by Kathleen Bohné
Welcome to the Sunday edition of The Mexpatriate. In today’s newsletter:
- Energy reform initiative under scrutiny
- Mexican journalists under fire
- The embattled Tren Maya changes course…again
Energy reform initiative under scrutiny
President López Obrador is taking his show on the road. He announced on January 27 that he will travel the country to “share my point of view” with the people of Mexico regarding his proposed electricity reform. “It is completely unjust and unfair for citizens not to be informed, the right to information must be guaranteed,” he asserted, referencing prior administrations’ legislation, which “the people did not [know] anything about.”
The president and his MORENA party assert this reform will undo much of the privatization of Mexico’s electricity and energy markets
While this constitutional amendment is being debated in congress, U.S. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer M Granholm, issued a statement regarding her meetings with López Obrador and other senior officials in Mexico on January 21. In diplomatic language, the letter contradicted the image of a “successful” bi-national encounter as presented by AMLO.
“…We expressly conveyed the Biden-Harris Administration’s real concerns with the potential negative impact of Mexico’s proposed energy reforms on U.S. private investment in Mexico. The proposed reform could also hinder U.S.-Mexico joint efforts on clean energy and climate.”
They are not the only ones who are worried.
“Mr. López Obrador’s plans are a grave threat, not only to the economy but also to the rule of law,” warns an article in The Economist from January 8. The IMCO (Mexican Institute for Competitiveness) think tank described the initiative as an “historical regression” that would raise costs for both Mexican households and businesses.
Monserrat Ramiro, former director of the National Energy Regulatory Commission stated before Mexico’s Congress on January 18: “The initiative under discussion today will have profound implications for Mexico and its place in the world, its business and environmental agreements, but above all, its ability to provide the Mexican people with the conditions for development not just today, but in the future.”
Why is this bill inspiring such bleak rhetoric? The president and his MORENA party assert this reform will undo much of the privatization of Mexico’s electricity and energy markets (or “commercial slavery” as described by the Secretary of Energy, Rocío Nahle) brought about by landmark reforms in 1992 and 2013, marking a return to energy “sovereignty”. To which detractors say: “yes, exactly our point.”
Mexican journalists under fire
On Sunday, January 23, journalist Lourdes Maldonado was murdered, found shot to death in her car outside her home in Tijuana. Days before she had attended a vigil for another murdered colleague, Margarito Martínez Esquivel, who was found dead outside his home on January 17. Maldonado was the third journalist to fall victim to homicide in Mexico in 2022 (José Luis Gamboa, director of an online daily news outlet, was murdered on January 10 in Veracruz), a grim reminder of the danger faced by the press in Mexico. “We do not allow impunity…” –President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“I fear for my life,” said Maldonado at a press conference in March 2019. She had traveled from Tijuana to Mexico City to attend one of the president’s “mañaneras”, to ask for support and for justice. She had been in a labor dispute since 2013 with a media company owned by former governor of Baja California, Jaime Bonilla, which was finally decided in her favor four days before her murder. Maldonado had covered state politics and corruption for years and was registered in the state protection program for journalists.
Protests and vigils were held in cities all over the country last week in response to the murders. In López Obrador’s term, 28 journalists have been killed in apparent connection to their work according to free speech advocacy organization, Artículo 19. At this rate, AMLO’s “sexenio” will surpass those of his predecessors in this tragic statistic.
The embattled Tren Maya changes course…again
One of President López Obrador’s ambitious “megaprojects” caused a scandal this week when it was announced that after one year of work (including the removal of 20,000 trees) on a portion of the train’s track in Playa del Carmen, the decision had been made to change course. The government had earmarked 522 million pesos to build an elevated viaduct there which will now remain unfinished. The reason given: it will take too long. The president affirmed last week that “come rain, thunder or lightning, we are going to open the Tren Maya by the end of next year.”
The region is undoubtedly one of the country’s richest in terms of historical and natural gems, but also the poorest in economic development
This week’s announcement echoes one from FONATUR (National Tourism Development Fund) in August 2021 when the train’s route was modified to not go through Mérida, as had originally been planned. According to officials, the decision was made for efficiency reasons, to be able to deliver the project by the president’s deadline. The sense of urgency coming from the top has been building: in a November 2021 decree AMLO allowed FONATUR to begin work on the last sections of the track without waiting for environmental impact studies. The execution of this final stage of the project has been handed over to the Department of Defense (SEDENA), in a controversial example of the president’s increased reliance on the military.
