 |
| Right: President Obrador with business magnate Carlos Slim |
Since the early hours of yesterday, October 12, the more than 5,000 workers who are building the Dos Bocas refinery, in the Mexican state of Tabasco, began a protest against the ICA Fluor employer, owned by Carlos Slim, businessman affiliated to the current social democratic government headed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).
It is the second mobilization of workers so far this year, who do not stop demanding compliance with their labor rights, especially the reduction of their working hours, the payment of overtime and other basic rights.
It is the second mobilization of workers so far this year, who do not stop demanding compliance with their labor rights, especially the reduction of their working hours, the payment of overtime and other basic rights.
The violent eviction occurred at 6 a.m. local time (11 a.m. GMT) when employees demanding a salary increase, overtime payment and other fundamental rights tried to enter the facilities through one of the main entrances.
“The police began to attack with toletazos (clubs) everywhere and a tear gas grenade even grazed me, I was broadcasting live and another one touched me again on the head. Several colleagues were beaten and taken away. They also shot them. bullets and we had to move away, “said one of the workers who recorded the attack on camera.
Three employees were injured and were taken to the hospital in the neighboring municipality of Cárdenas.
#ÚLTIMAHORA Segundo día de paro laboral y protesta de trabajadores de ICA Flour en refinería de Dos Bocas. La Marina y policía tomó el control de las instalaciones. Se reportan enfrentamientos con obreros. pic.twitter.com/dnZ6Zc6tjl
— LA GAZETA TV (@lagazetatv) October 13, 2021
STATEMENT BY THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF MEXICO
In a statement the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM) strongly denounces the police crackdown against the workers" (la declaración en español):
"Today repression, which has been a permanent element against the protesting workers, has reached one of its most dramatic moments, due to the permanent intimidation exercised by the Navy, which has practically besieged and under its control the refinery facilities under construction, has gone on to frontal attack, with firearms, against the workers.
There are practical and moral instigators for these events. The first ones are the Secretary of the Navy, the National Guard, the state police. The latter occupy high positions in the current government of López Obrador, Rocío Nahle, Secretary of Energy Luisa María Alcalde, Secretary of Labor and the newly appointed Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López. Therefore, it is not wrong to affirm that the only person responsible for these events is actually President López Obrador, who continues to deepen his anti-worker and anti-popular policy, increasingly evident and unconcealable, in favor of the monopolies".
"Today repression, which has been a permanent element against the protesting workers, has reached one of its most dramatic moments, due to the permanent intimidation exercised by the Navy, which has practically besieged and under its control the refinery facilities under construction, has gone on to frontal attack, with firearms, against the workers.
There are practical and moral instigators for these events. The first ones are the Secretary of the Navy, the National Guard, the state police. The latter occupy high positions in the current government of López Obrador, Rocío Nahle, Secretary of Energy Luisa María Alcalde, Secretary of Labor and the newly appointed Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López. Therefore, it is not wrong to affirm that the only person responsible for these events is actually President López Obrador, who continues to deepen his anti-worker and anti-popular policy, increasingly evident and unconcealable, in favor of the monopolies".
