Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

Mexican Opposition Moves to a Revocation of Mandate Referendum Against President Lopez Obrador

April 6, 2022

 

Mexican election workers, April 5, 2022	Photovoltaic panels at the Salsipuedes solar plant in Villa de Arista, San Luis Potosi state, Mexico, file, March 9, 2022 bloomberg

 

Protests call for boycott of AMLO's revocation of mandate vote

Citizens at marches in several states urged people not to vote

Mexico News Daily, Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Mexicans took to the streets across the country Sunday to call on their fellow citizens not to vote in the upcoming referendum on President López Obrador’s leadership.

A revocation of mandate referendum in which citizens will get the opportunity to have their say about whether López Obrador should complete his six-year term will be held this Sunday.

Marches and rallies during which protesters called for citizens to boycott the vote were held in Mexico City and numerous states including Querétaro, Chihuahua, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Veracruz, Aguascalientes, Yucatán, San Luis Potosí and México state.

Protests call for boycott of AMLO's revocation of mandate vote (mexiconewsdaily.com)

***

AMLO’s energy policies put US $10 billion in investments at risk, US warns

Trade Representative urges Mexico to 'discontinue these concerning actions'

Mexico News Daily, Tuesday, April 5, 2022

The United States government has warned that Mexico’s energy sector policies place US $10 billion in U.S. investments at risk.

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai cited the 11-digit figure in a letter to Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier last Thursday.

According to the newspaper Reforma, which saw the private letter, Tai said the Electricity Industry Law – which gives power generated by the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) priority on the national grid over that produced by private and renewable energy companies –  poses a great risk to United States energy projects in Mexico.

AMLO's energy policies put US $10 billion in investments at risk, US warns (mexiconewsdaily.com)

***

Mexico slips back into No. 1 position as United States’ chief trading partner

Mexico, China and Canada have near equal trade values with the U.S.

Mexico News Daily, Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Mexico was the United States’ chief trading partner in the first two months of the year by a fine margin, knocking Canada off the top spot.

Mexico had US $113.19 billion trade with its northern neighbor in January and February, according to the United States Census Bureau, with an $18.4 billion trade surplus in Mexico’s favor.

China and Canada have almost the same value of trade with the U.S. as Mexico.

Mexico slips back into No. 1 position as United States' chief trading partner (mexiconewsdaily.com)

***

AMLO’s Power Bill Stalls as Mexican Lawmakers Demand Changes

Opposition won’t back bill if regulators lose independence Electricity proposal probably won’t be passed, Eurasia says

By Maya Averbuch and Amy Stillman

Bloomberg, March 9, 2022, 10:02 AM EST

Leading opposition lawmakers in Mexico say they won’t back the government’s nationalist electricity bill unless it changes significantly, reducing chances one of the president’s most ambitious proposals is approved in congress any time soon.

The legislators - whose support is crucial for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to get his bill passed - want to see modifications including preserving independent energy regulators and giving guarantees to private companies about their role in the market, among other concessions.

While the ruling Morena party aims to have a vote in the lower house by April, officials from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which governed Mexico for most of the 20th century, have hardened their position and see the debate delayed until at least September, when congress reconvenes after regional elections.

“We’re not going to fall into a game of pressure by the party that controls the majority,” Pedro Armentia Lopez, a PRI lawmaker in the lower house’s energy committee, told Bloomberg News. 

“The reform will not pass as it is,” Mariano Gonzalez Aguirre, another PRI lawmaker, said.

The bill is one of the centerpieces of Lopez Obrador’s government and seeks to give the state-owned utility Comision Federal de Electricidad, or CFE, priority in the electricity market. The president made boosting state control of Mexico’s energy sector a key campaign promise, saying becoming self-sufficient would help revive the country’s economy.

Business leaders have warned the legislation, which limits the share of private companies to 46% of the total market, will hurt Mexico’s investment climate. Meanwhile, environmental activists fret that prioritizing the state utility’s aging facilities over private renewable energy projects could increase carbon emissions.

Morena and its allies have a majority in both chambers of congress but they need more than 50 votes from opposition legislators in the lower house and at least 10 in the senate to pass the bill, which requires a supermajority given it contains constitutional amendments. 

The uphill legislative process has led analysts at Eurasia Group to give the bill “very low odds of approval,” reducing the chances it passes to 15% from an estimated 30% last year.

There is “no indication that the ruling coalition is more willing to dilute the reform, nor the opposition to support it,” Eurasia’s Carlos Petersen wrote in a research note March 1. 

Bill Changes

Among the changes to the bill requested by PRI lawmakers are ensuring renewable energy is a priority for Mexico and explicitly recognizing the role of private generators in the market. They also demand that the country’s regulatory bodies remain autonomous, including the Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Hydrocarbons Commission and grid operator Cenace.

In its current form, the bill proposes to fold the regulators into the Energy Ministry and CFE, effectively eliminating their role as independent oversight authorities. 

Yet so far Morena has conceded very little and AMLO, as the president is known, has tried to sway legislators using his political clout instead of seeking to negotiate with the opposition.

“When there is no intervention by the public sector, individual interests and a desire for profit predominate,” the president told reporters during his daily briefing on Tuesday. “I make a call to legislators to put public interest before all, the interest of the nation, not the interest of private companies.”

Morena’s Manuel Rodriguez, chair of the energy committee, promised that the legislation will provide assurances for private investments. 

Juan Ramiro Robledo Ruiz, chair of the constitutional affairs committee, said that the opposition’s proposals to modify the bill will be taken into account by the congressional committees in charge of presenting a new draft of the bill.

“All proposals to change the initiative will be considered,” he said in reply to questions.

AMLO’s Power Bill Stalls as Mexico Lawmakers Demand Key Changes - Bloomberg

***

Share the link of this article with your facebook friends