Remember back in June when Maegan mentioned that people from the U.S. are heading south of the border in order to buy cheap Mexican gasoline? It seems like officials of one border town aren’t too happy with the new clientele:Authorities in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Acuña have started a program to discourage Americans from crossing the border to fill up extra drum, tanks or barrels with subsidized Mexican diesel fuel.
The city government says it has fined Americans in four cases and would impound their vehicles until they pay the fines…
The city also says it has started informing U.S. drivers that filling up the tanks of their own vehicles is fine, but carrying extra containers home with fuel is a violation of customs and export rules and in some cases is a safety violation.
Mexican provincial authorities don’t stand by Ciudad Acuña’s plan. José Eduardo Ramón Valdés- a representative of the Coahuila state government- has ordered that the four cars be returned and that the fine get dropped since it could discourage tourism from the U.S. (Since money talks, wouldn’t that really be the most important reason against Ciudad Acuña’s program?)
On a related note, Mexicans are divided over the federal government’s plan to partially privatize the operations of state-run oil firm Pemex.
Image- Noticiero Televisa
Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, Houston Chronicle, Reuters UK
Sources (Spanish)- Vanguardía
Good! I hope that Mexico puts a halt to American's taking gas.
ReplyDeleteIf The U.S continues to harass Mexicans crossing the border, then Mexico has full rights to restrict their gas.