FBI Cracks Down on Huachicol Trafficking Network in Texas

[bythoughts]

FBI Cracks Down on Huachicol Trafficking Network in Texas​

I found this much too late for it to be breaking news, but it was April 30, 2025, so the Trump administration does get the credit.

From one of my long conversations with AI, it sounds like huachicol - fuel stolen from PEMEX pipelines by the cartels, given fake papers, and often smuggled into the U.S. - is a major cartel revenue stream, rivalling the drug trade. So cutting off this revenue should be a major policy objective for the Trump administration and Americans in general. In the case mentioned, 20 tanker trucks and hundreds of millions of dollars were involved.

In theory, there is such a thing as "fuel marking" - tainting fuel with a tiny amount of non-harmful chemicals that can be traced later. It isn't known to be being done now, but it could be done, because the crime is continuing to increase. Of course, maybe they're doing it and not telling anyone?

This issue is a case where Trump has done well, and could continue to do better. If he is able to hit the cartels with this enforcement, and the 99% reduced flow of migrants through the Darien Gap hurts their future income from border crossing, and the drug trade can be impacted somehow (legalizing marijuana would be a start!), then the cartels could be broken, and the reported tens of thousands of people enslaved by them would be free.