We Don't Have Much Gasoline
Jalisco is abuzz this week with talk of a gasoline shortage. Day before yesterday a line of cars stretched from our town’s—closed and empty—Pemex station out of sight along the highway’s curb lane. Juan Mateo, the guy who sells frutas y verduras from a table in front of the supermercado, told me that the last car in line was several kilometers east in San Antonio. All on the off chance gas would be delivered sometime before dark.
Yesterday the local gringo web board published accounts of five hour waits for a fill-up, and many stations still closed.
Shortages began when the new federal government shut down gas pipelines from refineries to storage facilities. Hijacked gasoline was being loaded from the pipelines into huge tanker trucks and sold in staggering quantities on the black market. Relying solely on federally protected trucked deliveries, the predictable shortages at the pump hit some states harder than others.
The government responded by hiring private trucking companies to facilitate distribution. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in national politics. AMLO— acronym for the new president—promised an end to corruption. Will the people have enough trust and patience to support his effort, however ill thought-out it may be?
A few hours ago I heard that most local stations had gas (and long lines). And--just in--AMLO is opening and protecting a pipeline to our populous state where the second largest city in Mexico--Guadalajara--is located.
Fortunately we’re able to easily walk about everywhere we need to go.
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