Mexico City Police Close Reforma to Stop Farmers Protest

ByIvan Ortiz

This article by Ivan Ortiz originally appeared in the May 20, 2026 edition of El Sol de México.

At the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma Avenue and Eje 2 Norte, Mexico City police blocked the passage of trucks heading to the march called by the National Association of Transporters (ANTAC) and the National Front for the Rescue of the Mexican Countryside (FNRCM).

At 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20, three hours before the start of the march from the Angel of Independence to the Zócalo in Mexico City, members of the Mexico City Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC) deployed an operation in the area.

With trucks, patrol cars, riot police, and even an official tow truck , the police blocked the vehicles carrying the protesters, despite their right to public demonstration. As a result, some of them, mostly farmers from Zacatecas and Tlaxcala , had to continue on foot, leaving their tractors and trailers behind.

Photo: Luis Castillo, Jorge Angel Pablo Garcia

For its part, the FNRCM denounced alleged acts of repression against farmers and transporters, accusing the deployment of tactical checkpoints and police operations to prevent the advance of peasant contingents.

Emigdio Taboada , a farmer from Tlaxcala and victim of forced disappearance on April 7, told El Heraldo de Tabasco that the producers were demonstrating peacefully to demand fair prices for their crops, to remove basic grains from the USMCA, to create a development bank for the agricultural sector, and to reinforce security on highways, when they were surrounded by police: “We’re completely surrounded. We’re farmers and peasants; here there are cranes, patrol cars, and riot police. It seems that free speech and free assembly are also prohibited.”

SSC officers blocked the road with trailers Photo: Luis Barrera, La Prensa

The blockade by Mexico City police is not limited to members of ANTAC and FNRCM who are going to march, but also to any other vehicle, including units of Metrobus Line 7, generating traffic chaos in the area.

Under the slogan “ The countryside is rising up, united we are stronger!”, they are demanding impeachment proceedings against the Secretary of Economy for neglecting and failing to comply with trade agreements that protect agriculture. They are also demanding an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office for the lack of defense and protection of the national primary sector.

Today’s demonstration is not limited to transport workers and farmers , but also includes other social groups from at least 20 states across the country.

Photo: Luis Barrera, La Prensa

Among the problems that are being highlighted are insecurity on highways, the increase in crimes against cargo operators, as well as the lack of support for Mexican agriculture and the demand for fair prices for agricultural producers.

The mobilization will be attended by groups of mothers searching for their missing children and people affected by the shortage of medicines in hospitals and clinics.