Posted on 07/12/2007 7:55:54 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
At least 4 states lose natural gas source in attacks on key pipelines
MEXICO CITY — Hundreds of companies, including multinationals such as Honda and Hershey's, shuttered operations temporarily on Wednesday after a shadowy rebel group claimed responsibility for a series of explosions of key petroleum pipelines.
Near-simultaneous blasts carried out just after 1 a.m. Tuesday in central Queretaro state cut off natural gas supplies to at least four states in central Mexico. The region was still reeling from a round of pipeline explosions July 5 in neighboring Guanajuato state.
"There can't be fewer than 800 or 1,000 medium and large companies affected," Victor Manuel Lopez, secretary of the National Industrial Chamber, told the Notimex news service. He estimated daily losses of between $5 million and $10 million due to the suspension of gas service, without including the impact on small businesses.
Among multinationals forced to freeze operations were Kellogg's Co., The Hershey Co., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., according to local news reports.
Monterrey-based Vitro SAB, a leading manufacturer of glass containers, reported that the shutdown of two of its factories would cost the company $80,000 a day.
Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, the state-run oil company, sent 150 technicians to try to restore supplies in three pipelines affected Tuesday. In addition to a 36-inch natural gas pipeline, the blasts damaged smaller pipelines carrying liquid petroleum gas and crude oil.
The federal economy secretary, Eduardo Sojo, said he expected gas supplies to be restored by late Wednesday. "This government is committed to ensuring security," he said after business groups warned of potential investor jitters.
A long-dormant rebel group — the People's Revolutionary Army, known by its Spanish acronym EPR — issued a statement Tuesday taking credit for the attacks. They were the start of a "campaign of punishing the interests of the oligarchy and the government," the statement said, sparking debate here as to its veracity.
The federal government was taking the threat seriously.
President Felipe Calderon deployed troops to guard Pem- ex's strategic installations, including a jet-fuel distribution center in the capital, seen as a potential terrorist target.
"I'm sure that all good-willed Mexicans categorically reject violence," Calderon said, "because we want to live in peace and liberty.
"We must be able to discuss our differences through dialogue."
Pemex accounts for nearly 40 percent of Mexico's annual budget and is a major supplier of heavy crude to refineries in South Texas. The attacks were not expected to affect exports, as they didn't target refineries.
Some analysts, however, differed over how seriously to take the threats.
"It's clear that this action was perpetrated by the EPR, which is one of the most powerful military organizations in Mexico," said Jorge Lofredo, an Argentine-based analyst who runs a Web site that posts communiques from Latin American guerrilla groups.
Origins of the EPR
The EPR first appeared in June 1996, on the anniversary of a peasant massacre near Acapulco. It later launched a series of failed attacks in Oaxaca and Guerrero states before fragmenting into as many as 10 groups, Lofredo said. But, he said, the group sent weekly communiques indicating it was preparing for a comeback.
The opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD, was more skeptical.
"It's been a long time since the group has committed any act of sabotage, and there seems no reason for them to attack Pemex" now, the leftist party said in a statement Wednesday.
It added that it wouldn't discount "a self-inflicted attack" by the government as a means of distracting public attention from the country's problems. Calderon, a conservative, took office in December after a disputed presidential election that the PRD claims it won.
Senators from all three major parties criticized the government for the lack of clarity in its handling of the pipeline attacks.
The interior ministry, which oversees internal security, initially dismissed the possibility of foul play in the pipeline explosions on July 5 in Guanajuato. But Pemex later stated that it had suspected sabotage. It also revealed that it had been quietly shopping around for insurance against a terrorist attack since May, Reforma newspaper reported.
In February, a group claiming allegiance to al-Qaida threatened major U.S. oil suppliers, including Mexico, Canada and Venezuela. Since, the Mexican government has stepped up security around oil refineries and key exploration sites. Some analysts question whether the government can prevent attacks on its 28,000-mile distribution system.
"You can't have a soldier every hundred yards," said David Shields, an independent oil analyst in Mexico City.
marionlloyd@gmail.com
Despite its geographical proximity to the United States, Mexico is a third-world country, and will remain one until its “leaders” adopt some measure of integrity that goes beyond mere lip service.
How long before they "immigrate" north? ...or have they? Who the hell knows?
Right on. Even though the government under Vicente Fox and the current leader Calderon have liberalized the economy from the stranglehold of the PRI, the rank and file of government officials are corrupt to the core. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is a Marxist revolution in Mexico sometime in the near future. I say this somewhat in jest but maybe it would be a good excuse for a second Mexican American war. We can annex Mexico, set up a more democratic system, and demand all the illegals go back. Good excuse to shoot the drug cartel people on sight.
I trust he's kidding about this.
Am I being cynical, or do is it reasonable to suspect that Obrador and his party are behind the bombing, and that he hopes to step in as a "mediator," and take over the government? Maybe Calderon's mild "unity" response to this event—rather than the sabre-rattling that would seem to be warranted—is a confirmation of this. The appeal to unity is what Calderon used to shut down Obrador's attempted election theft. Calderon's touching on that theme now may indicate that both sides acknowledge that pipeline bombing is just another campaign technique by Obrador.
I notice this mysterious attack comes in the wake of months of plummeting support for Obrador's claims to be the "real" president, even among his own die-hards.
It may just be my tinfoil sombrero talking, but in Obrador, I have the impression of a man who does not have two principles to rub together, who dreams of becoming another Chavez, another Lenin.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Uhhhhh,let me be the first to say it——wouldn’t they have more of a future here as illegal aliens?????
—dripping with sarcasm and irony-—
The Mexican Government has assumed the millions it has helped push out of the geographical confines of Mexico
would enable the entrenched business interests in Mexico
to flourish, (i.e., become more corrupt in a way our “Robber Barons” of a century ago could have only dreamed of.) Looks like it’s not on schedule to happen just quite yet.
Good. Perhaps if the Mexican People overthrow their corrupt government, they’ll stop fleeing to the US.
“I wonder how those U.S. based plants they all used to have are looking to them now?”
I’d guess that they are comparing it to the costs of historical strikes and still know they are ahead.
good point! It may be like people sick and tired of calling a support number to get gibberish in som other language...hangs up and buys the same product, back here at home, if they can find it.
They need to build LNG surge tanks.
No that other Religion of peace, Communists. That’s why the socialist party in Mexico is defending them and blaming it on the democratically elected government.
Socialists still PO’d about losing the presidential election, probably supported by muslims. Or vice versa. Anyone want to place a wager on that?
At 10 million a day it will not take long to get out in front of those cheap wages.
That’s 10M total, over hundreds of companies. If it happened in 4 US states, it would be well over a billion $ a day.
Mexico is the perfect target for al-Qaida...a third world country with a corrupt government.
“You can’t have a soldier every hundred yards,” said David Shields, an independent oil analyst in Mexico City.
YES YOU CAN, an armed, law abiding citizen should be the first line of defense, and can be the first line of defense against idiots that destroy infrastructure and take lives...
David Shields, usefull idiot of the day!
Wonder if this will convince any fence naysayers otherwise?
Wonder if these US corps have second thoughts about moving there?
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