FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his regularly scheduled morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, April 16, 2024. The American quarry company, Alabama-based Vulcan Materials, rejected on Monday, May 27, 2024 the Mexican president's offer to buy its property on the Caribbean coast, amid a years-long dispute. Alabama-based Vulcan Materials said in a statement Monday that offer “substantially undervalues our assets.
The Mexican president has in the past threatened to expropriate the extensive property, claiming the pits it has dug to extract crushed limestone have damaged the fragile system of underground rivers and caves in the area. Instead, the company alleged that some other quarries in the area have been operating unlawfully. “Unlike other quarrying sites that have been operating unlawfully to supply the Mayan Train, our operations were duly permitted,” the company said.
“The Mexican government is using these political threats and false allegations to try to justify converting our property into a “naturally protected area,” which could — ironically — be used not to protect the environment but for commercial tourism purposes and naval operations, including cruise ship activity”, the company said.