https://www.laestrella.com.pa/internacional/america/231009/inflacion-escasez-azotan-frontera-mexico-medidas-antimigrantes-texas

Businessmen denounced this Monday that the northern border of Mexico faces a food shortage and inflation due to the restrictions imposed by the Government of Texas on border crossings in the face of the unprecedented migratory wave in the region.

The arbitrary inspections of goods trucks implemented last month by the governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, cause shortages in stores in Ciudad Juárez, on the border with El Paso, said Manuel Sotelo Suárez, vice president of the National Chamber of Motor Transportation. of Cargo (Canacar).

In an interview with EFE, he denounced that Texas is putting pressure on immigration with mechanical inspections by the Department of Public Safety of each tractor-trailer that leaves customs through Texas, which creates a blockage for Mexican exports.

“Something that is also happening in Juárez is that we are running out of supplies because there are no carriers and the cargo that comes from the United States is not arriving on time because we are stranded,” he lamented.

He explained that about 16,000 loads are stuck, which means that there are no trucks available in El Paso to import food and items from the United States to Ciudad Juárez, where at least 40% of what is consumed is imported.

“If there are 16,000 exports without crossing, then there are also 16,000 imports without crossing back and not only of American products, the same transporters that take the loads to the center of Mexico return with supplies that come here,” added the leader of the transporters. in Juarez.

A diplomatic conflict with million-dollar damages

Canacar denounced over the weekend that Texas inspections have affected merchandise traffic worth $1.9 billion.

Texas’ measures occur while Mexico and Central America face an “unprecedented” migratory flow, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with up to 10,000 migrants arriving each day at the border with the United States, according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Sotelo Suárez warned that a large part of the merchandise in the stores of Juárez, the epicenter of the immigration crisis, comes from the United States, which implies that the political conflict between the governor of Texas and the president of the United States, Joe Biden, will suffer. on the tables of Mexicans.

“There is already a shortage of some products, that’s what they report, you go to the supermarkets and there is already a shortage, if this continues the shortage will grow,” warned the Canacar representative.

A tour of the stores showed that there are already empty shelves, especially in local brands that are usually manufactured on the US side of the border.

Cans, bread, fruit, chicken and other meats are already becoming scarce in the stores of Juárez, which have already begun to exhaust their merchandise reserves.

Border inflation

The shortage of products will be accompanied by an increase in prices, warned the National Vice President of Maquiladora and Border Strips of the National Chamber of the Processing Industry (Canacintra), Thor Salayandía Lara.

“When there is a shortage there is demand, but there is no supply, naturally prices rise, then the prices of certain products that are not being brought to be consumed in these commercial chains will rise and we will see inflation,” the businessman explained.

Ciudad Juárez was the third city in Mexico with the highest inflation in September, as revealed this Monday by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

The businessmen questioned that neither government has resolved the problem caused by the Texas reviews.

The president of Mexico promised that this Monday he will send a diplomatic note to the United States to complain about these actions by Texas because “they harm commercial activity and, of course, the normal movement of people.”

“They are obstructing the free transit of goods at customs with measures from the Government of Texas, a diplomatic note is already being prepared that will be sent today against these measures, which harm the two nations, which harm the activity economic,” he said in his morning press conference.