by UncoveringTruths » Thu 19 Jun 2008, 15:15:29
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ome say they can save up to $100 a month by filling up every two weeks in Mexico. The extra demand is causing shortages at hundreds of Mexico's border gas stations, some of which are starting to ration fuel.
"It's worth taking the risk even with the violence," said a retired California engineer named Terry, who declined to give his surname, as he filled his red Ford pick-up truck in Tijuana, over the border from San Diego.
"I know they could kill me or kidnap me, but the cost of filling my tank in the United States is just too much," he said.
Mexico's subsidized gasoline -- around $1.40 cheaper per gallon than in the United States -- is a huge draw as average U.S. pump prices hit an unprecedented $4 a gallon ($1.06 a liter). In West Coast cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, prices are over $4.50 a gallon.
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$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')s pump attendants struggled to keep up with dozens of vehicles lining up for fuel,
U.S. and Mexican drivers traded insults. A few even brawled as they waited for hours in searing heat this week in the rough border city of Tijuana."I am not budging until I get to the pump. I don't care what anyone says, I've been waiting for two hours," said Jaime Rosales from southern California, at a gas station where buses, trucks and cars all vied to get to the pump.
Even hours of waiting to cross back into the United States at the busy border crossings are not putting Americans off despite misgivings about having to produce proof of U.S. citizenship to return home under new travel rules.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')ourists who used to come for everything from dental work to prostitutes have deserted Mexican border cities as gun battles occur in broad daylight on busy avenues and gangs dump bodies and severed heads on streets.
Yet such is the clamor for cheap Mexican fuel that Tijuana officials say the city and surrounding areas are running out of diesel after truckloads of fuel due from the oil-producing state of Veracruz were delayed this week.
U.S. motorists are filling up fuel containers as well as their tanks, the Tijuana gas stations association says.
"We have very little reserves left. We are trying to ration sales because we can see the situation is causing outbreaks of violence," said association head Joaquin Avina.
"There are areas without a single liter of gasoline because so many people from southern California are making unusually big fuel purchases," Avina said.