Other factors that led to the protests include high inflation, a weak peso, widespread violence due to the Mexican Drug War, and Peña Nieto's low approval rating and corruption allegations.

Beginning with the Mexican oil expropriation in 1938, the government controlled the country's entire petroleum industry, including both production and retail sales.

"[1] The rise in gasoline prices was also a result of the government ending subsidies to the oil industry[2] and may have been motivated by projected budget deficits because of the Mexican peso's weakening value relative to the US dollar.

[3] The price hike, scheduled to begin on 1 January 2017, coincided with an economy marked by high inflation in addition to the weak peso.

[4][5] Tensions in Mexico were also raised by the high homicide rates associated with the continued Mexican Drug War, which had begun over ten years earlier.