Kimberly-Clark, Pepsi & Truper Charge Truckers for Narco Blockade Delays

ByPatricia Gutiérrez Rodríguez

This article by Patricia Gutiérrez Rodríguez was originally published on February 27th, 2026 at La Jornada de Oriente, the Puebla edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Puebla, Puebla. The delegate of the Mexican Alliance of Transport Organizations AC (AMOTAC) in Puebla, Andy Rossini Martínez, stated that companies such as Kimberly-Clark, Pepsi and Truper are trying to pass on to the trucking industry the losses generated by the drug blockades of last Sunday with penalties for not delivering the merchandise on time and charges for stolen cargo.

In an interview with La Jornada de Oriente, he asserted that these practices have become “intolerable” for the profession and announced that the organization is preparing nationwide actions to demand security and fair treatment.

He explained that several companies penalize carriers by refusing to pay for full trips or by demanding that they absorb the total cost of the cargo when the units are stolen or stranded due to blockades by organized crime.

He explained that although the amounts vary, there are companies that stop paying for trips of 10,000 pesos and others that intend to charge 1,000 pesos for each hour of delay, even when the delay is due to acts of violence on the highways.

“These days, companies want us to pay for the freight; they even want us to pay them just for working with them,” Rossini Martínez complained. He added that sometimes these companies take advantage of the situation to withhold outstanding payments for transportation services provided on credit.

Where others see violence, corporate monopolies see opportunities.

He noted that the sector continues to operate at a loss following the pandemic and now faces a new blow due to insecurity. In addition to losses from robberies, vehicle fires, and damaged cargo, there are unpaid trips and attempts to impose penalties for not delivering merchandise “on time and in the correct manner.”

According to the Amotac delegate in Puebla, the companies are trying to “take advantage of the situation” and are unaware of the real impact of the attacks on the costs and income of the operators.

The organization documented the case of a transporter based on the border between Puebla and Tlaxcala, whose unit was stolen, recovered, stolen a second time and finally set on fire in the recent acts of violence.