RESEARCH NOTES: RUSSIAN MOJITO

RUSSIAN MOJITO takes up where 43 MISSING left off. Emilia was the sole survivor of an attack on an extradition convoy taking narco kingpin Diego Barrielos Luna from Mexico to the United States to stand trial.

Now back in Acapulco attempting to repair all her broken relationships, Emilia sees his shadow around every corner. But soon Emilia is too busy to grapple with the specter of the fugitive narco, as she deals with . . .

A kidnapping

The murder of a Russian journalist

Fuel thieves tapping underground pipelines

FUELING UP

There were no self-serve gas stations when we lived in Mexico City and all were owned by PEMEX, the government oil and gas corporation.

I’d drive our trusty Explorer to the neighborhood PEMEX station on the corner of Virreyes and Prado Norte, where the uniformed attendant asked if I wanted to fill the tank. Upon confirmation, he’d show me that the numbers on the meter set to zero. Only then did he connect the hose to the car.

PHOTO: PEMEX gas pump. Courtesy mexadventure.com/mexico-travel/Fuel.cfm

While the tank filled, he assiduously cleaned the windshield and the rear window. He also always asked if the car needed a gas additive. Bottles of various PEMEX additives were displayed stacked in pyramids by the gas pumps. The additive sale was mostly a scam; attendants often pretended to add the solution but were actually playacting with an empty bottle. Not all did this, of course, but enough so that nobody I knew bought the additive.

Finally, the attendant collected payment and the obligatory tip. Cash only.

RUSSIAN MOJITO meant to probe the startling fuel theft industry behind PEMEX’s glossy façade.

PHOTO: PEMEX gas station, Armando Belsoj via Pexels

FUEL THIEVES

Fuel thieves called huachicoleros target pipelines owned by Pemex, the national oil and gas utility. Pipelines can run through miles and miles of uninhabited rural landscape. Signs along the way warn those who would dig in the vicinity but also serve as markers for the fuel thieves.

PHOTO: "No Digging" pipeline marker. Courtesy reuters.com/investigates/special-report/mexico-violence-oil/ Photo by REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

The huachicoleros drill into the underground pipelines, insert taps and siphon out the fuel. They sell it to both gas stations and buyers in the open-air markets that sustain Mexico’s informal economy.

For them the stolen fuel is a way out of poverty, albeit an extraordinarily dangerous path.

For example, in January 2019, fuel thieves in a field near the small town of Tlahuelilpan drilled into the Tuxpan-Poza Rica-Tula pipeline. Jet fuel gushed into the sky. The thieves couldn’t contain the stream so they fled, leaving fuel spraying into the sky and soaking the field.

As the gusher went on, locals came to fill buckets and bottles with the free fuel. A party atmosphere prevailed until a spark caused a fireball explosion that killed at least 137 people.

Days after the blast, the pipeline was operational again and the thefts resumed.

PHOTO: Fuel thieves filling fertilizer tank mounted on a pickup truck bed. File photo, Mexico News Daily

In 2023, PEMEX detected 15,000 fuel taps of its pipelines. InSightCrime reported that “Thieves stole 987 million liters of fuel in 2024, according to the company’s rough estimates, up from 371 million liters in 2019.” https://insightcrime.org/news/mexico-multibillion-dollar-fuel-theft-crisis/.

Mexico’s losses are staggering. In 2025, PEMEX lost more than $1.3 billion (yes, billion with a B) due to fuel theft and that’s probably on the conservative side. https://mexicobusiness.news/oilandgas/news/pemex-reports-15-rise-fuel-theft-2025

 KIDNAPPING

The kidnapping angle was informed by WE HAVE YOUR HUSBAND: One Woman's Terrifying Story of a Kidnapping in Mexico by Jayne Garcia Valseca with Mark Ebner. 

When publishing heir Eduardo Valseca swept American-born Jayne off her feet, she moved to Mexico to be with him and they built a home and a school in San Miguel de Allende. In the summer of 2007, Eduardo was ambushed and kidnapped by strangers. For seven months, he was confined to a box while the professional kidnappers demanded an enormous ransom.

Using a private security company, Jayne negotiated for her husband’s life using every tool at her disposal, including making the kidnappers believe she was leaving Mexico.

The prolonged process of negotiation, the role of law enforcement and private security, and Eduardo’s ordeal all informed the kidnapping sub-plot in RUSSIAN MOJITO.