Pozo de Pasiones: The Energy Reform Debate in Mexico

This year, Mexico has found itself embroiled in a passionate debate about the future of Pemex, the country’s state-owned oil company. Faced with the dual problems of a severe decline in oil reserves, production and exports, and an ever increasing government dependence on oil revenue, policymakers and citizens alike have struggled to determine how to [...]

Obama likely to delay overhaul of NAFTA

Bloomberg, 11/20/2008
Barack Obama, who threatened during the presidential campaign to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement unless he could renegotiate it, may delay trying to rework the accord as he focuses on the U.S. economic crisis. After he becomes president in January, Obama will order a study on the world’s largest trade agreement, [...]

Book Release: Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes

Despite various reform efforts, Mexico has experienced economic stability but little growth. Today more than half of all Mexican workers are employed informally, and one out of every four is poor. Santiago Levy’s new book, Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes, argues that incoherent social programs significantly contribute to this state of affairs and it suggests reforms [...]

Overview of the Mérida Initiative

For more information on the Mérida Initiative, check out the following resources:
1. Overview of the Mérida Initiative by Andrew Selee, 5/2008
2. Six Key Issues in United States-Mexico Security Cooperation by Eric Olson, 7/2008
3. Final Appropriations Bill
4. Congressional Testimony: Role of Military to Military Cooperation and the Implications and Potentials Risks to Civil-Military Relations by Roderic [...]

Mexico Under Siege: Los Angeles Times Security Blog

President Felipe Calderon has deployed 40,000 soldiers and 5,000 federal police officers to secure large swaths of the country against entrenched drug traffickers. Criminals unleash machine guns and grenades in urban battles that the State Department describes as “equivalent to military small-unit combat.” In the year and a half since Calderon launched a crackdown against [...]

Infrastructure investment will be 5% of GDP in 2009, says Carstens (in Spanish)

La Jornada, 11/21/2008
Finance Minister Agustín Carstens announced that in 2009 public investment in infrastructure will reach an unprecedented 5% of gross domestic product (GDP). He indicated that 50 billon pesos would be spent on infrastructure projects in highways and railroads and 33 billion pesos on hydraulic projects.
Read more…

Mexico detains former top anti-drug prosecutor

Associated Press, 11/21/2008
Mexican authorities detained a former top anti-drug prosecutor on Thursday as part of an investigation into possible links between senior law enforcements officials and drug cartels. Several high-ranking Mexican law enforcement officials already have been detained during Operation Clean House, a sweeping probe aimed at weeding out officials who allegedly shared police information [...]

Prophetic Ministers (in Spanish)

América Economía, 11/21/2008

In times when global stock markets suffer from extreme volatility, developed countries inch toward recession, and credit is limited, capacity to manage public finances will be essential to minimize the impact on our economies. Who are the best prepared? A panel of 140 economists from the region responded via email to a survey [...]