Obrador seizes rail line from billionaire poised to buy Banamex

FILE PHOTO: Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a news conference at the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection in Mexico City, Mexico March 9, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Romero

MEXICO CITY: Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or Amlo for short, seized part of a rail line owned by billionaire German Larrea’s Grupo Mexico SAB, raising questions about how the move might impact a bid by the mining magnate to buy Citigroup Inc’s retail bank in the country.

A section of track in the state of Veracruz was deemed “of public utility” and transferred to a government entity that’s building a line across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a relatively narrow strip of land that separates the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.