles, which are a protected species in Mexico.
