In the middle of an authentic national fuel-theft epidemic, Pemex has recorded 437 illegal taps in Irapuato, as this Guanajuato municipality becomes number one in these type of cases.
According to data issued by Pemex, 23 clandestine taps were registered in Irapuato during 2013; while in 2014 the figure reached 65.
In 2015 the number of cases of “duct milking” in Irapuato increased to 292, and the figure reached 437 illegal taps on the year of 2016.
Irapuato is the municipality in all of Mexico with the highest number of clandestine taps, just below of Puebla, where the so-called Red Triangle of the “Huachicol” is located.
Irapuato concentrates 33% of illegal taps registered in the state of Guanajuato during 2016, it means that one out of three taps is located within this municipality.
In 2016, there were 1,533 clandestine taps in Puebla, placing this Mexican state in first place nationwide in stolen fuel. Guanajuato comes second, with 1,302 clandestine taps.
The Secretary of National Defense, General Salvador Cienfuegos warned a few months ago that the fuel theft is one of the main criminal activities in Guanajuato, and this is generating other social problems that are currently affecting the local population.
Guanajuato, another Mexican state afflicted by criminal groups related on fuel-thefts (Unión Guanajuato)
The Red Triangle
The crime of stolen fuel is mostly concentrated in the Mexican state of Puebla, in a cluster of rural municipalities known as the “Triángulo Rojo”, or Red Triangle, where a major Pemex pipeline carries gasoline and diesel from a refinery to Mexico City to the North and to a port in the state of Veracruz, to the South.
In that area, on the night of Wednesday May 3, criminal groups known locally as “huachicoleros” confronted Mexican army troops, leaving a total of seven people dead and dozens of injured. The event occurred at “Palmarito Tochapan”, in the community of “Quecholac”.
Among the victims, four soldiers resulted dead and eleven more ended up with serious injuries.
One day after the violent events in Palmarito, President Enrique Peña Nieto condemned the attacks against the Mexican armed forces and declared that his administration would initiate a joint strategy against these criminals, involving Army, Navy, PGR and Pemex.
Two thousand troops of the Mexican Army went to Puebla early this month in order to reinforce the security and combat the fuel theft activity in the area of the Red Triangle.
The Mexican Army has been tasked with patrolling a cluster of municipalities in Puebla, known as the Red Triangle, to combat fuel theft. (Photo: Rodrigo Cruz / The New York Times)
A strategy against “huachicoleros” needs to be redifined
In that sense, Miguel Márquez Márquez, Governor of Guanajuato, attended a security meeting organized by President Peña Nieto that was held on the night of May 15 at the National Palace in Mexico City.
The meeting was also attended by members of the Cabinet of Security of the federal government officials, along with the governors of Puebla, Veracruz and Tamaulipas, states where “huachicoleros” are not only stealing fuel, but also motiviating acts of violence and terror.
Source: http://www.unionguanajuato.mx
