Every Mexican knows the deeds of Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, the President who expanded, consolidated, and radicalized the most urgent popular demands of the Mexican revolution. The radical land reform undertaken in the Cárdenas administration was complemented by the expropriation and nationalization of the oil industry, which was in full control of British and US corporations, leaving meager benefits for the country. On March 18, 1938, Cárdenas expropriated the oil fields along with the capital these companies had invested after they refused to raise workers’ wages. He founded the state-owned PEMEX company that cemented the industrialization of the country in the decades to come, but furthermore, gave a legal recourse to claim resources for the nation. An ideal instrument for resource-rich nations with a colonial past, like Mexico.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about energy sovereignty and highlighted that the cherry on top of the pie of neoliberalism in Mexico had been the full liberalization (de-nationalization) of the energy sector (oil and electric power industries), through illegal and/or immoral means. In that sense, AMLO’s proposal to reform the energy sector to serve the national interests first, and only than those of transnational energy corporations, like the Spanish company Iberdrola, is the biggest attempt to get rid of privatization, which is only a pleonasm for corruption. It wasn’t easy, but the bill got the votes to be passed in both chambers of Congress. The drama, however, is just beginning because powerful interest’s tentacles, such as those of multinational energy corporations, reach everywhere when they are at stake. Unfortunately, self-proclaimed independent media and the judiciary aren't always exempt from this influence.
As journalist Kurt Hackbarth has shown, international media has played a key role in promoting the lie of AMLO’s fixation with fossil fuels. Ironically, the bill gives preference to hydroelectric plants, which have been underused for decades to artificially open the market to private investment and incidentally, caused massive floods in the lowlands of the state of Tabasco. In fact, Mexico relies less on coal power plants than the USA or Germany and only accounts for less than 1% of the total carbon emissions on the planet. Nevertheless, many of these outlets celebrated Peña Nieto’s energy reform back in 2013, which ended the state monopoly over the oil industry and opened the door for fracking, which by the way, the current administration prohibited because of its proven harmful effects.
Two weeks ago, a Federal Judge, Juan Pablo Gómez-Fierro, ruled the unconstitutionality of the bill after a private company appealed for its review. At least, thirty more review petitions have piled up this week only, all promoted by private companies, who argue that the President’s proposal harms the environment and favors state-owned companies to the detriment of private ones. President López Obrador sent a letter to the Supreme Court Chief Justice, Arturo Zaldívar, asking to start an investigation of possible private interest meddling in Judge Gómez-Fierro’s ruling. Zaldívar’s reply was sober and limited itself to state the independence of the Judicial branch. AMLO, then, stated that if the Supreme Court ruled the bill unconstitutional, he would seek to amend the constitution for which two-thirds of Congress is necessary. It is almost impossible to not read the course of events through the light of next June midterm elections.
There is some sense of poetic and historical justice in the fact that the unfolding of these events happened the same week as the anniversary of the expropriation and nationalization of the oil industry. More than eighty years after it, Mexico is today in similar historical conjunction between a period when the nation lost its sovereignty to private capital and a moment where the government serves the interests of the majority of the people.
Chew for the week
Here’s what else you need to know this week:
“AMLO is Fighting to Make Mexico’s Energy a Public Resource”
“El espíritu del agua en una ley Ciudadana. Agua para todos, agua para la vida”