So is Mexico our next 'war'??? That would be one way for them to send refugee's fleeing into our country..

Reader George:

https://youtu.be/CMJjVBGPB0Q

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Published on Jan 25, 2018
In a new mind-numbing report from Reuters, Mexico’s drug cartels are increasingly diversifying beyond narcotics and have recently entered into the petroleum business.

Mexico's Drug Cartels Steal Billions In Oil, Threaten To Collapse Nation's Refineries
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by Tyler Durden

Wed, 01/24/2018 - 19:25
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In a new mind-numbing report from Reuters, Mexico’s drug cartels are increasingly diversifying beyond narcotics and have recently entered into the petroleum business.

Cartels have jumped into the fuel theft game stealing billions of dollars worth of oil from pipelines controlled by the state oil company Pemex, which at current rates could paralyze the country’s top refineries.

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180124_mexico1.jpg

Organized crime gangs are taking advantage of Mexico’s deteriorating oil infrastructure that is suffering from years of underinvestment and declining production by tapping into pipelines to steal tremendous amounts of crude products. If that fails, cartel members resort to bribing and or threatening Pemex employees for critical information about operations. Some Pemex employees have fled the country following unbearable death threats, while others have been found mutilated for not complying.

While President Enrique Peña Nieto has been unable to govern the country amid the out of control cartel violence, fuel theft is turning into a national security threat draining revenue from the federal government. Reuters reports that fuel thefts have cut more than $1 billion in annual revenue from state coffers, along with creating an unfriendly environment that is deterring foreign investment to revamp the aging refineries. Its been reported that the federal government generates about one-fifth of its income from Pemex. Serious issues are emerging as the declining oil revenue could lead to funding concerns for the government, therefore jeopardizing the fight against cartels.

The Federal Police, under the authority of the Secretariat of the Interior, recently launched offensives across the country that toppled drug kingpins turning 16% of the states into a Level-4 classification via the U.S. State Department, meaning that the areas are on par with a war-zone in the Middle East. Cartels have been fractured but are still cash-strapped as their decision to enter the petroleum business is cheap and it implies less risk than drug trafficking.

“The business is more profitable than drug trafficking because it implies less risk,” said Georgina Trujillo, a ruling party congresswoman who heads the lower house energy commission.

“You don’t have to risk crossing the border to look for a market,” she added. “We all consume gasoline. We don’t all consume drugs.”

Pemex did not respond to detailed questions from Reuters about the cartels and fuel theft. Among other questions, Reuters asked about the cartels’ impact on the refineries, Pemex’s security measures and how the company responds to extortion and violence against its employees. One senior Pemex refining executive, who asked not to be identified, said, “We worry about the influence of organized crime,” but would not discuss the issue further.

Fuel theft is not new or unique to Mexico. But cartels are taking it to calamitous new dimensions and, in the process, bolstering their bottom line.