ROSARITO BEACH – Despite the arrival of a gasoline cargo tanker yesterday, the diesel crisis in the Tijuana area has extended to Baja California's other major cities.
Dozens of drivers of long-haul trucks and public transit buses canceled or reduced the number of trips they made in Ensenada and Mexicali yesterday, two days after diesel started running short there.
In Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, virtually all gas stations that had been selling small amounts of diesel had closed those pumps yesterday because they had run out. Regular unleaded and premium gasoline were being sold, however.
In Mexico City, meanwhile, the head of the national oil company, Pemex, was quoted as saying that Mexico needs to limit the sale of gasoline to Americans to avert another crisis.
Gasoline in Mexico is heavily subsidized by the federal government. Regular, 87-octane unleaded sells for $2.54 a gallon, 91-octane premium is $3.20 and diesel is $2.20.
Those prices were a magnet for California drivers who have flocked to Tijuana to fill their tanks. Starting June 13, Pemex was unable to meet the demand for diesel at stations nearest the border. That led to a cascade of shortages that have slowed and in some instances paralyzed the movement of people and goods in urban centers.
At the Pemex plant in Rosarito Beach, the process of moving fuel from the cargo ship to tanker trucks could take up to a day, beginning as early as today. Although trucks can start to be filled and sent to gas stations across the state, normal operations are not expected until Wednesday, Pemex workers said.
Like a scene from the post-apocalyptic “Mad Max” films, about 70 fuel trucks from private companies across the state were parked outside the plant yesterday.
Most had been there for two days, said Candelario Guevara, 56, from the company Transporte Ponosa.
“Pemex hired us because they don't have enough vehicles to supply the entire state,” he said. “We're drivers mainly from Mexicali, Ensenada and Tijuana.”
The news agency Notimex reported that Jesús Reyes Heroles, director general of Pemex, said in Mexico City that gas stations along the border should limit sales to U.S. citizens.
At least one gas station owner called the remarks “ridiculous” and “centrist.”
“Bureaucrats in Mexico City don't put themselves in the shoes of those of us who live in the border,” said the owner, who requested anonymity, fearing reprisals from Pemex. “They ignore, for example, the impact such a policy would have on our local economy because U.S. citizens would stop coming over here.”
Rationing gasoline to U.S. visitors would be another blow to the tourism sector, already battered by reports of violence and organized crime.
Omar Millán González is a contributor to the Union-Tribune's Spanish-language paper, Enlace.
