Fuel smuggling drives fuel shortages in Bolivia and Mexico

Bolivia’s transport vice‑minister Hugo Criales blamed long queues at diesel and gasoline stations on fuel smuggling and hoarding, urging tighter controls and citing a six‑month price‑freeze decree while a new hydrocarbons law is being prepared. President‑spokesperson José Luis Gálvez said the freeze aims to shield prices from dollar swings, and YPFB’s vice‑president Victor Hugo Blacud promised a gradual normalization of supply by month‑end.

In Mexico’s border city of Matamoros, illegal fuel imports – known as “huachicol fiscal” – surged after the customs post was placed under military control from 2021 to 2023. The Federal prosecutors are investigating senior military officials for facilitating the scheme, which uses false declarations to evade taxes and has generated massive revenue losses for the treasury. The investigations scrutinize the role of the Secretariat of National Defense, which assumed customs oversight under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s anti‑corruption drive.