Breitbart By ILDEFONSO ORTIZ and BRANDON DARBY
Mexico’s president blamed Texas and the natural gas industry for a series of electrical blackouts that affected several Mexican states, primarily those along the northern border. The blackouts came as many parts of the country are suffering from the same winter storm that has brought most of Texas to a standstill.
In response to much criticism aimed at Mexico’s dated power grid and the government’s perceived lack of preparedness, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blamed the blackouts on Texas. He also pointed fingers at the corruption of previous administrations.
“The power outage from yesterday, why did it take place?” Lopez Obrador asked during a news conference. “Because we are producing electrical energy with gas that is bought in Texas and with the bad weather, with the snow, many of the gas lines were affected. Also, the price of gas rose like never before, from three dollars per unit to $200 dollars, a five thousand percent increase in gas.”
According to various energy experts in Mexico, the government-owned Federal Electric Commission did not have enough national reserves of gas to keep the power running during a crisis such as the current winter storm. On Tuesday, Mexico’s government announced that additional states would be suffering blackouts as a result of the power shortage.
#CENACEInforma?#Comunicado?? pic.twitter.com/rqwT6dGLlT
— @CenaceMéxico (@CenaceMexico) February 15, 2021
During his conference, Lopez Obrador blamed the lack of reserves in Mexico on prior administrations in what he called the “Neoliberal Period”.
“The business was to buy gas because that is where the bribes were, that’s where the corruption was at, the bribes from foreign companies.” Lopez Obrador said.
The winter power outages come just weeks after Mexico experienced another large-scale power outage in several states in late December. In that case, Mexico’s CFE blamed the blackout on a forest fire in Tamaulipas. State officials in Tamaulipas countered those allegations claiming that the CFE had forged documents and statements in order to blame the border state
