Dos Bocas Refinery / Repression in Xochimilco

Dos Bocas refinery. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that the Dos Bocas refinery is expected to reach full capacity in 2H23. “We are in an integration phase, which is progressing very well. It is an incredible project; there is no refinery like this in the world and it is being done in record time."

In April 2022, the president assured that the refinery would be operational in 2H22. The project was inaugurated in July but did not start operating. Instead, testing processes started that were expected to last about six months. Rocío Nahle, Mexico’s Minister of Energy, previously estimated that the first barrels of gasoline and diesel would be produced in December 2022. However, due to logistical problems, this has not happened.

The Olmeca refinery has long been touted as the answer to Mexico’s economic woes and stands as the centerpiece of López Obrador’s plan to restore PEMEX’s refining capacity. Once complete, Dos Bocas will join the country’s six other refineries, which are also being renovated. Refinery upgrades are expected to increase oil-processing capacity by 20 percent, with a target of 340Mb/d of heavy crude oil to be processed by the end of López Obrador’s six-year term in 2024.

Chocolate cars. Last month, the Mexican government announced an extension to the program to regularize vehicles coming from the US, known as “chocolate cars,” changing the deadline from Sep. 20 to Dec. 31, 2022. Minister of Security Rosa Icela Rodríguez reported that the federal government has regularized more than 892,722 imported vehicles and installed 139 modules for that purpose. To date, the government has collected MX$2.231 billion (US$112.95 million) from regularization fees.

Controversy surrounding chocolate cars was rekindled in 2019 when MORENA legislators proposed to legalize them under the argument of raising MX$50 billion (US$2.53 billion) from the 18 million chocolate vehicle park. The decree was later published in January 2022. The states participating in this program are Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Michoacan, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.

Repression in Xochimilco. President López Obrador emphasized that no citizen should be treated as the police forces treated the residents of Xochimilco on Friday. He also assured that those responsible for the aggressions will be held accountable. "That is not the attitude and certainly the inhabitants of Xochimilco do not deserve to be treated that way. Measures are being taken and I hope that justice will be done."

The conflict between the Ministry of Public Safety (SSC) and residents of San Gregorio Atlapulco arose from a blockade in the Caltongo neighborhood. The citizens were against the government's work on the water network, as they thought that all the water would be removed from the wells. Authorities stressed that the objective was not to remove the water but to clean up the drainage network.