The Cruz Azul Cooperative S.C.L. reported that it has suffered losses exceeding 25 billion pesos due to the control of a dissident group of around 100 people at its cement and concrete production plant in the state of Hidalgo over the last four years.
Rafael Anzures Ortiz, the legal director of the cooperative, explained in a press conference that the company has been forced to increase production capacity at four additional plants in Mexico and to announce a new investment in Campeche to compensate for the production shortfall at the Tula plant.
He emphasized the need for the law to be enforced so that the plant can resume operations and reactivate the local economy. Anzures Ortiz criticized the Secretary of Government of Hidalgo for proposing to negotiate with the dissident group, led by Federico Sarabia, whom he accused of holding the plant's facilities hostage, affecting more than 4,000 direct and indirect employees.
Regarding the cement production capacity of Cruz Azul's plants, Anzures Ortiz mentioned that the Hidalgo plant could produce up to 35 or 40 percent of the company's total cement, but it has produced nothing over the last four years, despite maintaining the salaries of more than 1,000 workers.
As for the leadership structure of the Cooperative, he pointed out that Víctor Velázquez and José Antonio Marín are at the head of the Administration Council and the Supervisory Board, respectively, and that at the last general assembly, the expulsion of several members of the dissident group was agreed upon.
Anzures Ortiz indicated that the Cruz Azul Cooperative could resort to international bodies to recover the Tula plant if necessary, but they trust in the intervention of the governor of Hidalgo to resolve the situation. Finally, he added that the dissident group has caused significant losses through the looting of materials and products through more than 40 invoicing companies.
