![]() Hundreds of vessels crisscross the bay ferrying supplies and workers to and from platforms. There are now more than 200 oil platforms dotting the Bay of Campeche, the source of most of Mexico’s oil. The escalation has also dovetailed with a growth in foreign investment in Mexico’s oil sector after sweeping reforms in 2013 allowed the government to auction exploration and production rights to investor-owned businesses. The sudden increase in crime in the Bay of Campeche has come as the Mexican government has sought, without much effect, to arrest soaring violence on the mainland. Enrique Lozano Díaz, the federation’s inspector for the Gulf of Mexico, said the estimate was based on accounts from seafarers, local media coverage and emergency radio calls from vessels under attack. The International Transport Workers’ Federation, which represents seafarers, estimates that there were about 180 thefts and robberies in the Bay of Campeche last year alone. The American Naval Intelligence office said that globally “many incidents” of piracy go unreported for a variety of reasons, including a desire to avoid notifying an insurer or to avoid an investigation by law enforcement. Another 20 were recorded last year and 19 so far this year, the ministry said.īut these tallies are almost certainly undercounts, maritime experts said. In 2018, according to ministry records, there were 16 such incidents in the Bay of Campeche. That year, there were at least 19 successful or attempted robberies or thefts of oil platforms, supply vessels and fishing boats in the Bay of Campeche, up from only four in 2016 and one in 2015, according to Mexico’s Navy Ministry, also known as Semar. ![]() In recent decades, Mexico’s territorial waters in the Gulf were mostly spared the kind of piracy that afflicted criminal hot spots like the waters off the coast of Somalia and the heavily congested seas off Southeast Asia, officials said.īut something changed in 2017, officials said. An Influx of Foreigners : American and European remote workers are using Airbnb to find long-term rentals in Mexico City, pushing housing costs in the capital higher.Election Agency Overhaul : Demonstrations took place in February in over 100 cities across Mexico against the recent overhaul of the country’s electoral watchdog. The changes, critics say, could undermine the nation’s fragile institutions ahead of next year’s presidential election.Espionage: A paper trail has emerged for the first time proving that Mexico’s armed forces spied on civilians who were investigating allegations that soldiers had gunned down innocent people.The kidnapping of four Americans was a seeming deviation from that norm. A Lethal Attack: While Mexicans are often caught in cartel violence, organized criminal groups refrain from targeting Americans.
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