Gas Prices Stir Protests In Mexico
MEXICO CITY— Amid nationwide marches, highway blockades and looting stemming from widespread outrage over an increase in gas prices, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico went on national television to appeal for understanding.
With international oil prices rising and Mexico dependent on gasoline imports, he argued in the speech on January 5, the government had no alternative but to raise prices at the pump. “Here I ask you,” he said, gesturing at the camera, “what would you have done?”
It did not take long for him to get answers on social media.
Combat corruption and impunity. Eliminate gasoline vouchers for elected officials. Collect more taxes from multinational corporations. Cut the salaries and benefits of high-level government officials. Sell the presidential plane. Reduce the first lady’s wardrobe spending. Resign.
Mr. Peña Nieto seems to be trapped in a slow, downward spiral of unpopularity, with two more years left in his term and Mexico reelingfrom rampant corruption, resurgent homicide rates, a thriving drug trafficking industry, a sluggish economy and a plummeting peso.
Discontent over the gas price increase boiled over into protests and looting, setting off clashes with security forces that left several dead around the country.
The unrest came as Mexico brac- es for the administration of Donald J. Trump, who has threatened to introduce far more restrictive immigration and trade policies, including canceling the North American Free Trade Agreement, increasing deportations and building a wall on the southern border of the United States.
The Peña Nieto administration seems to be struggling to figure out how to respond to Mr. Trump. Mexicans have been clamoring for a full- throated, chest- out defense of their country and sovereignty against Mr. Trump’s threats, but many say they have yet to hear it.
Mr. Peña Nieto’s approval ratings have sunk below 25 percent. His efforts have been handicapped, analysts say, by a seeming disconnect from the public mood. The government looked unprepared for the violent responses to the price increases, which took effect on New Year’s Day, when most officials were on vacation. Mr. Peña Nieto himself was in the middle of a golfing trip. He kept silent, finally making a statement on January 4.
The gas price increases of about 20 percent are part of an overhaul that ends the state’s monopoly over the energy industry. The government has long controlled and subsidized gasoline prices, but by the end of the year it will allow gas prices to fluctuate according to the market, a move intended to attract foreign investment to compete with the state oil company, Pemex.
The government has argued that ending fuel subsidies will help the country avoid spending cuts to social programs, and that the subsidies have disproportionately benefited wealthier Mexicans.
But many fear that higher gasoline prices will increase costs for food and public transportation, hitting the pocketbooks of the poorest Mexicans.
Though Mexico’s opposition parties are now condemning the price increase, most voted for it as part of the budget approved in October. But Mexico imports more than half of its gasoline from the United States, and Mr. Trump’s election sent the peso to a historic low, raising the price of imported gasoline in pesos greater than anybody expected.
Analysts said the government could have forestalled the fallout by creating subsidies for truck drivers or owners of older vehicles.
With Mr. Peña Nieto’s credibility so diminished, it will be impossible for the president to accomplish much before the 2018 presidential election, analysts said. He is not eligible to run again.
“We don’t want this corrupt country any more,” said Alicia Rios, 32, a receptionist who protested in Mexico City on January 7. “The legislators get 10,000 pesos in gasoline vouchers when the people can’t afford to fill up their tanks.”
She added, “If gasoline goes up, everything goes up.”