President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said a formal offer would be presented to
The company said it had not yet received the president's proposal or responded to the idea. In papers filed for a case before an international arbitration panel,
López Obrador said his much lower offer was fair and based on a government assessment. He said the most attractive part of the property was the freight shipping dock, which he plans to turn into a dock for cruise ships.
As the only significant port facility on that stretch of the
López Obrador said he also wants to use the flooded gravel pits that the company dug out of hundreds of acres of the limestone soil as “swimming pools” or an "ecotourism" area that would be operated as a concession by a private operator.
The huge pits are inhabited by crocodiles, which are a protected species in
López Obrador left open a vague threat of seizing the property if the offer wasn't accepted by the time he leaves office in
“Before I leave (office), this is going to be resolved, one way or another,” he said, adding that the company would have to agree to drop its damages-seeking cases before the arbitration panel as part of the deal.
In 2021,
In March, the U.S.
Police held the port and used it to unload cargo from a Mexican cement and aggregates company,
The president has publicly sparred with Vulcan for over a year. The dock at
Ships carrying the Cuban ballast have had to dock at the port of
The only private freight dock on the
The 950-mile (1,500-kilometer)
López Obrador touts the train as a way to bring some of Cancun’s tourism income to inland communities that haven’t shared in the wealth. But there are no credible feasibility studies showing tourists would want to use the train.
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