Excerpt: "Collectives from the social justice and immigration group Somos Mas (We Are More) have joined the ongoing protests against gas price hikes in Mexico."
People protest against rising gasoline prices in Mexico City on January 7, 2017, after a week of riots, lootings and arrests across the country. (photo: Sashenka Gutierrez/European Pressphoto Agency)
10 January 17
Their main point was loud and clear: hurting the people is hurting the economy.
ollectives from the social justice and immigration group Somos Mas (We Are More) have joined the ongoing protests against gas price hikes in Mexico outside the Pemex Tower on the Marina Nacional avenue.
The group announced that the rise in fuel, electricity and gas prices – known locally as the gasolinazo – will generate a “devastating effect on the economy, which we don’t have.” They went on to suggest and warn that the sharp price increases would actually hurt the economy as the purchasing power of people – and therefore their consumerism – will decrease, ultimately hurting industry, too.
They also claimed that it was really the government who was behind the violent looting of shopping malls and self-service stores that had broken out throughout the week of peaceful protests. People honked their horns in support as they went by.
Protesters carried banners that read “Enough with reforms that sink the country,” and they denounced the arguments presented by the authorities, particularly President Enrique Peña Nieto, as “false.” They stressed the fact that any increase in gasoline prices are “a blow to the people of Mexico,” which is now finally “awakening,” La Jornada reported.
Finally, they announced that next Wednesday they will go to the Chamber of Deputies to deliver a proposal for the reduction of government expenditures in order to avoid increasing fuel prices.
