Down in Mexico, he is AMLO, or President Andrés Manuel López-Obrador.
As you know, he won a big election in Mexico last July and assumed the presidency on December 1.
So far, President López-Obrador cannot be happy with the items on his agenda. My good guess is that he did not plan to spend the early days of his presidency enhancing security on the Guatemala border or chasing down criminals stealing gasoline.
Down on their southern border, Mexico will get proactive to prevent the entry of illegal aliens. I wonder what will happen when that other caravan from Honduras reaches the Guatemala-Mexico border! According to my contacts in Mexico, public opinion is against allowing these people into the country.
Around Mexico City, a metropolitan area of more than 20 million people and God only knows how many millions of automobiles, there is a shortage of gasoline.
A major fuel pipeline that supplies Mexico City remained closed after two ruptures in a single day, the president said on Friday, as the government works to stem shortages that have frustrated motorists and triggered economic risks.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s offensive against fuel robbers marks the leftist’s first attempt to tackle entrenched corruption since taking office on Dec. 1.
Criminal groups have tapped pipelines and stolen tanker trucks carrying diesel and gasoline in the oil-producing country for years, costing the government billions of dollars.
The government will assign 8,300 police and 1,400 security vehicles over the next 48 hours to safeguard fuel trucks so they can deliver to gas stations, said Mexico’s National Chamber of Freight Transport (CANACAR).
The economy is an issue, but there are bigger questions.
First, who is behind this operation to steal gasoline from pipelines? It has to be a major criminal enterprise, or cartels. It’s hard for me to believe that these are teenagers pulling off a Friday night prank. The operation has all of the makings of a disciplined project, or people who know where the pipelines are and own the tools to steal the gasoline. Maybe they should question El Chapo about this!
Second, this is not new. Criminals have been running a “side business” for years stealing gasoline and then selling it on the black market. It appears to be happening on a larger scale now.
Third, who is stealing all of those gasoline trucks? Where are they ending up? Are those trucks crossing the U.S. border or going south to Central America, where other cartels are thriving?
Fourth, aren’t these gasoline trucks a major weapon in the hands of terrorists?
It’s complicated, as everything in Mexico always is.
In the meantime, get ready for some long gas lines if you are driving down to Mexico. Not the way that LO had figured his presidency would start off!
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