Solano, one of Mexico’s best-known television actors, announced the decision on Thursday after Bruna battered the Gulf coast, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power and forcing petrol stations to close. She said her 800-guest wedding, planned for next month, would be postponed and its budget redirected to discounted fuel.
The actress’s family owns Senda Norte Combustibles, a distributor with 17 stations in Veracruz state. Solano said those outlets would sell 2.4 million litres at the company’s “landing cost” over four weeks, a price based on what fuel costs when it arrives at port. She estimated the wedding would have cost 52 million pesos (about €2.7 million).
Wedding money becomes fuel
“I can postpone one party; families cannot postpone getting home,” Solano said in a video posted from the distributor’s Veracruz office. She did not say whether the wedding was cancelled permanently, but added that her fiancé had agreed to the postponement. The couple had not publicly announced a new date by Friday.
The announcement came three days after Bruna made landfall near Nautla as a powerful hurricane, bringing winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) and more than 300 mm (12 inches) of rain in parts of the state. The storm flooded roads used by fuel trucks and briefly cut electricity to about 286,000 homes, according to figures from Veracruz’s civil-protection office.
Senda Norte said the first deliveries would reach stations in Veracruz city, Xalapa and Martínez de la Torre from Saturday. The company expects the offer to reduce pump prices by about 1.80 pesos a litre, though its own timetable depends on roads reopening. State officials say most stations in the region remain supplied, but some are still operating shorter hours.
The price behind the promise
The phrase “at cost” has become the centre of the row. Landing cost does not include every expense between the port and a driver’s tank: transport and tax still apply. Energy economist Shweta Persad said a genuine wholesale discount could help motorists, but warned that the public might expect a bigger cut than the company can deliver.
“If the number excludes the tanker journey and the tax, it is not the price people will pay at the pump,” Persad said. She called for Senda Norte to publish a daily breakdown of its prices. The distributor has promised a public price board at each participating station, but has not yet released a full cost calculation.
Solano’s pledge has also prompted questions about whether a celebrity’s family company should control the terms of a highly publicised relief offer. The actress said the stations would keep receipts available for customers and that any fuel left after the four-week period would be sold through the regular network. She denied that the move was a publicity stunt.
Bárbara Esteves-Maia, who runs a small guesthouse near Xalapa, said she welcomed the promised discount but wanted fuel before the next delivery of food and laundry supplies. “The wedding is her business. The price at the pump is ours,” she said. Senda Norte says it will post the first delivery totals on Saturday evening.
