Sabotage blamed as blasts rip Mexico pipelines
Second such attack in 2 months may cut natural gas supplies 25% while repairs made
By DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
MEXICO CITY — Saboteurs attacked four natural gas pipelines in energy-rich Veracruz state Monday, the second time in as many months that the country's petroleum infrastructure has been targeted.
Explosive charges detonated in the pre-dawn darkness at six locations on the pipelines that link refineries to consumers in Mexico City and other major population centers. The pipelines are operated by the government's petroleum monopoly, Pemex.
Fires raged at the sites, and authorities evacuated some 24,000 people from the areas near the explosions, but no deaths or injuries were reported. Pemex officials said natural gas supplies could be cut by 25 percent for several days while repairs were made to the pipelines.
The Associated Press quoted an unnamed police official in Veracruz as saying that a note left by an obscure leftist guerrilla group had claimed responsibility for the blasts. But the report was not confirmed. The guerrilla group has always immediately taken responsibility for its attacks, and Mexican officials were not rushing to assign blame.
Traveling in India on a state visit, Mexican President Felipe Calderon pledged to bring the attackers to justice, saying they "wish to impose by force their ideas on everyone else."
"There is no place in today's democratic Mexico for these criminal acts," Calderon said in a statement. "Causes are defended within the realm of ideas, within democratic institutions, within the law."
Mexican officials sought Monday to calm the public and energy markets about the severity of the threat. They said fires resulting from some of the explosions were quickly brought under control by Pemex crews.
"Pemex's fundamental installations are adequately protected by our armed forces," said Francisco Ramirez, Mexico's interior minister. "We will act energetically to find those responsible."
The organized crime unit of the Mexican justice ministry said Monday its agents were involved in the investigation.
Similar sabotage in July in the central states of Guanajuato and Queretaro were claimed by the People's Revolutionary Army, or EPR. The group, which had been underground for several years, was formed more than a decade ago by remnants of long-dormant guerrilla movements.
And like the July event, the bombs Monday appeared to display a level of logistical sophistication. Targeting valves, above-ground sections and transfer terminals in 30- to 48-inch pipelines, the explosions went off nearly simultaneously in various locations, some of them hundreds of miles apart.
Several of the explosions were on the Gulf of Mexico Coast, about 30 miles north of the port of Veracruz. The others hit pipelines halfway between the port and Mexico City, near the city of Orizaba. The pipelines run from the refineries at Minatitlan and Cactus, in southern Mexico, to Monterrey, Mexico City and Guadalajara.
The most damaging attack appeared to be near the community of La Balastrera, west of Orizaba and about 150 miles east of Mexico City. Explosions damaged a 30-inch natural gas pipeline, a 24-inch liquefied gas line and another carrying refined chemical products.
July's explosions targeted similar Pemex pipeline facilities near a large refinery at Salamanca in Guanajuato state. Though no one was injured, the ensuing natural gas shortage forced auto manufacturers, other factories and businesses to close for several days.
Calderon criticized
At that time, the EPR labeled Calderon — a conservative politician who was declared the winner of a squeaker election last summer over a leftist rival — a "fascist" working in the interest of Mexico's wealthy elite. Although Calderon now enjoys widespread support in opinion polls, many among Mexico's political left consider the election to have been fraudulent.
Based mostly in the southern and heavily indigenous states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, the EPR has sought to reverse Mexico's free-market economic policies of the past two decades, which many say have harmed poor, rural communities.
Monday's explosions came just a few weeks after Mexico City's tallest office tower was evacuated when an anonymous caller tipped police off to a pipe bomb in the parking garage.
dudley.althaus@chron.com
Petroleos Mexicanos (file photo)
Oil and gas pipelines in Mexico were attacked in six different places Monday, forcing the evacuation of approximately 12,000 residents. The six blasts were to reported to have happened at about 2:00 a.m on Monday morning. 

The company who owns the pipelines, Petroleos Mexicanos, shut down all lines after the attack. 

No deaths as a result of the explosions were reported, however; the blasts were blamed for the death of two 70 year old women who died from heart attacks. 

Mexican officials have called the blasts "premeditated" and at least one rebel group (most notably  EPR) has claimed responsibility for the blasts.