Looting and riots in Mexico spiral out of control over 20% gas hike!

Hundreds arrested.

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (PNN) - January 5, 2017 - Four days after the first sporadic protests emerged in Mexico City, following the infamous "gasolinazo", or mandatory 15%-20% increase in Mexican gas prices that went into effect on January 1, the mood across the country has significantly deteriorated, with hundreds of demonstrators blocking highways, snarling traffic, raiding gas stations, jeopardizing critical supplies, and looting stores as angry but impotent motorists lashed out at the price surge, which is only going to get worse as inflation spikes even more following the record plunge in the Mexican peso. The price of oil rose Sunday by as high as 20.1% to 88 cents per liter, with diesel at 83 cents - the equivalent of 12 days of a minimum wage to fill a tank of gas - compared to the Fascist Police States of Amerika’s seven hours - and the price ceiling will be adjusted daily starting Feb. 18 before letting supply and demand determine it in March.

The unrest has caused some gas stations to close altogether. Antonio Caballero, who heads a network of 800 gas stations, said at a press conference this week he will temporarily close any filling station threatened by violent protesters. According to unconfirmed reports, even the local drug cartels warned ahead of the price hike they would burn down gas stations should the price increase come into effect.

However, as tends to happen during mass civil disturbances, it’s not just gas stations that are being targeted. Some protesters have used the gasolinazo as an excuse to loot supermarkets and other stores in several states.

As of Thursday morning, 250 stores had been looted and 170 were closed or blockaded in all of Mexico, according to the National Association of Self-Service and Department Stores.

At least 430 protesters were detained on charges of vandalism, including four terrorist pig thug cops.

The unrest resulting in the theft of merchandise put at risk the lives of clients and workers in the stores, primarily in Mexico State, Michoacan, Hidalgo, and Mexico City.

In the Gulf coast city of Veracruz, store guards were overrun Wednesday by crowds who carried off clothing, food, washing machines, televisions, DVD players, and refrigerators; 50 establishments including convenience stores, supermarkets, and big-box outlets suffered looting, according to a preliminary count by the local chamber of commerce.

Extra terrorist pig thug cop patrols were deployed, and at least 14 people were detained. At one supermarket terrorist pig thug cops fired into the air to disperse the multitudes.

Adding to the chaos on the streets is a wave of unconfirmed news and threats on social media perpetuating rumors about a curfew on Wednesday, pushing some businesses to temporarily close two days before Mexico’s Día de Reyes, a religious holiday that normally has parents flocking to stores to buy toys for their children.

The state-owned oil company Pemex said Tuesday that blockades of fuel terminals in the states of Chihuahua, Morelos and Durango had caused a critical situation in distributing fuel to gas stations there. It said that if the blockades continued, it could interrupt operations at airports in Chihuahua and Baja California.

Mexicans’ collective anger over the situation is being directed mostly at President Enrique Peña Nieto, who in 2015 had promised that country’s frequent pump price hikes would end with his much-touted finance and energy reform plans. However, as a result of the plunge in oil prices - the long-awaited liberalization of the country’s energy sector that would have led to lower prices - the promised relief at the pump has yet to materialize.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, president Nieto called the gas price hike “painful” yet “inevitable”.