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Mexicans protest energy reform plan

Thousands of Mexicans took to the streets on April 27 to protest an energy reform proposal, which they say would allow more private investment in the country's oil industry.

The energy reform bill, introduced in the Senate in early April, aims to give the state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), more flexibility to hire private companies to help with refining, deep water exploration and production. Opponents say opening the industry to private investment would threaten Mexico's sovereignty. Mexico's constitution has restricted private investment in energy since 1938.

Mexico is the world's sixth largest producer of crude oil and the third biggest supplier of oil to the us. Output and reserves are, however, falling after years of underinvestment. The government garners 40 per cent of its revenue from Pemex. According to the ruling National Action Party, the debt-ridden company badly needs foreign expertise to boost sagging production. "The plan only seeks to harness private sector know-how...The state will never lose control of the company,' said the energy minister, Georgina Kessel, in a media release.

The bill is bitterly opposed by the left leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution (pdr) and its allies, who disrupted the upper and lower houses with round-the-clock protests for 16 days in early April. They lifted the protest only after the government agreed to hold a national debate on the issue. However, even before the national debate was held, Pemex announced that it had invited bids to expand a petrochemical plant on the Gulf of Mexico, underscoring its reliance on private companies in some areas of its operations. Pemex's announcement has further angered the opponents.

Taking part in the protest, pdr leader and former presidential candidate, Manuel Lopez Obrador, said that the plan by President Felipe Calderon violates "the spirit and letter' of Mexico's constitution. Addressing the rally, Obrador warned that the left parties will take over the Congress if necessary unless the government backtracks on its privatization plan.