RE: “A Second Mexican Revolution?”

By: Maria Alicia Nuñez, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Dear Editor,

Allow me to submit the following letter in response to your August 17 article, “A Second Mexican Revolution?”

The article focuses on the recent energy reform, in which the Mexican government will allow foreign private investors to participate in the previously monopolized energy market. Although the reform promises to stimulate the energy sector by reducing production costs, Mexican nationalism is highly reliant on their ownership of its natural resources. At first glance, the reform seems backwards compared to Mexico’s post-revolutionary ideology. The country is known to intervene in the market in order to promote their national interests. However, they have now created licenses that grant foreign companies a space to participate in their energy market. Even though Pemex will now be considered a “state productive enterprise,” it seems like a fancy term coined to conceal the interests of private foreign investors. The article provides a thorough description of U.S. interests in regards to the Mexican oil, but does not specifically address Mexico’s own development.

In response to Foreign Affairs’ article “A Second Mexican Revolution?”

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