© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Episode 899: Mexico Fights The Fuel Pirates

People wait in line to buy gasoline at a station in Morelia, Mexico on January 7, 2019.
ENRIQUE CASTRO
/
AFP/Getty Images
People wait in line to buy gasoline at a station in Morelia, Mexico on January 7, 2019.

A Warning: This episode contains audio from a disturbing scene of a pipeline explosion.

Mexico's national oil company, Petróleos MexicanosPemexis one of the largest oil companies in the world, and its gas is really expensive. Working for the minimum wage, it takes a day to earn enough to buy a gallon of gas.

And so it's no surprise that people have long stolen some gas in Mexico. It's so common, there's even a name for it: Huachicol. For a long time, the problem was manageable. But then the drug cartels got in on the action. They started stealing massive amounts of gasoline from the pipes, and selling it on the global market.

Now the Mexican Government is fighting back. The President is taking radicaleven dangeroussteps to cut them off. Mexico is in a full-blown fuel crisis.

Music: "Ready for War," "Shallow Waters," and "Coming Back Around."

Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Instagram

Subscribe to our show onApple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and NPR One.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Sarah Gonzalez is the multimedia education reporter for WLRN's StateImpact Florida project. She comes from NPR in D.C. where she was a national desk reporter, web and show producer as an NPR Kroc Fellow. The San Diego native has worked as a reporter and producer for KPBS in San Diego and KALW in San Francisco, covering under-reported issues like youth violence, food insecurity and public education. Her work has been awarded an SPJ Sigma Delta Chi and regional Edward R. Murrow awards. She graduated from Mills College in 2009 with a bachelorâ
Jacob Goldstein is an NPR correspondent and co-host of the Planet Money podcast. He is the author of the book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing.
Sarah Gonzalez
Sarah Gonzalez is a host and reporter with Planet Money, NPR's award-winning podcast that finds creative, entertaining ways to make sense of the big, complicated forces that move our economy. She joined the team in April 2018.