Hidden drivers of violence diffusion: Evidence from illegal oil siphoning in Mexico

Strategic Resources for Drug Trafficking Organizations and the Geography of Violence: Evidence from Mexico

“…In this case, the direct effect We acknowledge that huachicoleo (gasoline siphoning) became a more frequent practice after the period we analyze, more precisely during the Peña Nieto administration. This more frequent practice could have produced effects on violence such as those found by López Cruz and Torrens (2023) (for instance, attracting more DTOs). We also acknowledge that the use of the locality as the unit of analysis might underestimate the effect of the distances to highways given that a small locality may only be related to a smaller sector of the highway.…”

“…DTOs also try to gain access to key infrastructures to increase their economic benefits and achieve tactical advantages. Key infrastructures that could provide DTOs with such advantages can include oil pipelines to obtain cash (Franco-Vivanco, Martínez-Álvarez, and Martínez 2023;López Cruz and Torrens 2023), points of entrance to drug markets (the border with the United States), 1 and airports, highways, and seaports to reduce transportation costs of illegal assets. Monopolistic control of this infrastructure facilitates the transportation of illegal drugs, assures additional sources of income, and prevents other DTOs from doing so, which could weaken rivals.…”

“…Ninth, we consider possible interactive relationships between some infrastructures and other factors that might drive our results, which other studies suggest might be relevant activators of the effect of some of our variables. López Cruz and Torrens (2023) show that municipalities close to the oil pipelines network but also near oil refineries in Mexico experience lower levels of violence. To account for the presence of refineries, we include in our models an interaction term between the distance to pipelines and the localities belonging to a municipality with a refinery.…”