Mexico's President on Dangerous Ground as He Pushes Pemex Reform Tracy Wilkinson and Richard Fausset - The Los Angeles Times
go to original August 6, 2013

Emmanuel Martinez, foreground, left, a 25-year-old government worker, sings the Mexican national anthem along with a crowd of hundreds to close a rally against opening the national oil company, Pemex, to foreign investment. "Oil is a treasure that belongs to the Mexican people," Martinez said. (Richard Fausset/Los Angeles Times)

MEXICO CITY — If Mexico had a crown jewel, it would be the giant state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. Year after year, it has poured billions of dollars into the state treasury, historically paying for schools, hospitals, dams, highways, ports and more.

The seizure of foreign oil companies 75 years ago that created the company is a cause for annual celebrations affirming Mexico's fierce sense of independence from outside interference.

Yet even as the country's new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, credits Pemex with building the nation, his administration acknowledges that the notoriously inefficient conglomerate is in trouble: If it is not opened to private and foreign investment, Mexico, the world's ninth-largest oil producer, will become a net energy importer by 2020, officials say.

As Peña Nieto moves ahead with a plan to overhaul Pemex, he is navigating the most perilous political minefield of his young presidency. He is toying with taboos and challenging revered perceptions surrounding the nation's top revenue earner. And he is meeting with impassioned opposition.

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