# "Gasolinazo"



## michmex (Jul 15, 2012)

We live in the Estado de Mexico (Edomex) minutes from the boundary with Mexico City (Lindavista) and for 2 days we have been experiencing fallout from the protests of the 20% increase in gas prices.

Yesterday, I went to the CFE office in Lindavista (Mexico City-CDMX) to reconcile an issue with our latest billing. It seems like payments made on Oct 27th did not get all credited to your account. I took a taxi to avoid parking issues but had to wait more than normal as very few Edomex taxis were out. Many of the stores in Lindavista had one or more of their entrances closed and a very heavy police presence was out.

Returning home I took a CDMX taxi to the Walmart shopping center but it was completely closed - Walmart-Suburbia-Sams. Absolutely no Edomex taxis at the sitio or on the street so I walked home. This morning an Aurrera store 20 minutes north of us in Ecatepec was looted as the police stood by. Still no Edomex taxis on the street or sitios-only a few Mexico City taxis. The Walmart shopping center remains completely closed as well as most of the shops. Only a very few small shops remain open. Trash pick-up occurred but no mail service. There were a few construction trucks but no gas deliveries in our fraccionamiento today

My wife who works as a supervisor for a home nursing service reports that many of her nurses called in as unavailable today. Her travels to clients was better than yesterday but still small issues in Mexico City especially at the open Pemex locations which are very crowded.

Overall, it seems that the Estado de Mexico is experiencing more problems than Mexico City. On today's, Televisa Foro news channel the lead off story was about problems with coral reefs in the Yucatan. Harding any mention was made on the 1:30 PM broadcast of the "gasolinazo" protests and looting.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Aside from stations with less cars gassing up - there is nothing new going on here. 

I read this morning that there is another 8% increase (across the board) scheduled for Feb 3rd.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

I've been hearing from family in Mexico that the violence and looting is being fomented by provocateurs (state agents acting as if they are independent civilians) in order to distract people from the _gasolinazo_, as well as to create an atmosphere of fear and insecurity so that people are less likely to participate in legitimate, peaceful protests. 

Check out the graphic in this article which shows an analysis of social media to determine how widespread across the country the calls to peaceful protest have been, vs the centralized nature of the calls to vandalism. (I also learned a new word in Spanish from this article: _zafarrancho_, meaning havoc or chaos in this context.)

¿Quién infundió miedo en redes y WhatsApp y llamó al saqueo? Identifican “acción coordinada”


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

ojosazules11 said:


> I've been hearing from family in Mexico that the violence and looting is being fomented by provocateurs (state agents acting as if they are independent civilians) in order to distract people from the _gasolinazo_, as well as to create an atmosphere of fear and insecurity so that people are less likely to participate in legitimate, peaceful protests.
> 
> Check out the graphic in this article which shows an analysis of social media to determine how widespread across the country the calls to peaceful protest have been, vs the centralized nature of the calls to vandalism. (I also learned a new word in Spanish from this article: _zafarrancho_, meaning havoc or chaos in this context.)
> 
> ¿Quién infundió miedo en redes y WhatsApp y llamó al saqueo? Identifican “acción coordinada”


Sin Embargo is a great site, ojosazules, thanks for the tip! In Colima, nothing but legitimate protests, a burning in effigy of EPN, and the liberation of a caseta on the cuota. No saqueos that I'm aware of. The gasolinazo has struck a nerve in Mexico, and the people have figured the government isn't being square with them. Through it, I'd strongly discourage my fellow expats from the urge to get involved in protests unless you're already a Mexican citizen---and maybe not even then. The powers that be would love nothing more than to very publicly toss a few extranjeros under Article 33 as yet another distraction and an appeal to ever-present nationalism. It happens every time there's domestic trouble.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Here’s an article in English about the social media bots.

It looks like the government wanted (wants) to take advantage of protests against the gasoline price rise by converting mere demonstrations and marches into riots and looting. Then they could use the ‘riots and looting’ as justification for coming down with a heavy hand.

The provocateur tactics appear to have been, so far as I have seen:
• on social media, sharing and resharing photos of people looting to make it seem widespread. Are these photos even from current events?
• creating bot twitter users to share these and to recruit provocateurs
• seeding marches and demonstrations with provocateurs


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

maesonna said:


> Here’s an article in English about the social media bots.
> 
> It looks like the government wanted (wants) to take advantage of protests against the gasoline price rise by converting mere demonstrations and marches into riots and looting. Then they could use the ‘riots and looting’ as justification for coming down with a heavy hand.
> 
> ...


Another good source. To summarize, it appears that this particular botnet all originates with one guy. I'm guessing he's something like a sociologist with tech skills, which is pretty scary. So, the question is: Who is he working for?


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

Here's another article (in Spanish) providing some history about the _grupos de choque_. I prefer articles from more mainstream media sources, but this one seems well written and based on historical antecedents. 

https://plumasatomicas.com/2017/01/provocadores-grupos-de-choque-y-porros-una-vieja-estrategia-priista/


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

We heard quite a bit in Chiapas about the grupos de choque when we had problems.. I am still not convinced that those groups are directed by the government itself, , part of the PRII , I believe but I am not convinced otherwise..
Also people down there immediately blame the grupos de choque for just about every problem, again , I m not convinced..


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

In Guadalajara for the weekend and family tells me it's been fairly calm with peaceful marches, a few Pemex stations being blocked and, curiously, some _threats_ of saqueos (WalMart) that didn't materialize, although I can't find much in the news regarding the nature of those threats. Looks like some looting plans were bounced around the nets, and stores reacted by temporarily closing, but not enough people showed up to get the show started. The most positive thing I saw was a few players from Chivas who attended a march on bicycles and encouraged the citizenry to bike-up as a way of telling Pemex to shove it.


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