Mexican government and freight carriers agree to lift national strike roadblocks

Mexico's Ministry of the Interior (Segob) met on Tuesday 27 October with representatives of the National Chamber of Freight Transport (Canacar) and other organisations in the sector, which pledged to "definitively lift the blockades" and suspend the protests, according to the EFE news agency. In exchange, according to Segob, working groups will be set up on road safety, infrastructure, tax matters, social security and working conditions.

The national truckers' strike began on Monday 26 at 07:00 and had been called indefinitely. According to EFE, it affected 19 states; the newspaper El Financiero reports that the government spoke of protests in 19 states and the organisation HAMOTAC of 32.

According to El Financiero, in the early hours of Tuesday a lorry rammed the blockade on the Mexico City-Toluca motorway, near Ocoyoacac; several vehicles caught fire and the driver and co-driver were injured. The truckers are demanding more security on the roads in the face of robberies and extortion, a lower tax burden and compensation for stolen vehicles.

Story under review: the same EFE report states that the striking truckers said they had not attended that meeting, so it is unclear which organisations have actually lifted the blockades.