San Luis Potosí puts PEMEX reforms over the top; Enrique Peña Nieto orders immediate publication of constitutional amendments

For the first time in 75 years, Mexican oil production is no longer a state monopoly

Guadalajara -
Legislators in San Luis Potosí voted unanimously this morning to ratify various amendments to the federal constitution of Mexico, which will open Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) to private capital and foreign technical expertise. San Luis was the 17th state to ratify, and the last needed for formal adoption of the provisions.

This afternoon the measure passed in the Chihuahua state assembly by a vote of 26-6.

Once debate began on the PEMEX reforms, they flew through the Senate, the House of Deputies and the required number of states in less than one week.

Leftist opposition to the amendments quickly withered and proved insufficient to deter the heavy majorities which voted in favor of them. But Mexico's main left wing party, PRD, says it will continue its fight in court. Jalisco and all of Yucatán peninsula approve PEMEX reforms.

President Enrique Peña Nieto, who is on an official visit to Turkey, ordered that the amendments be published in Mexico's Federal Registry as soon as the Permanent Congressional Committee has certified the ratification results. They will take effect within the next few days.

PEMEX was established 75 years ago, when president Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized the Mexican petroleum industry on March 18, 1938, expelling foreign oil companies from the country and seizing their assets.

Dec. 18 - Twenty-five states have ratified the reforms as of today.

Dec. 20 - PEMEX reforms are now officially the law
Dec. 13 - Mexican states rush to endorse PEMEX reforms
Dec. 12 - Exit Stage Left: PRD says "The Pact for Mexico is dead"
Dec. 10 - Mexican leftists go to court to stop PEMEX reforms
Dec. 8 - PEMEX amendments are on the legislative "fast track"
Dec. 7 - Mexico's congress slams through political reforms, as it prepares to take up energy ones

Mexican newspaper headline from 1938, proclaiming the nationalization of the oil industry - just six days after the German Anschluss of Austria ("Mexico doesn't recognize the annexation of Austria")

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