• COST: The nine-day long protest of teachers blocking a key rail line between the port of Veracruz and the city of Puebla is already having a massive effect on commerce by impeding the transportation of at least 440,000 tonnes of groceries, steel, auto parts, and chemical products, according to a rail carrier.
• PROTEST: Teachers affiliated with Mexico largest teachers’ union (SNTE) have successfully installed a blockade in a railway line near the town of Rafael Lara Grajales (pop. 14,000) in the state of Puebla demanding union democracy. Similar blockades in other states have been lifted.
• APPEAL: “We are concerned that we do not see an answer in the case of Puebla. In Veracruz, there were blockages in some sites of no more than six hours due to the good political work of the (state) government”, said Lourdes Aranda, spokeswoman for Ferrosur, the affected rail carrier.
• DAMAGES: According to Ferrosur, at least 144 trains have not been able to move freight from several Gulf of Mexico’s ports to Central Mexico. The company says that there are 73,000 tonnes of merchandise on hold at the port of Veracruz and 120,000 tonnes on hold at the port of Coatzacoalcos.
