Carriers from Chiapas blocked the international highway that connects with Central America on Monday to denounce that they suffer from insecurity, extortion and unfair competition from pirate public transport.
Drivers and leaders of this group of the Alianza del Autotransporte in Chiapas paralyzed the circulation of the highway from 7:00 am, and closed other points such as Tapachula-Talismán, on the border with Guatemala; the Tapachula-Huixtla road, and the coffee route that leads to the upper area of Tapachula.
Protesters placed a white tarp over one of the pedestrian bridges near the Mexico-Guatemala border.
State organized transport manifests itself because the Government no longer grants more concessions for the region, we demand no permits for the circulation of motorcycle taxis”, the banner reads.
The blockade of transporters has affected merchants such as Elías, who distributes walnuts from India.
The man had to get off in the municipality of Huixtla, from where he walked to the border to deliver the product to his clients in Guatemala.
“I don’t know what is happening, we only know that it is blocked, we have to work and here we are walking, I want to get to my destination to deliver my merchandise, but I had to walk and here we go,” he told EFE.
The president of the gastronomic tourist corridor of Izapa, Carlos Carrasco, considered that the most affected are the people who travel, since it is a fairly crowded section and it is a drastic way of demonstrating.
He stressed that, as restaurateurs close to the southern border, they resent the effects of the road closure, but they understand the carriers.
He remarked that hotels, restaurants and the residents of the area are affected because they do not have free transit to receive tourists and merchants who come to leave economic income for border municipalities.
The protesters from the transport sector intermittently (every 10 minutes) let trailer drivers and people coming from Central America, or those who are going to carry out activities near the slopes of the Tacaná volcano, which is between Mexico and Guatemala.
Source: Lopez Doriga
