Mexico: Authorities have regained control of the Cruz Azul cement plant in Tula de Allende, Hidalgo, after a five-year internal dispute. The facility has been out of operation since 2022 due to a power outage.
The Attorney General's Office of the State of Mexico arrested 33 people during the operation on 12 February 2026, transferring them to Hidalgo state authorities, according to local news outlet Proceso. These people were initially reported as missing. 31 were charged with ‘disobedience and resistance’, while two others were found with 0.38-calibre rifles and charged with weapons offences. The plant had been under the control of a dissident group led by Federico Sarabia Pozo, former president of Cruz Azul, following a leadership split after Guillermo ‘Billy’ Álvarez Cuevas stepped down in 2020.
Víctor Manuel Velázquez Rangel, president of the board of Cooperativa La Cruz Azul since 2020, said in a video posted to social media “During the early hours of this Thursday 12 February 2026, a court order to recover the Cruz Azul cement plant in the state of Hidalgo, municipality of Tula de Allende, was successfully completed. The plant is now under our possession, after being held hostage for more than five years. I make a heartfelt appeal for social peace to all those who were misinformed, deceived, or forced to participate directly or indirectly in the takeover of this industrial unit. I want to tell you that jobs will be recovered, and those truly responsible are already being brought to justice."
