Politics: Gasoline shortages, an initial crisis
The government’s decision in late December to launch a nationwide crackdown on the widespread theft of gasoline and other fuels has turned into a crisis in which many gasoline stations were left with only sporadic partial deliveries or without fuel entirely for days on end, especially in central and western Mexico. Despite the hours hundreds of thousands of people have had to spend in line, assuming they were fortunate enough to find a station selling gas, polls show the vast majority of Mexicans approve of the government strategy and are willing to put up with such inconveniences as long as it helps end organized theft of vast amounts of fuels costing the government and taxpayers billions of dollars.
But while the hard line taken against criminal organizations engaged in this multifaceted huachicolero underground has proven extremely popular, just like similar high profile crackdowns or offensives that many past governments have used to juice up their popularity and reinforce their authority soon after assuming office, we know the political capital such exemplary actions deliver often prove ephemeral, and the public’s patience is hardly unlimited.
Hopefully, the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador came to this fight armed with a strategy with which to extricate his government from a trap of extensive pipeline shutdowns and fuel scarcity. But judging by the extent to which it is scrambling to amass and operate costly networks of tanker trucks and railcars to get gasoline and diesel to consumers, and the conflicting accounts and paucity of information officials have provided on the situation, this may prove the clearest example to date of AMLO’s penchant for improvisation, and the first episode in which his government has fully exposed its lack of managerial experience and strategic planning.
The apparent dearth of strategic planning needed to dismantle the fuel trafficking gangs while avoiding fuel shortages – to date there have been few arrests and none involving any major officials or criminal kingpins – could cause a public backlash. And with the government effectively purging many highly trained and experienced public servants, this could prove to be just the first of many crises of its kind.
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