On January 9, 2024, Mexican authorities discovered the bodies of nine men in vehicles near a government fuel line. Preliminary investigations suggest that their deaths may be related to illicit activities involving fuel theft.
The vehicles containing the bodies were found by the San Juan del Rio police chief, Ángel Rangel Nieves, in Queretaro, near a pipeline north of Mexico City. The cars bore license plates from Hidalgo, a region notorious for high incidences of fuel theft.
Since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in December 2018, he has made it a priority to combat fuel theft. His administration has deployed thousands of soldiers to protect the pipelines, but illegal taps continue. In 2023, approximately 5,600 unlawful taps were reported, down from 7,000 in previous years, but similar to the numbers at the start of López Obrador’s presidency.
The government’s efforts to curb the illegal fuel trade briefly led to a decrease in sales volume. Illegally obtained fuel has been sold by roadside vendors and occasionally at legitimate gas stations. The financial impact of the lost fuel on Mexico’s national oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, dropped to an annual low of $275 million in 2019 and 2020. However, by 2022, these losses had skyrocketed to over $1.1 billion.
Unsanctioned access to pipelines not only endangers local communities but also often triggers violent clashes among criminal factions. Thieves frequently leave pipeline taps open to enlist the support of local communities. A devastating incident took place on January 18, 2019, when an explosion at an illegally accessed pipeline in Hidalgo state killed at least 134 people in Tlahuelilpan, a town where residents had gathered to collect the leaking gasoline.
The fight against fuel theft also affects the United States. In October of the previous year, reports emerged of cartel gunmen forcing tanker drivers to hand over their fuel loads in Matamoros, a city near Brownsville, Texas as a warning that they should pay protection money.
