US company accuses Mexico of expropriating its property on the Caribbean coast

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An American quarry company says the Mexican government has carried out a de-facto expropriation of its properties on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. The government issued a decree declaring the firm’s seaport and quarries to be a natural protected area, in effect prohibiting the company’s activities on its own land. Alabama-based Vulcan Materials said in a statement Tuesday that the move violates the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement. It called the measure “illegal” and pledged it would take legal action. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had previously threatened to expropriate the property and later offered to buy it for about $385 million.