Exit Stage Left: PRD says "The Pact for Mexico is dead"

"The PEMEX reforms killed the Pact" - Jesús Zambrano, PRD chairman

Guadalajara -
The national chair of the far left wing Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) says it will not rejoin the much promoted Pact for Mexico, a year old agreement by Mexico's three major political parties to put aside partisan bickering and work together for the common good.

PRD left the pact on Nov. 30, in protest over the Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) constitutional amendments which yesterday were passed overwhelmingly by both houses of Mexico's federal congress. Energy reform vote nears; PRD exits Pact for Mexico.

The center right National Action Party (PAN) and center left Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) remain committed to working together on many legislative proposals of the year old government of PRI president Enrique Peña Nieto.

The influential U.S. magazine Foreign Policy recently named Peña Nieto one of the world's top 100 global thinkers and decision makers, in part based upon his promotion of the Pact for Mexico.

In congressional debates earlier this week in both chambers, PRD floor managers called advocates of the PEMEX reforms "traitors to Mexico," and condemned them for "selling out to foreign interests," especially to the United States.

After the Senate vote late Tuesday night, PRD spokesmen said the party would attempt to override the PEMEX reforms via a national referendum in 2015. Earlier in the day PRD commenced a legal action before Mexico's Supreme Judicial Court, contending the internal structure of the 75 year old state oil monopoly, born after the 1938 nationalization of the industry by president Lázaro Cárdenas, could not be modified without direct citizen approval. The Court has issued no ruling in the case, nor has it indicated that it will accept the issue for full judicial review. Mexican leftists go to court to stop PEMEX reforms.

PRD chair Jesús Zambrano said today, "We won't be returning to the Pact until the (PEMEX) errors have been corrected. The reforms killed the Pact."

Dec. 22 - Secretary of government Osorio Chong today called for unity among Mexico's three major political parties in the wake of the just enacted PEMEX reforms.

Dec. 15 - Jalisco and all of Yucatán peninsula approve PEMEX reforms
Dec. 13 - Mexican states rush to endorse PEMEX reforms
Dec. 12 - Mexico's Cámara - a House out of order?
Dec. 11 - Mexico's Chamber of Deputies wastes no time, approves PEMEX reforms
Dec. 11 - Mexico's PEMEX: senators open the door to foreign expertise and private capital
Sept. 19 - Opinion: Mexico's Left determined to shackle the nation to the past

PRD national chair Jesús Zambrano: "We're not going to just stand around with our arms crossed. We're going to keep working to throw out the energy reforms"

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