Mexican Farmers Protest Cartel Violence, Extortion — Block Highways Throughout Country

Thousands of farmers and transportation workers took to the streets throughout Mexico to set up blockades along the main highways in the country as a way to protest the cartel violence and the extortion that they are subjected to. The protests come at a time of mounting pressure for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum over widespread allegations that, instead of protecting her citizens from organized crime, she and the country’s ruling party, MORENA, have been protecting the various criminal organizations terrorizing the nation.

The protest began early Monday morning and was organized by unions of transportation workers and farmers throughout Mexico. Protesters used work trucks and tractor-trailers to block the main highways in at least 22 states in Mexico.

Some of the protests took place in border cities, causing traffic delays at international ports of entry.

In the border state of Tamaulipas, government officials were forced to confirm several protests and blockades as they had to warn motorists to take alternate routes.

The transportation shutdown aims to highlight the poor security conditions nationwide, as highway robberies, carjackings, and extortions continue to plague the public. In a similar fashion, farmers throughout Mexico claim to be the victims of cartel extortions without any recourse available to them since authorities in that country rarely act against organized crime members.

Breitbart News Foundation / Cartel Chronicles

The protest by the farmers and truckers comes just days after thousands of protesters took to the streets in Mexico City, calling for an end to the “narco-government”. As Breitbart Texas reported at the time, that protest was a large-scale demonstration over the November 1 murder of Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan, Michoacan, who was a highly liked figure for his hard stance against organized crime. Manzo had gained a large following over his social media videos, where he called out Mexico’s ruling elite for refusing to fight drug cartels. Soon after Manzo’s murder, rioters in Michoacán tried to set fire to the governor’s palace in that state and to other local city halls, Breitbart Texas reported.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected]. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].