Leftist Leader Lopez Obrador Blasts President Pena Nieto for Neoliberal Gas Hike teleSUR
go to original July 2, 2016

Lopez Obrador, a two-time presidential contender, former mayor of Mexico City and one of the country’s best-known opposition political actors. (LopezObrador.org.mx)

The leader of Mexico’s National Regeneration Movement, or Morena party, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, criticized the Ministry of Finance's latest increase in the price of gasoline after President Enrique Peña Nieto promised there would be no price hikes on fuel back in 2014.

“Prices are going up again, Peña Nieto is a liar because he said there would be no more hikes in prices, he was waiting until after the elections to fool people once again,” the left-wing Lopez Obrador said in a video published online.

In the clip, which was recorded at a gas station, Lopez Obrador denounced the Peña Nieto administration, which has now increased gasoline prices by 26 percent while the minimum wage has increased by just 10 percent since 2014.

The price of a liter (1/4 gallon) of gasoline in Mexico is now US$0.80 compared to the US$0.59 before the price hike. Meanwhile, the national minimum wage has been raised from US$70.10 Mexican pesos per day, around US$4.08, to US$73.04 Mexican pesos per day, which is approximately US$4.25.

Lopez Obrador criticized state-run oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos, also known as Pemex, for selling gasoline in the U.S. at just US$ 0.40 per liter, almost half the cost of the price in Mexico. This is due to the 2013 neoliberal energy reform implemented by Peña Nieto, which opened the Mexican oil company to the U.S.

Meanwhile, the Mexican government has defended the decision to sell cheap oil in the U.S., saying it is a business strategy to compete on the U.S. market. But critics have dismissed the claims, pointing to the U.S. being a major producer of petroleum-related products, including gasoline, with some of the highest prices in the hemisphere.

Read the rest at teleSUR

Related: Pemex No Longer to Be Main Producer of Oil in Mexico (teleSUR)

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