Energy Wars hit Mexico - EPR attacks Gas / Oil pipelines - serious economic damage
There has been little comment about 4 blasts which broke 36" (91cm) pipelines carrying natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, crude oil and gasoline over the past week in Mexico. The Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR, has claimed responsibility for the attacks to state monopoly Pemex's pipelines and said this was .."the beginning of a "national campaign of harassment against the interests of the oligarchy and this illegitimate government."
In its statement, the EPR linked the explosions to an ongoing political battle in the southern state of Oaxaca, where teachers and leftist activists have been demanding the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz since last year.
The EPR said its campaign of "harassment" would continue until President Calderón and Gov.Ruiz delivered two named comrades "alive" following their disappearance May 25 in Oaxaca.
Victor Lopez head of industrial group Canacintra told Reuters "There are more than a thousand, nearly 1,200 companies, that have been greatly hurt because of the lack of (gas) supply," which has affected companies such as Honda Motor,(Guadalajara) Nissan Motor Co.(Aguascalientes) and General Motors. Mexico's major glass manufacturer, Vitro, said on Wednesday it had halted operations at two of its plants, meaning $800,000
It is the major industrial areas in central states like Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Jalisco and Queretaro. ...and repairs are taking there time.
Pemex said on Thursday it had restored natural gas supply to the central city of Queretaro and hoped to restore supply in Jalisco and the city of Guadalajara by midnight.
"Workers at Petroleos Mexicanos connected a bypass to the Mexico-Guadalajara natural gas duct and began tests," the company said in a statement.
Mexico has deployed soldiers and federal police to protect Pemex's oil wells and pipelines from further attacks.
There was a massive explosion at 8.55 am on Friday July 30th 2004 at the Ghislengien Industrial Estate in Belgium, 16 people died immediately several suffered a lingering deatah by burns and over 200 people were injured. see THE BIG BANG THEORY – The Bigger the Bang, the Louder the Silence
Europe increasingly relies on natural gas - much of it from Russia (see previous story) , who have shown how they use it as a weapon , the Mexican guerillas have have taken a more direct way of affecting national governments.
2 comments:
FYI.
Thx, John Robb is good on analysis but fails to deliver on prognosis.
Readers will know I have been banging on about energy security (FCUKED) for years - follow the Bigger Bang and related pieces and the perils of the European Power failure c ascade last Autumn , the gasoline pipeline burst in Tucson 4 years ago.
Of course pipeline attacks have been going on for decades in North of Sth Am. in deed the Colombian - Venezualan pipeline had been hit so many time it was called "la Flute" because it had so many holes in it.
The major problems for the US have been
1. because they insist arms recipients sign up for refusal to acceopt the International Criminal Court they lost clout with many central SA states and have had to backrack
2. Gnl "Bantz" Craddock ran SOUTHCOM for 2 years from Florida and apart from building (at huge expense and much to the benefit of Jeb Bush's cronies)a new FL based HQ. he did fuck all to protect legitimate US interests... and drug exports from the region have soared and diversified .. West Africa is the new Cocaine route to Europe and the US - see recent posts.
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