Inside the Deadly Business of Stealing Fuel in Mexico
- New leftist president is latest to target a giant black market
- He risks backlash after gas shortages, fatal pipeline blast
Photographer: Amy Stillman/Bloomberg
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“When are you going to come?’’ Panchito asks into the phone, wiping oil from his bald head with a rag. “I can’t make it for at least 15 days,’’ comes the reply from The Mummy. “Things are real hot. If I can come earlier, I’ll call you.’’
Panchito is a mechanic who runs a modest car-repair shop in central Mexico with his wife –- and a side business selling stolen fuel. He says the man he refers to as The Mummy is a truck driver for the state oil company, and one of his regular suppliers. They’re feeling the heat because the country’s new president just declared war on a booming black market that’s enabled both of them to thrive.