|
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2008 
Mexico's Politics, Oil Mix
 James C. McKinley Jr. - New York Times
go to original
| | Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the former Mexico City mayor and presidential candidate, has called any private investment in Pemex a threat to national security. | | |
Mexico City - A bitter debate over what to do about Mexico's ailing state oil monopoly has dominated national politics in recent weeks, tapping strong emotions on both sides and resurrecting the political fortunes of the leftist leader who narrowly lost the 2006 presidential election.
Revamping the oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, is perhaps the greatest challenge facing the administration of President Felipe Calderón, a conservative economist who won the disputed 2006 election by a razor-thin margin.
At stake in the debate is not only the future of the Mexican economy but also the supply of oil to the United States. Last year, Mexico was the third largest supplier of crude imports to the U.S. market.
The government has neglected the public company for 20 years, siphoning off its profits. Now, production is dropping, reserves are dwindling, and Pemex lacks the technology to go after undersea oil, officials said.
Calderón and his conservative National Action Party favor permitting some form of joint ventures with private firms to allow Mexico to tap potential deep-water reserves.
But his rival, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the former Mexico City mayor and presidential candidate, has called any private investment in Pemex a threat to national security and has accused Calderón of secretly seeking to sell off the industry to private investors, a charge the president denies.
"The government, for 25 years, has acted in a deliberate manner, on purpose, to ruin Pemex because they have only one goal, to make Pemex into booty to be plundered and privatize the oil business," López Obrador said.
He casts the president's proposals as a threat to national sovereignty, asserting Mexico "would be condemned to quit being a country and would turn into a colony."
The leftist leader has skillfully used the issue to catapult himself back onto center stage in national politics after a year of remaining on the fringes. At mass rallies, he has threatened blockades of roads, airports and oil wells by his followers if the president even introduces a bill to Congress.
With leftists promising unrest, Calderón warned last week that ignoring the company's problems would cause a catastrophe.
Yet as of Monday, Calderón and his allies in Congress still have not submitted a bill, an indication of their fears of a tough legislative fight and of mass protests. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us