Mexican News
The latest news from and about Mexican issues.Friday, November 07, 2008
Mexico-US: Reaching Out to Obama.
IPS, November 6, 2008 - “Following President-elect Barack Obama’s triumph in the U.S. elections, the Mexican government hopes to enter a new stage in the country’s relations with its northern neighbour. But it will be no easy task, especially considering that Obama has said he is interested in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which links the United States, Canada and Mexico, in order to improve its labour and environmental standards. He also voted for the 2006 Secure Fence Act, which authorised the construction of 700 additional miles (1,100 kilometres) of walls and fences along the lengthy U.S.-Mexican border, although since then he has softened his support for the barrier.” Read more.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Pemex Enters Gulf Ultra Deepwater in Search of Oil.
Bloomberg, October 22, 2008 - “Petroleos Mexicanos has started seismic studies for oil under seas three times deeper than anything it has drilled, marking its entry into ultra deepwater as it seeks to offset an almost five-year decline in output. Pemex, as the state-owned oil company is known, began laying seismic cables in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 18, according to a bulletin on Mexico’s Merchant Marine Web site. The study of the area just west of the Mexican side of the Gulf’s El Perdido Foldbelt will last until April and provide two-dimensional data on deposits in water as deep as 3,500 meters (11,484 feet).” Read more.
Spain’s ex-prime minister blasts ‘new religion’ of climate change.
Yahoo News, October 22, 2008 - “Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar Wednesday dismissed climate change as a “new religion” that is drawing hundreds of billions of euros at a time of economic crisis. Aznar made the remarks at the presentation of a book by Czech President Vaclav Klaus, “Blue Planet in Green Shackles”, in which he also questions the widely held theories about climate change.” Read more.
Reconsidering a long tradition.
Houston Chronicle, October 22, 2008 - “The worldwide economic slump is causing more Mexicans to consider allowing private investment in Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., said Tuesday. ‘I think that we do see the beginnings of a thaw in the way Mexicans of different political persuasions understand how reforming the energy sector in Mexico is going to be critical, not only in terms of what has happened these past two months in the world economy, but our ability to continue growing,’ said Sarukhan, during a visit with the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board. ‘I think that the global slowdown has forced many in Congress of different political persuasions that the status quo of Pemex cannot stand and that something has to be done.’” Read more.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
New Union With Canada And Mexico: Open Borders For US.
Amero Weblog, October 18, 2008 - “The Security and Prosperity Partnership between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. is underway at this moment. Why such a massive international cooperative trade program has not been promoted by our government, may seem a mystery. It is touted as an arrangement to ‘increase security and enhance prosperity’ through ‘greater cooperation and information sharing.’ Why so little fanfare if it’s such a great thing?” Read more.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Mexico May Say Oil Output Fell, Pressuring Congress: Week Ahead.
Bloomberg, September 22, 2008 - “Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s state- owned oil company, may report that crude output fell for the 25th consecutive month in August, adding pressure on Congress to take up delayed legislation aimed at increasing production. Pemex probably extracted less than 2.842 million barrels a day, the amount the company produced in August 2007, said David Shields, an independent energy analyst and publisher of Energia magazine. The problem for Mexico is exacerbated by a more than 25 percent decline in oil prices since peaks reached in July.” Read more.
Mexico to host World Environment Day in June 2009.
AFP, September 22, 2008 - “Mexico will host the next World Environment Day in June 2009, the head of the UN Environment Program said here Monday, praising the country’s efforts to tackle climate change.” Read more.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
The well: Noble unit gets contract from Pemex.
Houston Chronicle, September 19, 2008 - “Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, awarded a contract to a unit of Noble Corp., the third-largest U.S. offshore oil driller, for the use of an offshore jack-up rig to boost production at its Cantarell field. The $131.9 million contract is for 731 days beginning Feb. 10, 2009, the Mexico City-based company said in an e-mailed statement. The rig can operate in 250 feet of water and can drill at least 20,000 feet, it said.” Read more.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Armoring NAFTA: The Battleground for Mexico’s Future.
CIP Americas Program, September 19, 2008 - “In April 2007, on the eve of the North American Trilateral Summit, Thomas Shannon, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, described the SPP’s purpose with remarkable candor: The SPP, he declared, ‘understands North America as a shared economic space,’ one that ‘we need to protect,’ not only on the border but ‘more broadly throughout North America’ through improved ‘security cooperation.’ He added: ‘To a certain extent, we’re armoring NAFTA.’” Read more.
Displaced People: NAFTA’s Most Important Product.
Political Affairs, September 19, 2008 - “Since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, the U.S. Congress has debated and passed several new bilateral trade agreements with Peru, Jordan and Chile, as well as the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Congressional debates over immigration policy have proceeded as though those trade agreements bore no relationship to the waves of displaced people migrating to the United States, looking for work. As Rufino Domínguez, former coordinator of the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations (FIOB), points out, U.S. trade and immigration policy are part of a single system, and the negotiation of NAFTA was an important step in developing this system. ‘There are no jobs’ in Mexico, he says, ‘and NAFTA drove the price of corn so low that it’s not economically possible to plant a crop anymore. We come to the United States to work because there’s no alternative.’” Read more.
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