The government has shifted transport of fuel to tanker trucks and rail cars and away from pipelines, which are regularly tapped by thieves. But the new distribution systems apparently can’t keep up with consumer demand. Pemex has had to tell customers not to panic or hoard fuel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major fuel shortages have been reported in at least six Mexican states over the past several days and images showed people lined up at gas stations, empty canisters in hand<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Video <\/a>from Guanajuato \u2013 where the Associated Press reports that 84 percent of gas stations are closed \u2013 shows a miles-long line of cars waiting to tank up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n El Financiero Baj\u00edo<\/strong>@ElFinanciero_Ba<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n As\u00ed hoy en Guanajuato. Una fila de m\u00e1s de 5 kil\u00f3metros para cargar gasolina en la estaci\u00f3n de Noria Alta.#DesabastoDeGasolina<\/a>12<\/a>9:50 AM – Jan 8, 2019<\/a>See El Financiero Baj\u00edo’s other Tweets<\/a>Twitter Ads info and privacy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Michoac\u00e1n, a logjam of vehicles<\/a> was stuck trying to get to a gas station’s pumps. Some gas stations in Mexico City were also reportedly closed<\/a>.Article continues after this message from our sponsor<\/p>\n\n\n\n L\u00f3pez Obrador \u2013 who came into office promising to battle corruption<\/a> \u2014 says the new defensive measures are working and that fuel thefts have dropped substantially<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fuel thieves \u2014 known as huachicoleros \u2013 <\/em>have long been a staple of Mexican crime, as Rolling <\/em>Stone has reported<\/a>. But in recent years they’ve gone from being rag-tag groups to organized gangs, controlled by the country’s infamous cartels \u2014 and their lucrative thefts have been brazen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Tuesday, L\u00f3pez Obrador \u2013 who has deployed soldiers to safeguard fuel supplies \u2013 said the government had discovered a 2-mile-long hose siphoning fuel directly from a refinery. He also said special warehouses have been built on top of pipelines by thieves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n L\u00f3pez Obrador noted last month<\/a> that even those kinds of bold tactics still wouldn’t account for the massive amounts of fuel stolen each year. He said corrupt officials are complicit in broader schemes to profit off of stolen government oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fuel theft has also become a lucrative occupation for those in poorer parts of the country. As the New York Times <\/em>noted<\/a>, “Where a farmhand might earn $7 to $11 a day … a lookout for the fuel thieves can bring in upward of $54 a day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I ask citizens for understanding and support, because we need to solve this problem together,” L\u00f3pez Obrador said last week<\/a>. On Monday, he told Mexicans <\/a>he wouldn’t back down from his campaign to fight the thieves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Let’s see who gets tired first: Those who steal the fuel or us.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drop by drop, gallon by gallon, thieves have been draining the pipelines and coffers of the Mexican government. Last year, $3 billion worth of fuel was stolen from Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, according to the country’s new president. But a crackdown by President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador has left many ordinary Mexicans struggling to find gas. The government has shifted transport… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2851,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions\/2851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Embedded](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/ext_tw_video_thumb\/1082650285942685697\/pu\/img\/vqJkFe9TuQfBbmSl?format=jpg&name=small\")
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