Unprecedented slight in Mexico officials skip congressional testimony on fuel theft

Top officials from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's administration on Tuesday did not attend a congressional committee convened to question them over the government's strategy in a crackdown on fuel theft. Lawmakers had asked Energy Minister Rocio Nahle, Finance Minister Carlos Urzua and Octavio Romero, chief executive of state oil company Pemex, to appear in Congress. "This is an unprecedented slight to the legislative branch," said Vanessa Rubio, a senator from the opposition centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

The closure of major pipelines has caused fuel shortages at gas stations and raised concerns that the economy could take a hit if the problems persist. Lopez Obrador's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the officials did not attend. Mario Delgado, lower house leader of Lopez Obrador's leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), said via Twitter that the officials' attendance had been postponed because they were "attending to the fuel supply contingency."

(With inputs from agencies.)