Mexico’s Secretary of Energy Rocío Nahle. Photo: congreso.gob.mx

By KELIN DILLON

As the blowback from the ongoing worker’s strike of Mexico’s under-construction Dos Bocas refinery over labor abuses continues, Secretary of Energy Rocío Nahle has come under fire by members of her very own party, the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena), for her purported role in covering up the dispute.

After a violent clash at the facility, which subsequently resulted in the injury of 15 people and the alleged death of another, Mexico’s Navy took control of Dos Bocas while striking workers were removed from the property.

Nahle had previously publicly referred to the strike as “small,” and composed of less than a dozen workers.

“Mr. President, they are lying to you about the situation in Dos Bocas,” said Morena Deputy Susana Prieto on Wednesday, Oct. 13, addressing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

“You have a security desk that depends on the Secretariat of Energy, which Rocío Nahle is in charge of. It is necessary that a thorough investigation is carried out to respect the rights of the workers.”

“I have a photo of a dead worker from the incident,” Prieto went on to say. “The authorities involved must clarify what happened.”

Prieto said she would ask the Chamber of Deputies to have Nahle report on the existence of the monopoly the workers are striking against, and likewise requested that the Financial Intelligence Unit compile a report of receipts on paid union dues.