The protesters accepted in exchange for not being criminalized, since investigation files were opened against them for the damages caused during this period.
The meeting began around 10:00 p.m., headed by the state Secretary of the Interior, Javier Aquino Limón, and the head of the Government Unit of the federal Ministry of the Interior, Tonatiuh Ramírez, and ended around 5:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 10.
During this time, representatives and lawyers of peasants from Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo and the State of Mexico, explained the reasons why they closed, the amount of money they are claiming (an amount that was not revealed), and also asked that no one be put in jail for obstructing the roads, since a previous prosecutor, Gilberto Higuera Bernal, had reported that they were being investigated and would be called to testify for the damage caused to these roads.
“The negotiating tables (with the federal government) will be restarted on Monday and the protest will not be criminalized, the colleagues and their servants (lawyers) will not be persecuted, and also, the affected ejidos will be programmed to give them a way out of this so they can be paid,” explained Patricia Rodríguez, lawyer for the ejidatarios of Puebla in an interview with local media at the end of the meeting.
He assured that it will not be necessary to block the agreements again if the authorities comply, since there were also similar agreements in the past and they failed, which is why they felt the need to call attention in this way.
At 7:00 in the morning, Javier Aquino reported that tents and other debris were already being removed from the Mexico-Puebla highway, which was the most affected. Even the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) reported losses of 10,000 million pesos.
In addition, the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation (Canacar) reported that 10,000 tons of food were spoiled due to this highway instruction.
By 9:00 a.m., the farmers had already completely cleared both directions of the five sections of road that were closed, affecting thousands of travelers and business owners.
In those days, various media outlets documented that there were babies who were left without milk, people with cancer who missed their appointments, truck drivers who lost days of wages, without the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador intervening.
He was questioned during those days about the protest and accused the lawyers of “manipulating” the ejidatarios to block the land and say that they could stay there as long as they wanted because they would not be evicted.
Why did ejidatarios close the Mexico-Puebla highway and other road sections?
This is an old complaint and the Mexico-Puebla highway had been closed before, but it had not lasted so long.
On this latest occasion, the blockades began around 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 6, 2016.
Initially it was reported that it was only a group of ejidatarios from Santa Rita Tlahuapan, Puebla, but no, later, the state Secretary of the Interior, Javier Aquino, explained that there were several groups represented by the same lawyers.
The largest one that closed the Mexico-Puebla was the one in the Ignacio López Rayón Ejido, which belongs to the municipality of Santa Rita Tlahuapan, Puebla.
This group alone is demanding payment of at least 460 million pesos from the federal government for the expropriation of their lands for the Mexico-Puebla highway 60 years ago.
In 2018, the federal government released a first payment after farmers won in court, for 176.2 million pesos, but it did not affect everyone. Other groups claimed other payments in the Arco Norte, and in the Tlaxco-Tejocotal.
In the case of this last section, it is up to the state government to negotiate with them and Governor Sergio Salomón Céspedes has already assured that there will be dialogue and payment will be made according to the appraisal.
