Farmers Warn of World Cup Protests After Cancelled Meeting with Interior Secretariat

ByMarcos Merendón

This article by Marcos Merendón originally appeared in the April 13, 2026 edition of El Sol de México.

Agricultural producers from different regions of the country warned that they could undertake protest actions that would impact the atmosphere of the upcoming World Cup, after a meeting convened by federal authorities did not take place, a situation they described as a sign of negligence and a lack of will to address the problems of the Mexican countryside.

The president of Agrodinámica Nacional in Jiménez, Arturo Rentería, reported that around 52 producers from 13 states of the Republic went to Mexico City last Friday in response to a call issued by the Ministry of the Interior, with the purpose of discussing the main demands of the agricultural sector.

He explained that the campesino representatives attended the meeting after being asked to lift the strikes they had previously carried out as a condition for establishing a dialogue table with federal authorities, a commitment that, he assured, they fulfilled with the intention of opening a path to negotiation.

However, upon arriving at the location where the meeting was to take place, they encountered a heavy security presence and riot police, as well as restrictions limiting access to only a small number of producers, which generated discontent among the attendees.

Rentería pointed out that the farmers attended representing various organizations and productive sectors from several states of the country, so they considered it essential that all delegates participate in the meeting to present the demands and needs of the Mexican countryside.

When the authorities refused to allow the entire delegation to enter, the gates of the premises were closed and the fences secured with padlocks, forcing the producers to leave without having held the dialogue that had been previously agreed upon.

The peasant leader stated that the situation generated annoyance among representatives of the agricultural movement, who interpreted the government’s attitude as a sign of apathy and indifference towards the problems facing the country’s productive sector.

Following the incident , the producers agreed to reorganize and convene a National Producers Convention in the state of Tlaxcala, where they will analyze new pressure tactics to demand that the government listen to them and include them in decisions regarding public policies for the countryside.