By: Mariana Ruiz (UNAM)

Cementos Mexicanos (CEMEX) is a leading Mexican transnational company in the production of construction materials. Present in more than one hundred countries CEMEX is an “ambassador” company of Mexico around the world.

For decades CEMEX has been involved in the maintenance and construction of the Israeli occupation in Palestinian and Syrian territories, profiting from the construction of the Iron Wall, illegal Israeli settlements and multiple military checkpoints.

Thus, CEMEX not only violates human rights and commits war crimes, but also violates international treaties in the field, as well as United Nations (UN) resolutions and international courts.

The International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled on July 9, 2004 that the construction of the Israeli Wall in the West Bank was a violation of human rights; that the construction of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory was also illegal, as well as the entire infrastructure system related to them and even the maintenance of the same settlements. In any case, Israel began the construction of the wall a year later in 2005 along 273 km to isolate Palestinian peasants from their land, water, their sources of work and access to basic services such as health and education, violating their human rights.

Since 2005, CEMEX has owned the Israeli company Readymix Industries, a producer and supplier of materials and raw materials for the construction industry. Through this Israeli subsidiary, Cemex carries out various illegal operations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.

Exploitation of resources

The Mexican company also exploits resources in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. CEMEX, through its subsidiary Lime & Stone, owns multiple quarries in occupied territory, in addition to 50% of the Yatir quarry, as well as mines in Israeli settlements from where it supplies material for the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank such as Mevo Horon, Atarot and Mishor Edomim; or in the Golan Heights.

”The extracted construction material is used for the benefit of Israel without any permission from the Palestinians” CEMEX violates its own regulations called “Conflict Minerals” where it undertakes not to receive mineral inputs that have been extracted under violence and violation of human rights.

In 2010, the UN General Assembly expressed concern about Israel’s exploitation “of Palestinian natural resources” and urged Israel “not to exploit, cause losses or endanger such resources”. However, CEMEX continued with its extractivist activity. Then, in 2013, the transnational was removed from the investment portfolio of Nordea, which is the largest financial services group in the Baltic region, based in Stockholm, for “violation of human rights and extraction of non-renewable resources from an occupied territory.”

Boycott and social pressure

The company has already given in to criticism and pointing by the public. In 2017, the chairman of the Board of Directors, Rogelio Zambrano, told Mexico’s Reforma newspaper that Cemex was willing to openly participate in the construction of the border wall between the United States and Mexico promoted by President Donald Trump, although only as a “supplier.”

“If someone asks us for a quote we will gladly do it,” Zambrano Lozano said at the beginning of March 2017. But given the controversial statement, being a Mexican company, the president of Cemex clarified days later that the company’s position is that it would not participate in the call that was launched to construction companies.

Sources:

• Cemex violates the rights of the Palestinian people. (July 31, 2025). Let’s get uninformed. https://desinformemonos.org/cemex-viola-lderechos-del-pueblo-palestino/
• StopCemex – Cemex: Building the Wall in Palestine. (n.d.). https://stopcemex.org/
• Cemex Mexico: Leaders in Construction | Quality Products and Explore Innovative Projects | Cemex Mexico. (n.d.). https://www.cemexmexico.com/
• Valle, A. (2017, 16 March). Cemex says it will not participate in Trump’s wall. Expansion. https://expansion.mx/empresas/2017/03/16/cemex-afirma-que-no-participara-en-el-muro-de-trump