{"id":254556,"date":"2025-09-25T21:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/254556\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T21:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:38:14","slug":"san-antonio-based-h-e-b-faces-protests-in-northern-mexico-call-for-boycott-over-worker-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/254556\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio-based H-E-B faces protests in Northern Mexico, call for boycott over worker death"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The San Antonio-based grocery store chain has issued a statement expressing condolences for the worker\u2019s family. Credit: Shutterstock \/ Moab Republic<\/p>\n

Protesters staged a demonstration outside an H-E-B grocery in Northern Mexico this week after the death of one of the store\u2019s contract employees, whose sister alleges he was poisoned by coworkers. <\/p>\n

Carlos Gurrola Arguijo, known as \u201cEl Papayita\u201d by friends and family, died last month due to complications from extreme burns to his lungs, according to Mexican news outlet El Sol de la Laguna<\/a>. The death came after Arguijo ingested a \u201csolvent or toxic substance\u201d that his sister speculates was put in his drink as a prank by co-workers, the report said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arguijo worked for Multiservicios Rocasa SA of CV, a third-party contractor for H-E-B Mexico \u2014\u00a0a business unit of San Antonio-based H-E-B \u2014\u00a0at its Torre\u00f3n\u00a0location. The sister told El Sol de la Laguna that Arguijo had been the victim of past bullying by coworkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey slashed his bike tires several times, and we\u2019ve heard they threatened him,\u201d Arguijo\u2019s sister said. \u201cWe don\u2019t understand why they treated him like that. All he did was go to work to help our parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

El Sol de la Laguna wrote in a separate report<\/a> that H-E-B Mexico initially \u201cdistanced itself from the situation, arguing that Arguijo wasn\u2019t a direct employee.\u201d Meanwhile, officials with Multiservicios Rocasa even suggested the worker \u201cattempted suicide,\u201d according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both H-E-B Mexico and its San Antonio-based parent have since put out statements saying company officials have met with the worker\u2019s family and are cooperating with authorities as they investigate. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer our condolences to the family and friends of Carlos\u00a0Gurrola Arguijo, who was beloved throughout the community,\u201d H-E-B corporate officials said in a statement .<\/p>\n

Arguijo\u2019s family filed a complaint with authorities on Sept. 3, sparking both local and state inquiries. However, Carlos Rangel, head of the Laguna I Delegation of the Attorney General\u2019s Office of the State of Coahuila, said in a Monday statement that authorities found \u201cno evidence of criminal intent\u201d in the death, MySA reports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the recent statements from H-E-B and Coahuila state officials weren\u2019t enough to hold off the protest outside of the store where Arguijo worked.\u00a0 An online video appears to show several hundred people gathered for the sometimes-tense demonstration. <\/p>\n

A recently established Facebook page<\/a> with nearly 8,000 followers demands that the people responsible for Arguijo\u2019s death be held accountable, and some on the social media platform are also calling for a national boycott <\/a>of H-E-B\u2019s Mexico stores.<\/p>\n

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