HomeNewsBriefArming Mexico Oil Company Staff is Risky Business
BRIEF

Arming Mexico Oil Company Staff is Risky Business

JALISCO CARTEL / 20 NOV 2018 BY PETER MCCAFFERTY EN

Mexico’s state-owned oil company has begun training and arming its security staff, a risky decision that could backfire.

Pemex’s Strategical Safeguard Sub-directorate (Subdirección de Salvaguarda Estratégica) — in charge of protecting the oil company’s installations and resources — was recently trained in how to shoot and react to armed attacks, as well as on the proper use of force to prevent the illegal drilling of pipelines, El Universal reported.

In addition, the National Defense Ministry, the Mexican Armed forces, and the state police have also received training on detecting oil tankers transporting stolen fuel and going after criminal networks involved in theft.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Oil Theft

The company said the decision to arm security staff is aimed at protecting workers and curtailing the lucrative fuel theft business. It comes after a Pemex security chief was killed at a refinery in Salamanca, a city in the state of Guanajuato, earlier this year.

InSight Crime Analysis

Pemex’s decision to confront fuel thieves with armed force won’t keep its worker any safer. On the contrary, it may even put them at greater risk. It also won’t halt the siphoning off of oil through illegal taps, which largely depends on corruption.

Cartels and gangs have recently terrorized oil workers to simply gain information about when fuel will be pumped and through which pipelines, Reuters reported.

These groups use violence to control their interests, and it’s no different with the windfall they currently receive from oil theft.

In October, Salamanca saw violent battles erupt between The Jalisco Cartel — New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNJ) and a group known as the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, leaving 57 dead. The confrontation was allegedly sparked amid federal security operations that included the inspection of all tankers exiting the refinery, reducing the amount of stolen oil coveted by the criminal groups, Mexico's Interior Minister Alfonso Navarette Prida said.

SEE ALSO: Mexico News and Profiles

But violence isn’t at the root of the oil theft business. Bribery and corruption largely make it possible. Pemex employees have told thieves when oil will pass through pipelines, and maps of pipelines have been handed to criminal groups. State officials and the federal police have also been accused of receiving payments to allow the illegal tapping of pipelines.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME / 2 AUG 2022

A Yucatán community has formed a defense group to protect its local lobster population as illegal fishing causes numbers to…

FEATURED / 6 OCT 2021

It was so simple once. The Gulf Cartel and its ancestors maintained control of Tamaulipas for eight decades.

COCA / 16 DEC 2022

Coca cultivation in Guerrero, Mexico, has grown ten times in a year. But Mexico remains far from achieving mass coca…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…