Farmers’ blockade of Mexico's main east-west highway enters 2nd day, impacting thousands

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Business groups in Mexico warned Thursday of economic damage to companies and thousands of regular citizens as a protest blockade of Mexico’s main east-west highway reached its second full day.

Farmers blockaded the highway between Mexico City and Puebla Tuesday. By Thursday, some truckers and drivers had spent almost two full days without water or food, unable to move.

The farmers are demanding payment for land expropriated to build the highway decades ago. The federal government has refused to move the protesters back, claiming that would violate their rights. The administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has often taken a non-confrontational approach to protests, and even to drug cartels.

“We cannot repress people,” López Obrador said Thursday. “It's better to persuade people, to convince them.”

But stranded truckers and motorists say their rights are being violated, and patience is wearing thin.

“The frequent occurrence of these blockades is affecting thousands of people, and also has a long-term effect on investor confidence and our country's competitiveness,” the Mexican Employers' Federation said in a statement.

Rubén Furlong, the leader of the federation in Puebla, just east of Mexico City, wrote on social media that the government's response was inadequate.

“Actions like the highway blockade ... put them (businesses) on the ropes, while the government just says they will not engage in repression,” Furlong wrote.

Video of the scene showed miles-long lines of trucks and cars trapped behind the protest blockade.

While other, less-traveled highways exist, most Mexicans use the Mexico-Puebla road to reach the Gulf coast, the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas and other points in Mexico's southeast.

Authorities acknowledge the farmers' land was taken, and have agreed to pay them, but the two sides cannot agree on how much they are due.

While López Obrador has refused to break up protests that clog key transport links, he has used soldiers and National Guard to clear protesters who blocked his pet railway projects. ___

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