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Protests In Mexico Over Increasing Gas Prices Turned Violent

By January 10, 2017 at 5:58 pm

The people of Mexico are pissed and they are letting their voices be heard. On the weekend of January 2nd and 3rd, the Mexican government deregulated gas, resulting in a 20 percent price hike that has left thousands of Mexicans taking to the streets in protest. There has been looting, highway blockades and calls for President Enrique Peña Nieto to resign over what is being called the “gasolinazo.” Here’s what’s been going down.

The Mexican people are not happy with the recent increase in gas prices.


The recent deregulation of gas led to an increase in gas prices from about 15 pesos (about $0.69 USD) per liter to almost 18 pesos (about $0.83) per liter. This spike has left thousands of Mexicans upset since the minimum wage is only 80 pesos (about $3.68USD). That includes a recent 10 percent increase to the minimum wage.

Despite the minimum wage increase, the 20 percent gas price hike has Mexicans worried about the cost of everyday living.

@15MBcn_int / Twitter

“It’s not because we all have cars. When gasoline prices go up, everything else goes up: tortillas, public transportation, everything,” Héctor Pérez, a sales manager with an insurance company that was not named, told The Guardian about his participation in the protests.

The increased gas prices have strained the already eroding relationship between the Mexican people and President Enrique Peña Nieto.


The protests will no doubt have a negative impact on President Enrique Peña Nieto’s already plummeting approval rating, which has reached an abysmal 25 percent. Among the gasolinazo protests are increasing demands and pressure for President Peña Nieto to resign.

To make matters worse, the gas hike comes at a time when the Mexican peso’s value against the U.S. dollar continues to drop.

@ThinkMexican / Twitter

According to NPR, after a drastic nosedive in value following Trump’s win, the peso saw an even further devaluation after Ford announced that they would not be opening a factory in Mexico.

Protesters are blocking traffic on highways to protest gas prices on a large scale.


As the protests continue, they have become increasingly violent, leading to looting and damage of private property.


Police and citizens are battling with each other. This motorist rammed his truck into a crowd of police officers.


According to TeleSUR, 1,500 people have been arrested in connection with the protests, including 19 police officers who have participated.


And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.

President Peña Nieto tried to calm the protests by arguing that gas prices have been increasing on a global scale and claiming there was no other option but to raise prices.


In a speech to the Mexican people, President Peña Nieto argued that global oil prices have gone up by 60 percent. He maintained that the increase to Mexico’s gas prices was implemented to prevent any issues in the future. He then gestured to the camera and asked the Mexican people what they would have done given the same circumstances.


READ: While Mexico’s President Partied It Up, Thousands Of People Protested

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Armed Police In Tulum Arrested A Gay Couple For Allegedly Kissing On The Beach

Things That Matter

Armed Police In Tulum Arrested A Gay Couple For Allegedly Kissing On The Beach

By March 1, 2021 at 9:51 am
BY  | March 1, 2021 AT 9:51 am

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Mexico has remained a popular tourist destination as people seek out places with fewer restrictions. However, Mexico’s popular beach destination of Tulum apparently still has some restrictions – for LGBTQ folks – that the police are quick to enforce.

A Canadian couple was briefly detained by police for allegedly kissing on the beach.

Police in the popular resort town of Tulum, about 90-minutes south of Cancun, briefly arrested a gay couple for kissing in public on a beach, alleging that the couple was not allowed to kiss in public because children were present.

According to local media reports, police said they were reacting to a report by someone else on the beach who had claimed that the men were “committing immoral acts.”

The couple were handcuffed together and ordered in to the back of a patrol vehicle until a crowd of onlookers formed and began to shout disapprovingly at police after one of the men explained to the crowd why they were being detained.

Outraged bystanders gathered around the couple and urged the police to let the men go.

The crowd began shouting in support of the couple, calling the actions homophobic and demanding the couple’s release.

The pressure from the crowd apparently prompted officers to release the men after a few minutes of dialogue. The presence of Escalante herself might also have been a factor.

In response to the arrest, Quintana Roo Tulum Police said: ‘We are an inclusive and impartial police both for residents and tourists who visit the state of Quintana Roo. So no abuse of authority will be tolerated.’

Video of the incident quickly went viral on social media with outrage being the common reaction.

Video and photos of the arrest went viral after on social media accounts, including that of local politician Maritza Escalante Morales, who denounced the actions of the officers. Escalante happened to be at the beach with her family when she noticed the officers approach the couple, she said, and joined the crowd to advocate for the couple’s release.

“I want to file a PUBLIC COMPLAINT, because the treatment and type of authorities we have in our municipality is inexcusable. Yesterday while I was on the beach with my family, we noticed around 4:30 that 2 police squads in their ATVs approached a group of young foreigners. After about 20 minutes, a patrol arrived and proceeded to arrest them with handcuffs,” she explained on TikTok.

“The policemen were VIOLENT,” Morales added, “and gave arguments such as ‘there are families and children and they cannot be seeing this. I am FURIOUS because it is not possible that in the XXI century this type of oppression against the LGBT+ community continues. We all deserve the same treatment, and appropriate sanctions must be applied to these authorities.”

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Gay RightsLGBTQMexicoPoliceTulum

This Teacher Received A Nissan Pickup Truck Decked Out As A Mobile Classroom

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This Teacher Received A Nissan Pickup Truck Decked Out As A Mobile Classroom

By February 23, 2021 at 12:24 pm
BY  | February 23, 2021 AT 12:24 pm

Like students around the world, kids in Mexico have been forced to take school online or tune into programming on public TV in order to learn. But that’s just the kids who are lucky enough to have access to Internet or a TV. Many students live in rural areas and lack the adequate resources to continue their studies amid the global pandemic.

But thankfully, there are many good samaritans out there (aka compassionate teachers) who have invented their own ways to bring the classroom to kids wherever they are.

A Mexican teacher was gifted a decked out pickup truck by Nissan.

Since schools were forced to close last year in April, Aguascalientes special education teacher Nallely Esparza Flores, has been driving four hours a day to educate students one-on-one at their homes from her truck bed, outfitted with a small table and chairs.

News of her project spread across social media, eventually reaching the corporate offices of Nissan México. This week, the company surprised Esparza with the gift of a new pickup truck specially outfitted with a small open-air mobile classroom built into the truck’s bed.

“Today I feel like my labors and the help that we give each day to children and their families is unstoppable,” she said on Twitter Wednesday, sharing photos of her new vehicle. “My students no longer have to take classes in the full heat of the sun,” she said.

Nissan representatives said they decided to give Esparza the adapted NP300 model, 4-cylinder truck after hearing her story because she was “an example of perseverance and empathy.”

“When we learned about the incredible work of this teacher, we got together to discuss in what way we could contribute to this noble work,” said Armando Ávila, a vice president of manufacturing.

The mobile classroom is pretty legit and will allow Esparza to continue her good deed.

Esparza inside her new classroom.

The decked out Nissan pickup truck has three walls (the other is a retractable sheeting) and a ceiling made with translucent panels to protect teacher and student from the elements while letting in natural light.

It also has retractable steps for easy access to the classroom, electrical connections, a whiteboard and an easily disinfected acrylic table and benches that are foldable into the wall to provide space. The table also has a built-in plexiglass barrier to allow social distancing.

Access to education in Mexico is highly inequitable.

Esparza, like many teachers across the country, found that not all distance learning was equal. Many of her students in Cavillo were from poor families without internet access. So she used social media networks to keep in touch with such students via cell phones, but even that was not necessarily an available option for all — and not ideal. Finally, she decided to solve the problem by hitting the road in her pickup truck.

According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), only 58% of students in Mexico had a home computer – the lowest percentage among all OECD countries. And only about one third (32%) of the school computers in rural schools in Mexico were connected to
the Internet, compared to more than 90% for schools located in urban areas.

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CoronavirusCOVID-19MexicoSchool