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https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...rotests-petrol
"Demonstrators have blockaded highways, looted shops and forced service stations across Mexico to close in a wave of angry protest triggered by a hike of more than 20% in the government-set price of gasoline.
The announcement of the price increase came on 1 January – when long queues of cars were already forming at pumps because national oil giant Pemex was unable to supply all gas stations due to problems with oil refining and fuel shortages caused by theft.
The so-called gasolinazo – as the price hike is known – added insult to injury, and since then, protests have spiraled. Truckers, taxi drivers and irate individuals have blocked the main highways into Mexico City and major thoroughfares in the capital, prompting bus lines to cancel service.
Pemex warned on Tuesday that blockades had created a “critical situation” in at least three Mexican states, while demonstrations in suburban Mexico City turned violent as protesters looted at least two department stores.
Outside one gas station in the centre of the captial, Manuel López, a mechanic, stood defiantly in front of the pumps. Ironically, López does not own a car – he sold it because of Mexico’s ongoing economic downturn – but he said the size and shock of the gasolinazo had sent him into the streets.
“It’s an economic issue,” said López, 24. “Salaries are not very good. If gasoline goes up, it provokes an inflation in the cost of the items we consume daily,” he added, reciting a list of common complaints among Mexicans. “The first thing that gets hit are people’s pocketbooks.”
The timing of the protests could prove particularly troublesome as Mexico prepares for the impact of US president-elect Donald Trump and his promises to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) and build a wall on the northern border – moves economists warn will throw the country into recession.
G500, the operator of 1,800 petrol stations, warned that all of its outlets could close due to potential insecurity."
It looks like Trump's election as President is already causing instability in Mexico, although, as in Puerto Rico's case, what's making life hardest for them is corruption.
If a government fights to protect itself, it can defend against whatever may come. But one that seeks to enrich the elite at the expense of the poor is always vulnerable. Especially when one considers that corruption at many times manifests itself as shady deals between the elite of one country and another, again at the expense of the poor.
"Demonstrators have blockaded highways, looted shops and forced service stations across Mexico to close in a wave of angry protest triggered by a hike of more than 20% in the government-set price of gasoline.
The announcement of the price increase came on 1 January – when long queues of cars were already forming at pumps because national oil giant Pemex was unable to supply all gas stations due to problems with oil refining and fuel shortages caused by theft.
The so-called gasolinazo – as the price hike is known – added insult to injury, and since then, protests have spiraled. Truckers, taxi drivers and irate individuals have blocked the main highways into Mexico City and major thoroughfares in the capital, prompting bus lines to cancel service.
Pemex warned on Tuesday that blockades had created a “critical situation” in at least three Mexican states, while demonstrations in suburban Mexico City turned violent as protesters looted at least two department stores.
Outside one gas station in the centre of the captial, Manuel López, a mechanic, stood defiantly in front of the pumps. Ironically, López does not own a car – he sold it because of Mexico’s ongoing economic downturn – but he said the size and shock of the gasolinazo had sent him into the streets.
“It’s an economic issue,” said López, 24. “Salaries are not very good. If gasoline goes up, it provokes an inflation in the cost of the items we consume daily,” he added, reciting a list of common complaints among Mexicans. “The first thing that gets hit are people’s pocketbooks.”
The timing of the protests could prove particularly troublesome as Mexico prepares for the impact of US president-elect Donald Trump and his promises to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) and build a wall on the northern border – moves economists warn will throw the country into recession.
G500, the operator of 1,800 petrol stations, warned that all of its outlets could close due to potential insecurity."
It looks like Trump's election as President is already causing instability in Mexico, although, as in Puerto Rico's case, what's making life hardest for them is corruption.
If a government fights to protect itself, it can defend against whatever may come. But one that seeks to enrich the elite at the expense of the poor is always vulnerable. Especially when one considers that corruption at many times manifests itself as shady deals between the elite of one country and another, again at the expense of the poor.
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