Gasoline supply improving in Aguascalientes: Pemex

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January 23, 2019

A police vehicle in Aguascalientes had to be towed to the nearest gas station.

Pemex says the gasoline supply in the state of Aguascalientes is gradually improving, but the shortages are still causing problems — even for local police.

The state oil company said it distributed 3.2 million liters of gasoline and diesel on Sunday and Monday, focusing its efforts on the gas stations with the lowest reserves.

Half that volume was distributed on Monday to 149 stations.

But it wasn’t soon enough for a municipal police vehicle. After running out of gas, it had to be towed to the nearest gas station.

That brought criticism from one motorist who was filling up at the time.

Mario Torres suggested that police departments should have their own fuel supplies and tankers, and pointed out that three of the four gas pumps were being used exclusively for police vehicles.

” . . . We need security, but we also need to work,” he said.

A local businessman took a more positive view even though he arrived at the gas station pushing his truck after it ran out of fuel.

“It’s an effort . . . but if corruption comes to an end with all of this, I don’t mind pushing my truck for 10 blocks,” said Francisco Santoyo.

Cab driver Héctor de León said he was not working as much as he could because he needs to line up at a gas station and lose precious time while potential customers are looking for transportation.

People are waiting for buses that don’t stop because they’re already full, he said.

Source: El Heraldo Aguascalientes (sp), Milenio (sp)

17 hospitalized after eating methamphetamine-laced roast chicken

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Madison Koen

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January 23, 2019

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At least 17 people were hospitalized Sunday after consuming roast chicken that turned out to contain methamphetamine.

Customers who bought the chicken from a street vendor in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, reported symptoms of rapid heart rate, insomnia, cerebral hemorrhaging, extreme agitation and convulsions among others.

A 57-year-old woman had to be transferred to Ciudad Juárez for more urgent care after she experienced convulsions and a possible stroke.

In light of the symptoms, a local health official ordered antidoping tests, which came back positive for methamphetamine. Alma Rosa Valles said the health department would continue to investigate and urged the victims and their families to file police reports to denounce the incident.

Meth can be deadly in high dosages and can cause heart attacks, strokes and respiratory arrest.

A family member of one of the victims turned a piece of the suspect chicken over to authorities, who sent it to the state capital for laboratory analysis.

State authorities are investigating, although the whereabouts of the chicken vendor, who operated under the name Pollos Rigo, remains unknown.

Source: Sipse (sp), El Sol de México (sp)

Losses mounting as teachers’ blockades strand 140 trains in Michoacán

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Tony Richards

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January 23, 2019

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More than 140 trains are stranded in Michoacán due to teachers’ union blockades that went up just over a week ago.

Railroad operator Kansas City Southern de México said the petroleum industry is one of those most affected. One of the trains consists of 96 tanker cars destined for the refinery in Tula, Hidalgo, said company president José Zozaya.

Another rail operator said other industries are also suffering from the impact of the blockades. Ferromex spokeswoman Lourdes Arana said 8,000 containers of goods are awaiting shipment in the ports of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, and Manzanillo, Colima.

She urged that education officials in the Michoacán government negotiate with the teachers, members of the CNTE union, who are demanding the payment of monies that they claim have been owed since 2017.

Zozaya called on teachers to negotiate away from the railroad tracks.

“We understand that the teachers have their reasons [for the blockades] but I would invite them to negotiate away from the railway because they are not only impacting industry in Michoacán and Mexico but railroad workers and those in other sectors whose incomes have been affected by the blockades.”

President López Obrador today offered money to pay the teachers, but insisted that it would be in the form of a loan.

“It’s the Michoacán government’s problem because they haven’t paid the teachers.”

He said the federal government won’t be blackmailed by the state.

The Mexican Association of Shipping Agents said yesterday that losses total 820 million pesos (US $43 million) as a result of the stoppage although other estimates put the cost at closer to 8 billion pesos.

Source: El Sol de Centro (sp), Heraldo de México (sp), Reforma (sp)

Theft is the problem today, aging pipelines will be next challenge

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MND Staff

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January 22, 2019

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In orange, aging pipelines at medium risk; in blue, those that are high risk. Figures indicate kilometers. el universal

The vulnerability of Mexico’s petroleum pipelines to theft is well known but the country’s natural gas lines are also cause for concern.

The National Gas Control Center (Cenagas), the federal agency responsible for the surveillance and maintenance of Mexico’s 12,678-kilometer-long natural gas pipeline network, has detected that 70% of the ducts have been in operation for 35 years or longer and have deteriorated to such an extent that they don’t meet current safety and regulatory requirements.

On average, natural gas pipelines function at an optimal level for 30 years, after which they should undergo extensive maintenance to extend their lifespan or be replaced.

Some sections of the pipeline network, including parts located in the cities of Reynosa, Monterrey, Torreón and Chihuahua, have been identified as requiring urgent attention because they could create “dangerous conditions” for residents and the environment.

Their state of disrepair could also threaten the continued supply of fuel to customers, Cenagas said.

The agency, a division of the Secretariat of Energy (Sener) that was created in 2014, inherited responsibility for the outdated gas pipeline network from Pemex.

Two years ago, it requested almost 200 billion pesos (US $10.4 billion at today’s exchange rate) to carry out maintenance and modernization of the pipeline network including its monitoring and control systems.

But despite the importance of the projects and the inherent risks of out-of-date pipelines, the modernization work, which should have been completed last year, has not even begun, the newspaper El Universal reported.

Just under 666 kilometers of pipelines in the natural gas network — or 5% — are considered to be high risk and 8,166 kilometers — 64% — are classified as medium risk, according to Cenagas.

Source: El Universal (sp)

3.8 billion pesos in aid for 91 municipalities with high rate of pipeline theft

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MND Staff

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January 22, 2019

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The president announced the new aid program at his daily press conference.

President López Obrador announced today that 91 municipalities where high levels of fuel theft have been detected will receive more than 3.8 billion pesos in social development aid.

Speaking at his daily press conference, López Obrador said the budget for the so-called Well-Being Plan was 3.85 billion pesos (US $200 million) and would benefit almost 1.7 million people.

Municipalities in eight states – Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Hidalgo, México state, Querétaro, Puebla and Veracruz – and Mexico City will be included.

The president said the aim of the specially tailored plan is to provide options and alternatives for citizens in the selected areas so they have the opportunity to earn a legal and honest income.

That, López Obrador said, will lead people away from crime and stop tragedies such as the petroleum pipeline explosion in Hidalgo on Friday that killed at least 91 people.

The programs that make up the Well-Being Plan are the senior citizens’ pension; the disability pension; cash grants for farmers; the “Youths Building the Future” apprenticeship scheme; grants for business owners; and the Benito Juárez National Scholarship System for students.

López Obrador said the plan has “already started” and will be consolidated next month with the delivery of funds directly to the beneficiaries.

“No resources will be given to any agency, any organization, any group,” he said.

The president said that the incidence of fuel theft has increased partially because people have been “abandoned” by past governments.

Under his administration, “people won’t be forced by poverty and necessity to . . . collect gasoline and other fuels that, as we have unfortunately seen, means risking and [even] losing one’s life,” López Obrador said.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Animal Político (sp)

New tanker truck drivers will be paid double the private-sector rate

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MND Staff

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January 22, 2019

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Drivers of the new Pemex trucks will earn double.

New tanker truck drivers employed by the federal government to deliver fuel will earn twice as much or more as many of their counterparts in the private sector, a survey of job advertisements shows.

President López Obrador has pledged to pay bimonthly salaries of 14,500 pesos (US $750) to 2,000 drivers of 571 new tankers purchased by the government to reinforce Pemex’s fleet of fuel distribution vehicles.

In contrast, a recent job ad published by a local recruitment company for a tanker truck driver with a minimum of two years’ experience transporting hazardous materials offers a gross salary of just 8,000 pesos (US $420) a month plus 95 centavos (US 0.05) per kilometer traveled as well as other benefits.

Praxair, an industrial gas company, offered a monthly salary of between 8,000 and 9,000 pesos for a truck driving position in a recent listing on the job search website indeed.com, while wholesale fuel distributor Grupo Petrolero Arca offered 14,000 pesos per month plus benefits and per-kilometer payments for a similar role advertised on the Computrabajo platform.

The newly-employed drivers of the National Defense Secretariat’s 60,000-liter tanker trucks will even be paid a higher base salary than the drivers who currently work for Pemex.

According to their collective labor agreement with the state oil company, Pemex tanker truck drivers are paid 20,220 pesos a month if they work the morning or afternoon shifts and 21,480 pesos (US $1,120) if they work nights.

With benefits, salaries go up to just over 30,000 pesos (US $1,565) a month, a Pemex source told the newspaper El Financiero.

With such enticing salaries on offer, it’s not surprising that interest in the new jobs has been high.

National Defense Secretary Luis Crescencio Sandoval said this week that the government received 6,199 applications, of which 1,365 candidates were short-listed to write an exam and 804 passed.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Pipeline taps continue to create gasoline shortages in much of Jalisco

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MND Staff

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January 22, 2019

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A crowd lines up for gas in Monterrey, Nuevo León.

Gasoline shortages that have affected several states over the past three weeks are still hitting Jalisco hard: 85% of gas stations in Guadalajara and 80% in the rest of the state remain closed.

The petroleum pipeline between Salamanca, Guanajuato, and Guadalajara reopened Sunday morning but was illegally tapped three times in a single day, Pemex CEO Octavio Romero said.

Although each puncture was repaired, the sabotage caused the pipeline’s service to be patchy so it was unable to transport enough fuel to Jalisco to significantly alleviate the shortages.

The pipeline is now expected to operate every second day, sending 20,000 barrels of gasoline to the Jalisco state capital.

The duct will be opened tomorrow and then again on Friday, state government official Alejandro Guzmán Larralde said.

Meanwhile, gasoline continues to arrive in Jalisco by tanker truck but the deliveries are much slower than those made via pipeline and when it gets to gas stations, it is quickly snaffled up by motorists, including those who cross the border from surrounding states to fill up.

“Stations in the north [of the state], the highlands and the southeast are on the border with communities in the states of Zacatecas, the Bajío region and Michoacán . . . [Residents of] those communities go to service stations that are in [Jalisco] state territory and use up the inventories,” Guzmán said. “Resupply . . . hasn’t kept up . . . .”

In addition, it’s difficult to get fuel to some parts of the state, such as the Sierra de Amula, because of the terrain the tankers have to cross. Long lines of fuel distribution vehicles at terminals in Manzanillo and Mazatlán have also slowed down deliveries.

“Resupply times at gas stations in the interior of the state have been increasing,” Guzmán said.

Jalisco is only receiving enough fuel on a daily basis to meet half of demand, he said, which has increased even further due to panic buying.

That response from motorists has both exacerbated and created shortages in other parts of the country.

At least seven gas stations were closed this morning in Monclova, Coahuila, while there were long lines of motorists waiting to fill up at those that were open.

Ricardo Zertuche Martínez, president of the local chapter of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce (Canaco), said he had spoken to Monclova gas station owners and they told him that panic buying was to blame for the lack of fuel.

Another Monclova business leader, Rolando Rivero Ceballos of the National Chamber for Industrial Transformation (Canacintra), urged people not to place unneeded pressure on gasoline supplies through panic buying.

“. . . Yes, there is gasoline and there will be [more gasoline] . . .” he said.

In Monterrey, Nuevo León, and other municipalities in the city’s metropolitan area some gas stations were also closed this morning and long lines were observed at those that were open.

Leaders of the gas station trade organization Onexpo said that rumors of fuel shortages that circulated on social media set off a buying spree at gas stations in Monterrey that caused some to run out of fuel.

The organization’s Nuevo León president, Carlos Guerra, said that if people resist the urge to make panic purchases, supply at gas stations in Monterrey will return to normal soon.

The federal government has explained that the gasoline shortages in more than 10 states were the result of President López Obrador’s decision to close several major petroleum pipelines as part of the strategy to combat fuel theft.

But there have also been claims that reduced gasoline imports from the United States, inefficiency at Mexico’s oil refineries and insufficient investment in logistics infrastructure have contributed to the shortages.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)

Hidalgo led in pipeline taps in 2018, and continues to do so

By

Madison Koen

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January 22, 2019

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Pipeline taps in the states with the highest incidence of the crime.

Hidalgo edged out Guanajuato last year as the state with the highest incidence of pipeline taps, a total of 2,121, and has hung on to the dubious title in the first few weeks of 2019, with 164 out of the 569 throughout Mexico.

Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza told reporters yesterday that from 2016 to the present, 80% of pipeline taps have occurred in the states of Hidalgo, Puebla, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Veracruz, México state and Tamaulipas.

The frequency has soared from 6,848 in 2016, to 10,923 in 2017 and 14,894 in 2018.

Of the 2,121 pipeline taps in Hidalgo last year, 23 were in Tlahuelilpan, the site of an explosion Friday that left at least 91 dead. Romero said the town has long been a coveted place for fuel thieves because it is the meeting point of four pipelines along a stretch of approximately six kilometers.

He added that Tlahuelilpan has been the site of several other pipeline explosions and fires in past years, including one on December 17 that took 12 hours to extinguish.

President López Obrador told the press conference that the federal government recovered 17,100 barrels of oil in the first 19 days of 2019 in its strategy to combat fuel theft — more than double the 6,500 barrels it recovered in January of 2018.

Source: Milenio (sp)

10 Oscar nominations for Roma, including best film, director and actress

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César Hernández

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January 22, 2019

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The accolades for Roma, the award-winning film by Alfonso Cuarón, continued today with the announcement of the Oscar nominations — fully 10 of them, including best picture, best director and best actress.

The filmmaker himself became the third person ever to be nominated in four categories in a single year, joining a short roster that includes Orson Welles and Warren Beatty. Cuarón was nominated for direction, cinematography, original screenplay and best picture.

Yalitza Aparicio’s debut acting performance earned her a nomination as best actress, a singular list that also includes another first-timer, Lady Gaga, along with Glenn Close, Olivia Colman and Melissa McCarthy.

The nominations earned by Roma, described by the newspaper SFGate as a “deeply personal exhumation of [Cuarón’s] Mexico City childhood,” also included best supporting actress, best foreign language film, best production design, best sound editing and best sound mixing.

Roma also gave the film’s distributor, Netflix, its first best-picture nomination, a prize that has until now eluded the streaming giant.

Only one other film was nominated in as many categories as Roma this year — Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite.

Best-actress nominee Aparicio, 25, who plays a domestic worker in the home of a family living in Mexico City’s Roma district in the 1970s, is the second Mexican actress to earn the nomination. The first was Salma Hayek for her role in Frida in 2002.

Roma had already made history earlier this month when it became the first foreign language film to win the award for best picture at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, where it won three other awards as well.

Other awards won by the film include two Golden Globes for best director and best foreign film.

The other best-film nominees this year are Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book, A Star Is Born and Vice.

The Academy Awards will be broadcast February 24 at 7:00pm.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Economista (sp), SFGate (en)

At over 33,000, last year’s homicides are the highest number on record

By

MND Staff

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January 22, 2019

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Mexico had its most violent year on record in 2018 with more than 33,000 homicides, according to official data.

The National Public Security System (SNSP) reported that there were 33,341 murders last year compared to 28,866 in 2017, an increase of 15%.

The figure is the highest since comparable records were first kept in 1997, underscoring the mammoth task faced by the new federal government to combat violence in Mexico.

Homicide rates began to rise when former president Felipe Calderón launched a militarized war on drug cartels in late 2006. They continued to go up during the six-year term of his successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, who maintained the strategy of using the military to fight crime.

In December, President López Obrador’s first month in office, there were 2,842 homicides, an increase of almost 10% on the number recorded in the same month of 2017.

In sheer numbers, Guanajuato was the most violent state in Mexico last year, recording 3,290 homicides, almost triple the number of 2017.

Fuel theft, a crime that the government is currently cracking down on, is believed to be linked to a large percentage of the murders in the state.

Guanajuato has been hit by turf wars between gangs of fuel thieves known as huachicoleros, who also have been involved in bloody confrontations with police that have left high death tolls.

México state saw the second highest number of intentional homicides, with 2,652 followed by Guerrero, with 2,472 and Jalisco, with 2,420.

In per capita terms, Colima was the most violent state, with just over 81 homicides for each 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Baja California and Guerrero.

Raúl Benítez, a security expert and professor at the National Autonomous University, told the AFP news agency that he believed the increase in violence was linked to a decrease in the military’s willingness to combat drug-related crime.

“I believe that the army became paralyzed to a great extent in operations against drug trafficking due to the fear of being accused of violating human rights,” he said.

Mike Vigil, a former chief of international relations for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said the higher homicide numbers are related to “the conflict between drug-trafficking groups,” especially that between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel.

“But apart from that, there are a lot of drug trafficking groups that are trying to gain more territory, gain more power and go from being a normal criminal group to a transnational one,” he added.

As a central part of its strategy to combat the high levels of violent crime plaguing Mexico, the federal government is proposing the creation of a new national guard.

However, the plan was heavily criticized by non-governmental organizations, which argued that its deployment would only perpetuate the failed militarized crime fighting strategy.

Under pressure, including from within the ruling Morena party, the government announced earlier this month that the security force will have a civilian rather than military command.

The López Obrador-led administration has also floated the idea of legalizing some drugs as part of the efforts to restore peace.

Source: AFP (sp)