What the fuck is wrong with my country (Updated)...

"Spanfeller is a twat" (theaspiringengineer) 01/19/2019 at 23:58 • Filed to: None

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More than seventy people lost their lives when a pierced fuel duct caught fire. Of the more than eighty injured, a mayority are children. Today we woke up and saw the true magnitude of the event.

On the initial version of this post I explained that the people stealing fuel from this duct weren’t professional fuel thieves, and that they had been stealing fuel for many hours before the incident occured. The duct caught on fire by mid afternoon, and it wasn’t extinguished until the very early hours of the today.

The initial statements by Pemex and the very recently apointed Attorney General indicate that the most likely cause of the fire wasn’t tampering but some sort of reaction between the fuel’s fumes and some of the synthetic clothing of the theives.

On the other hand, images of the pierced duct before the fire surged, and shows federal police and the army standing near the area. According to the Secretary of Security and the President himself, the authorities were outnumbered and could not evacuate the civilians in time. When asked why the military and the police did not retaliate with force, he indicated that the troops had no reason to do so.

Gasoline can burn at extremely high temperatures causing thick burns and very serious nerve damage...even worse some people were soaked in gasoline. Although I won’t show the pictures released by the coroners, I assure it looks like a hellish fate.

In some cases, the thick burns froze the bodies in a Pompeii-style crust, showing their last moments crawling away from the piercing point. Those who could escape are being treated at hospitals across the country, with most of the load being handled by Pemex’s own hospital in Tula, a town 10 miles away.

I won’t back down from what I said in the past version of this post... These people were irresponsible assholes (specially those that brought their kids to the site), and there was no reason to steal the fuel given their state did not experience a shortage, nor was this diesel for work vehicles. They stole it because they wanted to and the black market is very profitable, not because they needed to.

I say this recognizing that no one deserves death or suffering, even if they were acting in dangerous ways. I am very sad, and furious, that this occured mainly because it could’ve been avoided had more police officers were available to disperse the crowd, or if the duct wasn’t pierced at all.

But a debate sparked around Mexican social media, some people saying “I’m glad they died” and some indicating that we don’t know why they were there. The mayor of the town where this ocurred indicated that the lack of opportunities could’ve been the reason why so many people were near the duct stealing the fuel. Both Hidalgo and the Municipality of Tlalhuelilpan have above average rates of poverty, with 52% of residents living under the poverty line which support his claim that these people might’ve been drawn to fuel theft because of the poverty and because of the highly publicized fuel shortage.

Many questions remain about this tragedy, and the government promised a thorough investigation, but the most probable thing is that this case will be closed as fast as possible without even considering the possibility of a fanatical activist causing the fire.

Previous version:

So, it’s been a couple of weeks since the fuel shortages began, now a judge finally says fuel must be resupplied, everything begins to go back to normal and this happens;

Fuel thieves pierced an important fuel duct, from Tuxpan to Tula, and it went up in flames.

WHAT THE FUCK?

Tula is in Hidalgo, the state where this exploded, which means that... Oh screw this.

Fuck any argument of stealing because they needed the fuel to work or whatever, their state has fuel. The duct literally surfaced to a distribution station ten miles away from the town. They stole it because they could... and because they’re fucking irresponsible assholes.

But they’re not professional, professional thieves don’t pierce the duct until they have a control valve above the piecing point. These are people who knew about the fuel shortage and wanted to take advantage of it, and did something stupid.

So now, someone lit it up, and killed 20 people in the process and maybe will cause a mass fire. The Feds already declared an emergency, and more than sixty people are injured... most of them were stealing fuel.

I almost have no empathy for them because they acted so stupidly.

UPDATE: Another pierced duct in the neighboring state of Queretaro went up in flames, some are saying that some sort of sabotage occured.

facw > Spanfeller is a twat 01/18/2019 at 22:38

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I’d imagine fuel shortages create an even bigger incentive to try to steal fuel.

Svend > Spanfeller is a twat 01/18/2019 at 22:45

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People do ridiculous things to make money for themselves or so they don’t have to spend any of their own money. 

Spanfeller is a twat > facw 01/18/2019 at 22:45

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Yep, the Tuxpan-CDMX duct was pierced like three times just this week.

Whenever they pierced it and noticed, Pemex closed it, sent a crew to fix it, and opened it again.

Spanfeller is a twat > Svend 01/18/2019 at 22:50

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So fucking stupid.... I can't even

Svend > Spanfeller is a twat 01/18/2019 at 22:57

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Yep, people are stupid. Who knew!? Lol. 

PS9 > Spanfeller is a twat 01/18/2019 at 23:35

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Ship the fuel in trucks. Mount mini guns to the trucks and have an attack helicopter provide escort.

Wanna steal some fuel now? Good fucking luck, chief.

facw > PS9 01/19/2019 at 00:27

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Unfortunately, now you’ve greatly increased the cost of fuel, almost certainly well beyond what would be saved by preventing theft.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Spanfeller is a twat 01/19/2019 at 04:44

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if the thieves died, i see no issue

hopefully som e were horribly burnt and will need skin grafts and a long stay in hospital

DipodomysDeserti > facw 01/19/2019 at 10:49

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Let’s make fuel harder to steal, and in the process make it more lucrative to steal, all the while fucking over people trying to make an honest living.

DipodomysDeserti > Spanfeller is a twat 01/19/2019 at 10:51

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DipodomysDeserti > pip bip - choose Corrour 01/19/2019 at 11:07

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I don’t know the situation in Tula, but when I built houses outside of Tijuana, “thieves” would splice wires on utility poles in order to bring electricity to their communities. These same communities also had to pay a private water truck to fill up a giant barrels of water every week which they used for cooking, cleaning, drinking...

Unless you have money, the Mexican government doesn’t give a shit about your survival. Pemex is a state owned oil company. The people of Mexico actually raised the money to buy back their oil fields from American oil companies when the Mexican government nationalized them, so the people of Mexico technically already  own that oil they stole.

cbell04 > Spanfeller is a twat 01/19/2019 at 12:11

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.

Spanfeller is a twat > DipodomysDeserti 01/19/2019 at 23:21

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electricity theft is a bigger issue than fuel theft, but I wouldn’t agree on a crackdown. The most expensive theft is carried out with tampered meters by corporations or richer people who are the biggest consmers .... not with “diablitos” often used by these commu nt ies you describe.

I fear the crackdown would focus on diablitos and not tampered meters 

Spanfeller is a twat > DipodomysDeserti 01/19/2019 at 23:23

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Initial reports prove my fear “these were not profesional thieves, and they were very stubburn”

I think it was the AG who said that.

Spanfeller is a twat > pip bip - choose Corrour 01/19/2019 at 23:27

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Those injured were mostly children.

Gasoline burns at very high temperatures, its likely they’ll die soon or live a painful life with significant nerve damage 

Steve in Manhattan > Spanfeller is a twat 01/20/2019 at 00:16

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It’s all tragic - people are motivated in different ways ... I have no relevant experience that lets me say anything about this. 

For Sweden > PS9 01/20/2019 at 00:18

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That plan won't work unless you can get through Bullet Farmer to join, and he's still in Australia

Berang > Spanfeller is a twat 01/20/2019 at 00:29

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I don’t think anybody wouldn’t be aware of the risks of walking up to a gasoline geyser. You know? It’s horrible, sure, but what were they even thinking?

Spanfeller is a twat > Berang 01/20/2019 at 00:39

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The soldiers were warning them through a megaphone.

But apparently it runs deeper... this town had a lot of issues with the soldiers, so they were told not to cause any more trouble and stand down

bob and john > Spanfeller is a twat 01/20/2019 at 00:42

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I mean...god dam. this is stupid on SO many levels. How does one think :huh, gushing fuel, TOTALLY NOT A PROBLEM!.

why were there kids there.

why wasnt there some safety shut off

jusdt...why

random001 > Spanfeller is a twat 01/20/2019 at 09:35

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The smart move here is for Mexico to become the 51st State. This solves the wall problem, the immigration problem, the fuel problem, and the drug problem all at the same time....

Spanfeller is a twat > random001 01/20/2019 at 10:29

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Not sure w e’d be let in as a state, but I actually wouldn’t mind that much.

My bird IS the word > Spanfeller is a twat 01/20/2019 at 11:08

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I won't cry over spilt thieves, but by bringing children with them they deserve to be burned alive. You might make whatever morally dubious choice but don't involve kids. As far as I'm concerned this makes them murderers as well.

Spanfeller is a twat > My bird IS the word 01/20/2019 at 12:37

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I agree that many should be trialed for attemped murder or 2nd degree murder, this ignoring terrorism and wreckless endangerment 

Spanfeller is a twat > bob and john 01/20/2019 at 15:38

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Everything could, and did, go wrong. This is a disaster and I'm furious that it happened. Specially because I really, really think that the fire was caused on purpose.

ttyymmnn > Spanfeller is a twat 01/21/2019 at 01:03

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Pemex has its own hospital?

Spanfeller is a twat > ttyymmnn 01/21/2019 at 01:10

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Hospital s
They have a whole network for their employees, they give coverage to their families too, even after retiring.


And we also have three public health services, one for government workers, one is single payer, and the other one is for unemployed or unqualified for the single payer.

Plus dozens of state and local networks, oh and army hospitals. Army doctors are some of the most respected in the country.

Which is kind of very shitty... we shouldn’t have so many publicl y funded health services... we should have a single huge one.

Spanfeller is a twat > ttyymmnn 01/21/2019 at 01:20

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Pemex has 58 hospitals and clinics.

Also, 89% of Mexicans are registered for one of the three public systems I told you about, the other ten percent is uninsured or works for Pemex or the Army.

Even if you have a private health insurance policy, you pay taxes to the public system.