Mexico's government and protestors who had blockaded 59 wells for more than 2 weeks in Mexico's Tabasco state were near a settlement of their dispute at presstime last week.
The blockade had cut Mexico's oil production by as much as 130,000 b/d. Petroleos Mexicanos General Director Adrian Lajous Vargas said the state oil company is losing about $720,000/day because of the blockade.
The blockade, led by demonstrators affiliated with the Democratic Revolution party (PRD), turned violent the week before when police and army troops sought to evict protestors.
Basis for protests
The demonstrators are protesting alleged environmental damage by Pemex operations in Tabasco state as well as government plans to privatize the country's secondary petrochemical industry.
PRD officials charged that Pemex operations had polluted about 750,000 acres in Tabasco.
Protesters lowered their barricades Feb. 14 to give maintenance crews a chance to inspect wellsites.
That was in response to concerns Pemex voiced about hazards posed by wells that could not be maintained properly.
A 24 hr truce that followed in the standoff between the government and a sizable group that included farmers and political activists was another sign the 16 day old conflict would end soon.
Talks among PRD, Pemex, and the Secretariat of Gobernacion were expected to resolve the dispute by the end of last week.
The conflict had grown as federal officials were unable to end the blockades. Pemex security officials, state police, and army troops regained control of field installations but did not hold them.
To date, more than 100 persons have been arrested.
President Clinton's administration reportedly sent an observer to Tabasco to monitor the situation. The Mexico City weekly news magazine Proceso quoted a White House official as saying that the observer was sent because U.S. companies are worried about developments in Tabasco.
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