MEXICO CITY (apro).– The local deputy of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Silvia Sánchez Barrios, presented a Point of Agreement of “urgent and obvious resolution”, to call on the Cuauhtémoc mayor’s office to refrain from “violating human rights of businessmen and workers in the public space” with Operativo Diamante, headed by its owner, Sandra Cuevas.
In a statement, he accused that said operation to regulate trade on public roads “is repressive, has become synonymous with abuse of power, violates people’s human rights, as well as the rule of law, and has also served to steal and not stop being arbitrary and authoritarian.”
The president of the Economic Development Commission added that said operation headed by Cuevas Nieves “is intimidating for the owners and employees of the different establishments, because the staff that accompanies the mayoress is aggressive and they destroy the belongings they are removing, but in addition, businessmen are economically sanctioned”.
In fact, he specified that many affected merchants have documentation and are enrolled in the “Ciudad al aire libre” program, which allows work areas to be expanded towards the sidewalks.
Sánchez Barrios recalled the protest on July 21 against the alliance official: “In recent days we learned of the repression of protesters by personnel from the Cuauhtémoc mayor’s office who spoke out against the social cleansing that Operativo Diamante intends.”
Since the beginning of the operation, on June 19, the mayoress Sandra Cuevas has generated controversy due to the mobilizations to which she appears with what appears to be a police uniform, driving ATVs and even using an electric saw to remove the pergolas of the restaurant premises.
“Reality is harsher”
The president of the Economic Development Commission of the local Congress denounced that the team of the mayor Sandra Cuevas has entered commercial establishments to “steal” belongings and furniture.
And he referred to a case in the Roma neighborhood, where the mayor’s office employees allegedly violated security and entered when it was closed: “The reality is harsher than what we can see in the videos that allude to Cuevas Nieves and his staff during their cleanup,” he said.
About the public space workers, he accused: “They take away their belongings, their merchandise to take it away, to achieve this they threaten and intimidate them.”
The legislator also pointed out: “There are cases where entrepreneurs or merchants received a visit from Cuauhtémoc workers, who without asking for documentation or without carrying out a verification visit, were in charge of loading into different vans objects that they found on public roads such as chairs, refrigerators, etc. , tables, umbrellas, or metallic structures using tools or destroying the objects”.
Silvia Sánchez Barrios denounced: “If we talk about attributions in the care of public space, the mayor’s office is also in charge of maintaining secondary roads and if we see the streets of La Obrera, la Doctores, Morelos or Atlampa, they have not been intervened in the least.”
Then, he made an invitation not to use the law for convenience. He clarified that he does not deny the attribution and obligation to care for public space in said demarcation.
And it was said aware of “that if obstacles must be removed on public roads, that it be in accordance with the applicable laws on the matter, through dialogue and joint work.”
What does the Restaurant Industry say?
On July 31, the national president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac), Germán F. González Bernal, referred to Operation Diamond: “We do not understand why without prior notice, without due process and without approaching the restaurateurs they apply it”.
In a conference on the “Impact Report on SMEs 2022”, he failed the operation and sentenced: “You cannot arrive and destroy private property and even more so if they have the permits in order, we are very concerned and we want to understand what the reason is.”
According to González Bernal, 15 establishments have been affected by the application of the operation, applied by the mayoress Sandra Cuevas.
Days before, Canirac made a call to the mayor’s office to start dialogue tables that allow knowing the scope of said operation. He questioned the removal and destruction of items “that had the corresponding permit, and observed the necessary regulations for the correct operation of the establishments, which he assured” puts investments and jobs at risk.”
