Health and Economic Crisis in Mexico Hits Informal Sector Workers nacla.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nacla.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Profiting From Desperation: Oxygen Tanks Become an Underground Market in Mexico
An INFRA worker refills an oxygen tank.
Tamara Pearson
Water became a commodity traded on Wall Street in December amid fear of scarcity, and now oxygen is being speculated on in Mexico.
With most hospitals full, many Mexicans are battling COVID-19 at home. Oxygen tanks and oxygen concentrators (devices that concentrate the oxygen from a gas supply, typically the air) have become scarce, as individuals and companies are taking advantage of the pandemic and selling or renting them at extremely high prices. Others are using the situation to fraudulently sell tanks without delivering them, or to steal customers’ personal information. The situation is only compounding the debt, poverty and inequality that has worsened with the pandemic. It also portends a new wave of fraud and speculation, when vaccines arrive.
Juan Barraza
After living in San Diego county for 27 years, Juan Barraza, now deported, has faced tough times. Just this past Saturday, rain flooded the five-square-foot tent he’s been living in at a Tijuana public park.
“Well, at least I wasn’t getting wet the whole time. Back in December, I was still sleeping on the street,” said the former resident of Escondido, Vista, and Oceanside.
On Sunday, he took advantage of a moment when the sky cleared to put out cardboard to dry so he could use it as a makeshift mattress on top of a wood plank elevated on bricks so he can keep dry during the next rains.