Word: calderon
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...result is this week's watered down energy reform legislation, supported by the govenrment and most of the opposition. It amounts to far less than the hungry companies had hoped for when President Felipe Calderon first floated the idea of opening up the oil industry in January. There are no sweeping constitutional changes to allow foreign corporations a share in the deepwater reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, which may hold as much as 50 billion barrels. Nor will the trans-nationals be able to build and run refineries on Mexican soil as Calderon proposed in his bill filed...
However, analysts say that for Calderon to be able to touch the sacred cow of Mexican oil at all is a major advance, which could open the door to deeper changes in the following years in Mexico, the third biggest supplier of crude to the United States after Canada and Saudi Arabia. "The law creates a very important framework on which more regulations can be developed," said energy analyst David Shields. "It allows for contracts with foreign companies that can be much more flexible than anything we have seen before...
Pushing for an oil law was always a tough bet for the conservative Calderon, who has promised a series of reforms to modernize Mexico. When the petroleum industry was expropriated from American and British companies in 1938, it was trumpeted as one of the great gains of the Mexican revolution. "The oil is ours," cheered millions in celebrations across the country alongside promises of riches for all. Seven decades later, leaders used the same slogans to defend a state oil monopoly more closed to foreign investment than even that of Cuba or Venezuela...
Spearheading the opposition was Calderon's old nemesis Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a silvery-haired leftist who lost the 2006 presidential election to the conservative by a whisker. Lopez Obrador contended that Calderon had been spuriously placed in power so he could loot Mexico's treasure trove of black gold, which provides the federal government with 40% of its budget. When Calderon tried to push through reform in the spring, Lopez Obrador directed lawmakers from his party to occupy the podiums of Congress for several weeks, until the government conceded to a national debate. After a Congressional commission finally hammered...
...Calderon finally got his reform through by forging an alliance with the moderate wing of Lopez Obrador's party, some of whom have accused the leftist leader of being too authoritarian and confrontational. Following a series of backdoor meetings, the majority of leftist lawmakers not only ignored calls to blockade the podium again but actually voted in favor of the bill. The result was thus seen as a major political victory for the president, who built a consensus on a difficult issue and isolated the hard left. "With this reform the national economy wins; all Mexicans win," Calderon said...