Mexico orders local governments to stop coronavirus roadblocks

Mexico’s Interior Department urged towns and states Tuesday to stop putting up roadblocks and curfews to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, as hundreds have done.

The department said in a statement that such measures violate constitutional rights like the right to free movement, and argued that local governments don’t have the authority to enact them.

“The health emergency does not constitute a state of emergency or suspension of rights,” the department wrote.

The department said in a report that almost 20% percent of Mexican municipal governments, about 340, have . . .