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 Editorials | Issues | May 2008 
Mexico Lawmakers Will Reach Into Pockets to Fight Oil Proposal
 Adriana Lopez Caraveo & Jens Erik Gould - Bloomberg
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Mexican opposition lawmakers plan to fork over part of their salaries to fight President Felipe Calderon's plan to loosen the state monopoly on energy.
Legislators from the Broad Progressive Front, or FAP, will contribute money to fund television advertisements and other efforts against the proposal for state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, lawmaker Alejandro Sanchez Camacho said today.
FAP lawmakers are close allies of former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who began a nationwide tour today to criticize the proposal. The FAP blockaded last month to protest the plan, forcing Calderon's party to postpone a vote on the bill.
"Calderon's reform violates the constitution and will hand over oil to foreign private capital," said Sanchez Camacho, a member of Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution in the lower house of .
Calderon submitted legislation on April 8 to give Pemex, as the company is known, more leeway for hiring private and foreign companies to explore, produce, refine and transport oil. The government is looking for ways to finance oil exploration and staunch a decline in output and reserves.
Lopez Obrador's supporters have called Calderon's proposal a betrayal of Mexico's constitution that would transfer the country's nationalized oil riches to the local business elite and foreigners.
FAP lawmakers contributed up to 2,000 pesos ($190) each to support their blockade of in April, Sanchez Camacho said. He didn't say how much would be spent on the new campaign against the Pemex proposal.
The Senate will hold a series of debates on the issue from May 12 to July 22. It is unclear whether it will then call an extraordinary session to vote on the bill.
To contact the reporters on this story: Adriana Lopez Caraveo in Mexico City at adrianalopez(at)bloomberg.net; Jens Erik Gould in Mexico City at jgould9(at)bloomberg.net |
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