Gasoline protests, blockades cause shortages in Chihuahua state

The impacts of an oil and fuel deregulation in Mexico are being felt across the country, including the city of Juarez.

Rising gas prices sparked protests and blockades that started Tuesday morning in parts of Mexico. Demonstrators blocked the Mexican side of the Bridge of the Americas port of entry on Tuesday for about two hours.

The climbing number of blockades are creating major problems for the exporting/importing industry.

In a statement from the Secretary of Innovation and Economic Development, Alejandra De la Vega Arizpe said goods and products are quickly running out in Juarez and the state of Chihuahua.

De La Vega Arizpe said a brand of milk, Lala, has run out in Juarez, while other perishables, beverages and various foods are also diminishing at grocery stores.

Gasoline is also in short supply. Officials said if a blockade continues on Pan-American Highway, LP gas will soon run out. The state’s inventory is also running low.

Fifteen-hundred employees of Delphi, an automotive manufacturing company in Parral, Chihuahua, 363 miles south of Juarez, were sent home because they had no materials or supplies to work with.

De La Vega said the industrial exports sector is being impacted the most. While a one-day delay of the delivery of goods can shut down a factory, companies are dealing with three days of blockades and protests on roads and railroads.

Chihuahua state officials said at least twenty-one trains carrying 1,600 shipping containers filled with goods are sitting on railroad tracks with nowhere to go.

Some companies are shipping their products by plane, but it’s only a temporary measure that is too expensive, according to De La Vega Arizpe.

De La Vega Arizpe added officials must turn their attention to the blockades specifically in Chihuahua because those have been permanent. In other Mexican states, the blockades have been periodically where trains, buses and semi-trucks are allowed.

De La Vega said it is understandable why Mexicans are upset about the rising gas prices, but urged Chihuahuans not to hurt themselves and fellow residents by stopping the flow of commercial traffic.