No Need To Secure Borders

Blasts Strike Mexican Gas Pipelines
By MIGUEL HERNANDEZ,AP
Posted: 2007-09-11 00:45:54
Filed Under: World News
VERACRUZ, Mexico (Sept. 11) - A shadowy leftist rebel group claimed responsibility for six explosions that affected a dozen Mexican gas and oil pipelines Monday, sending flames towering into the sky and forcing the evacuation of thousands.


Photo Gallery: Sabotage in Mexico
Luis Monroy, Maya Comunicaciones / AP A fire rages near the town of Omealca, Mexico, Monday. A leftist guerilla group called the People's Revolutionary Army claimed responsibility for blowing up at least six of the country's oil and gas pipelines.
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Financial markets in the U.S. and Mexico were rattled by Monday's blasts, which officials said cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production. Some local factories were forced to shut down after natural gas supplies were cut but there were no immediate reports of injuries directly caused by the explosions and fires.

It was the second time in three months that the so-called People's Revolutionary Army has claimed to have targeted pipelines as part of what it has labeled its "prolonged people's war" against "the anti-people government."

The group, known as the EPR, is an extremely secretive, tiny rebel group that staged several armed attacks on government and police installations in southern Mexico in the 1990s. It was later weakened by internal divisions, leaving it unclear which splinter group carried out the attacks.

The six explosions affected a dozen natural gas pipelines and one oil pipeline in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, said Jesus Reyes Heroles, the head of Mexico's oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, without providing specifics. The explosions occurred in valve stations where different pipelines intersect.

The blasts triggered fires that shot flames and plumes of black smoke high into the sky and could be felt miles away.

At least one undetonated explosive device was later found beside a pipeline in a swampy area about 500 yards away from a highway toll booth just north of the port of Veracruz, said a Veracruz state civil defense coordinator Ismael Reyes.

That explosive device was accompanied by a note signed by the EPR, according to a Veracruz state police official who was not authorized to be quoted by name. Initial reports said the note contained demands for the release of purported political prisoners - similar demands were made public after earlier blasts - but it was impossible to independently confirm the existence or contents of the note.

Veracruz Gov. Fidel Herrera told reporters "there was a note, and the indication was that it could be these groups, there are precedents," but he did not clarify the contents or authorship of the message.

Reyes the explosions would lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production and that it would take four or five days from the time the gas fires burned out and restoration work could begin to resume lost service.

Pemex immediately shut down the stricken lines as well as another line in the area as a precaution. Reyes said about nine states and the capital, Mexico City, would be affected, but did not elaborate.

"It is a big blow," the Pemex chief said. "You can't store natural gas or transport it by truck."

Reyes said Pemex would have to burn off whatever gas it did not succeed in recovering.

At least 21,000 people were evacuated as a precaution but no injuries directly related to the explosions were immediately reported. Fernando Leon Yepez, a civil defense official in Omealca, reported that two elderly women died of heart attacks shortly after the explosions.

The blasts caused brief jitters in international markets, with natural gas futures up as much as 20.2 cents soon after news of the explosions hit. Prices dropped in later trading. Pemex said the damage to the oil pipeline wouldn't affect crude oil exports.

Neither were the explosions expected to affect natural gas prices in the U.S. _ Mexican gas only accounts for 0.3 percent of the country's total imports. The U.S. imported 12.7 million cubic feet of natural gas from Mexico in 2006. Mexico's stocks fell Monday amid the reports of possible sabotage.

Mexican glassmaker Vitro SAB said Monday it has temporarily halted production at six of its factories after attacks on the pipelines, citing problems with natural gas supplies.

The government did not immediately verify the claim of responsibility by the EPR. Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez said the federal Attorney General's Office was trying to determine who was responsible for the "premeditated acts."

"Pemex's fundamental installations are adequately protected by our armed forces, and we will do our utmost to find those responsible," Ramirez said.

President Felipe Calderon condemned the attacks in a statement from India, where he was on a formal state visit.

"I want to say that my government severely condemns this and all other acts of violence and those who promote it in our country and anywhere in the world," he said. "There is no room for such criminal acts in a democratic Mexico."

Associated Press writer Lisa J. Adams in Mexico City contributed to this report.