By RICARDO CASTILLO Lozoya Case Postponed The start date for the trial of former Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) Director Emilio Lozoya Austin was postponed on request of the Mexican Attorney General’s Office due to pandemic-related complications. The deadline was supposed to be last Sunday, March 7. Judge José Artemio Zúñiga Mendoza, however, granted investigators more time to conclude the presentation of
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO Women March Nationwide From A and B to Y and Z, Mexican women will protest in Monday, March 8, International Women’s Day, against macho violence in the nation. Though in the past, much of the attention of previous demonstrations has been centered around the Mexico City main square Zócalo, this year the programming for the protests will
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO While here in Mexico, President Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) on Wednesday, March 3, was celebrating the 58 to 48 passage (with 22 abstentions) of his electricity reform bill the night before by the Senate, back in Texas the state government was busy issuing walking papers to nonprofit Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot) CEO Bill Magness, considered
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO Pemex Drops Fitch, But It’s Not Reciprocal The Mexican state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) dropped the international ratings firm Fitch from its budget on Tuesday, March 2, saying that it “no longer needs” the New York-based company’s services. Fitch’s ratings of the humongous Pemex debt has been harsh, and in its latest move. Fitch downgraded
Read more
By KELIN DILLON Following the approval of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) controversial electricity reform bill, López Obrador said Mexico would be rewriting existing contracts with electrical companies “to update them to the new reality.” The bill gives Mexico’s state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) priority uploading of energy the also-state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) power grid, above private companies,
Read more
By KELIN DILLON In the last decade, Mexico reportedly had to import over $20 billion per year worth of gasoline to cover the country’s growing demand, following Mexico’s state-owned fuel company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) inability to meet the market’s needs. Pemex reportedly suffered huge losses in revenue and production in 2020 after the start of the covid-19 pandemic. The company
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO Committees Approve Energy Bill Late Monday, March 1, the Mexican Senate’s Energy, Environment and Legislative Studies Committees approved President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) controversial electric energy bill, which went to the Senate floor on Tuesday, March 2, for a fast-track vote. AMLO had asked Congress to approve the bill without even the slightest of changes, despite
Read more
By KELIN DILLON According to figures from Mexico’s National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI), Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) presidential office is among the top 10 least transparent agencies in the government, based on it having one of the lowest response rates to public requests for information. The Office of the
Read more
By KELIN DILLON Amid the approval of Mexico’s controversial energy reform, the companies the initiative is based around, Mexico’s state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), each reportedly lost billions of pesos in 2020. According to Pemex’s 2020 financial report, the company lost 480.9 billion pesos last financial year, a staggering 38.2 percent increase in loss from 2019,
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO AMLO, Biden in Virtual Meet On Monday, March 1, U.S. President Joe Biden is slated to hold a virtual conference with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). This will be the second virtual gathering both presidents have, the last one having been on Jan. 22. According to White House sources, the two are expected to discuss
Read more