Hugo Ramirez Sanchez walked an hour to find an open fuel station in the Cuauhtemoc neighborhood of Mexico City, after his car ran out of gasoline. Jorge Mendoza had a stressful 50-minute drive from his home on an almost empty tank.
Across central Mexico, drivers are running on empty or lining up for hours at service stations, as the government's efforts to rein in fuel theft compound a nationwide gasoline shortage. More than one-fourth of Mexico City's 400 gasoline stations are facing problems, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said in a Twitter video, while assuring viewers that supply would normalize Wednesday. The states of Mexico, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacan, Guanajuato and Queretaro are among the worst affected.
"The government is saying it's not a shortage, but this is a shortage," said Mendoza, gesturing at the two lines of cars snaking down the street from the Pemex-branded fuel station. "Now I am going to be late for my clients and maybe they won't call me back."