The workers of the Juchitán Potable Water System began a road blockade at the point known as Imeca, obstructing the passage to the cities of Tehuantepec and Salina Cruz, this after eight days of work stoppage.
With this protest action, the employees seek to pressure the state government to respond to their labor demands.
The 61 workers began their demonstration and announced that it will remain indefinitely, under the argument of non-compliance by the authorities of the State Water Commission (CEA) with the agreements taken since June.
The workers of the SAP of Juchitán ask that they be given the 98 levels that have lagged for more than 15 years, and that have violated the rights of the workers, since they are not allowed to have a better position and improve their salaries.
These levels correspond to workers who have retired, even those who have died, and which, according to an internal ranking, should benefit active employees.
To achieve a quick and forceful response to this main request, the workers act with the road blockade, unleashing the disagreement of the thousands of citizens who travel this communication route for various reasons.
One week of blockade of Huatulco
Meanwhile in Santa María Huamelula, on the border between the Isthmus and the Coast, the inhabitants have maintained a road blockade also since Monday, October 18, fulfilling over a week of blockades of the road that connects with the tourist destination of Santa María Huatulco.
The demonstration of the municipal agency of San Pedro Huamelula has been prolonged, according to the protesters, due to the lack of response from the municipal president Virgilio Fuentes in the delivery of the priority works for fiscal year 2019 and 2020, which have already been audited and there are fears that the mayor concludes his management on December 31 and the government demarcates him from responsibilities.
The municipal president refuses the accusations, assuring that the agent and his followers only seek to destabilize his government and obtain economic profit with blackmail since he assures that the procedures and works have already been carried out.
According to media organizations, since the beginning of the year and until last Saturday there were at least 50 blockades that have been installed in communication routes of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as a mechanism of pressure to the authorities of different levels to demand response to demands from social organizations, political groups, and citizens.
The people who are stranded there have called on the protesters to lift the blockade, as hundreds of motorists have been stranded.
Isthmus of Tehuantepec, kidnapped by blockades and demonstrations
The president of the Civil Association of Professionals and Entrepreneurs of the Isthmus (Proempi), Juan José González Davar, pointed out that roadblocks are becoming an irreversible cancer for the economy and for society in general in the regions from the Isthmus and the Coast.
Without respect
He said that there is no respect for the guarantees of free movement, which discourages investment and causes damage to health itself since this type of action represents a lack of respect and a mockery of the authorities and of the authorities to society.
This Monday, there were eight days of road blockade on kilometer 316 of Highway 200 Costera, Huatulco-Salina Cruz sub-section, at the point known as Santa María Huamelula; While in Juchitán, the workers of the Potable Water System (SAP) installed a blockade at the height of the IMECA, and during the weekend there was the threat of residents of the municipality of San Juan Cotzocón to block the Transistmica in the north zone region of.
González Davar argued that it is no longer possible to maintain this pace of protests and road blockades due to any situation when President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is promoting investment in the region through the Trans-isthmian Corridor.
“Those of us who suffer a blockade see what happens in a blockade: sick people in wheelchairs asking for support to be able to pass. I can’t quite understand how there is so much frivolity on the part of the authorities in the face of a fact that violates all individual guarantees ”.
Authority, ineffective
He indicated that the problems must be addressed in a timely manner, but those who incur in these types of actions that injure citizens should also be punished with higher penalties.
He added to the claims of the Association of Coastal Service Providers, as he said that it is not possible that in addition to suffering from the pandemic, the business sector does not have the support of any authority and apart from allowing blockades.
He explained that there is a passive society that has become accustomed to roadblocks, and of which no one complains, which means that no authority pays attention to them.
In that sense, the Juchiteco businessman said that getting used to roadblocks would be very dangerous, since it is not possible to live every day in uncertainty and be practically kidnapped, which has led people to ask first if there is a roadblock, before doing anything. “That is not possible in a state of law.”
“This is the sad reality of an area that is eager to develop with the support of the President of the Republic, who set his eyes on Oaxaca and especially on the Isthmus, and we are not giving him the conditions.”
“On the one hand we have a society that is used to this type of blackmail and, on the other hand, we have a government that is already used to being blocked roads without the slightest respect […] It is not possible that they do not know that we have 10 blockades per month, ”he added.
Finally, he reiterated that the penalties for those who block communication routes or the law is applied should be increased, “but something has to be done.”
“On the one hand we have a society that is used to this type of blackmail and, on the other hand, we have a government that is already used to being blocked roads without the slightest respect […] It is not possible that they do not know that we have 10 blockades per month ”.
Juan Jose Gonzalez Davar
President of Proempi
Source: oaxaca.eluniversal.com.mx, imparcialoaxaca.mx, rioaxaca.com
