Mexico City Is Running Low On Oxygen, and Gangs Are Making a Profit

When Alberto Escobar drives his truck at night he always checks who is in the car. It's not Escobar. The

gangs

are after what they want. It's his cargo and he says they will do whatever it takes to get it. A foreign Escobar does not transport drugs, weapons or gold, he carries medical grade

oxygen

tanks used to help keep the sickest covid19 patients alive. A nationwide shortage and rising demand means these tanks are selling for triple the price on the black market,

making

broomstick delivery drivers a prime target for foreign criminal

gangs

. Mexico is in the grips of a deadly second wave of the pandemic and now has the third highest death toll in the world.

In February alone, nearly 28,000 people died here. The cases are so overwhelming that the country is

running

out of

oxygen

tanks. Maria, 61 years old. Félix Apongo is lucky to have these few boats, they are his only lifeline, the struggle now is to keep them full. One pongo tested positive in January while he was caring for his mother, who was also sick with coven 19. Her mother died a month ago. her children are taking care of her while she fights for her own life she needs at least 16 small and large oxygen tanks a week to help her breathe she should be in a hospital but they are already overwhelmed and like many mexicans apongo's family is worried that some Once she admitted that she may never return abroad.

Many Mexicans do not trust doctors, so they choose to stay home with their families in the first three weeks of January. Demand for oxygen at home increased by 700 percent. Desperate relatives like Carlos Pineda often have to wait. standing in line for up to eight hours to refill his tank, Panetta has already spent more than US$5,000 on oxygen tanks and refills for his mother and his grandmother, others who need tanks have been forced to turn to the black market . Álvarez says she paid 600 more than the normal cost of the device that is supposed to convert air into medical grade oxygen.

She was desperate but the concentrator she bought almost killed her cousin. The concentrate is useless. Mendoza Alvarez is not the only one who has been scammed online. There are thousands of posts advertising canisters, many of them are fake or stolen, one by one, Mendoza Alvarez has seen nine members of her family die or get sick with Covid, she says she has to find oxygen tanks even at the risk of being scammed, the government has asked their cybersecurity unit to investigate online oxygen fraud cases every day, we are reviewing all these people who are trying to post scams and fake pages and we are removing them, that's why there are already so many thousands of them and they try again. the next day, but we are there the next day too, but when we asked the officers what was going on with the alleged scammers, they didn't even know the attorney general's office, they could only tell us that they have about 40 investigations open with the launch . of the vaccine Mexico has already seen multiple thefts of the much sought after vaccine it has gotten so bad that the army has taken charge of transporting and guarding the vaccines I guess he has not yet come to terms with the loss of his mother the only thing that is his children are focused in keeping her alive strange years when you didn't know what oxygen is when you are like a normal person it is something new to you then there is like industrial oxygen medical oxygen there are tanks there are concentrated concentrators there are many types of liters like permeate, how many does your patient need with a tank small, maybe a big tank, and it's a lot of information and you need to find it right now and know which places are safe, so I have the idea for this. website where you can easily find information with stores that are safe and that have the information is very helpful naoli garcía galvez decided to launch this website after learning that patients in her parents' office were having trouble finding a legitimate source to buy and refill oxygen tanks where we come into close contact with patients who ask us do you know where I can find oxygen? and in the media there are long lists where there are around 80 places, there is only the name and the number, but you already know which places have oxygen. and that they don't have an oxygen list and researching legitimate sources quickly became a daunting task, so she put out a call for help on Facebook and got dozens of responses.

I asked people to help me make the website and also volunteer to do it. Calls to places to find out every day what the oxygen capa

city

is like. The average age of the team is 21 and 25 years old. I mean we are mainly young people. It is all a non-

profit

organization that works through volunteerism. We do not receive money since no service, we all work for ourselves and with our will to help other people at a time when not even doctors and hospitals can find reliable sources of oxygen tanks and refills. oxygenos cdmx has quickly become the trusted resource for sick patients and their families.

A friend was looking for oxygen for her family members, I mean, even though she was in medical school, she didn't know where to find oxygen and she was really stressed about it and another friend from college told her, "Oh, you can find it here." She said: Thank you very much. I mean, it was a very good help to me. I was able to find oxygen for my family member easily and it took a lot of stress away from me. Thank you so much. I think it was a good story for me. I mean, I know we help people, but having the story come up close to me was so nice and sweet.