Fuel cartels are what worry Mexico

MXPE Weekly Essentials ft. extortion and steel in Mexico, and other highlights in Mexican politics, policy, and markets from the past week.

MXPE Weekly Essentials. Only the most important news in Mexican politics, policy, and markets from the past week.

Uncharted Mexico: Fuel cartel

It was a truly comprehensive view of the criminal political economy: Business people, government officials, and military personnel were arrested after being found to be stealing millions in fuel. It was the biggest decommission of stolen fuel in Mexican history, a tanker carrying 10 million litres of diesel. That’s enough to fill up the tanks of about 44,000 medium cargo trucks—still an unimaginable number.

Though drug cartels take up most media attention, fuel theft has become one of the most lucrative criminal endeavours in Mexico over the past years. Moreover, Pemex—Mexico’s indebted State-run oil company—is particularly hurt by these sorts of criminal activities, making dealing with huachicoleo (fuel theft) a priority for president Claudia Sheinbaum’s security secretary Omar García Harfuch.