78-13-A1
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Mexico's Oil
TranscriptEyes and ears were turned toward Camp David during much of September, but while the summit was going on another story was announced that could have major, long-range significance for us and our neighbor, Mexico. It was the announcement by Mexico's President Jose Lopex Portillo, that his country's possible oil reserves were being revised upward to 200 billion barrels. This could put Mexico in the Saudi Arabia class as an oil supplier. Developed with care, the oil reserves could not only bring economic strength to Mexico and generate jobs for its exploding population, but they could also provide us with a major alternative to Arab and other OPEC oil. Another byproduct of Mexico's development of its oil reserves could be a reduction in the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. The Mexican "campesinos" leave the land because it can't support them. They flow into the cities of Mexico and into the U.S. in a steady stream. It is said that five million of the estimated eight million "illegals" in the U.S. are Mexican. Why didn't the administration take the Mexican reserves into account when Mr. Carter launched his energy program in spring, 1977? Nobody is talking for attribution, but various press leaks by Department of Energy officials suggest that the administration withheld CIA data which verified the Mexican reserves. Those who believe in conspiracy theories may attribute all this to the big U.S. oil companies, which are deeply involved in Saudi Arabia and several other oil producing nations, but which can't touch Mexican oil (which was nationalized in 1938). But, I think the reluctance to reveal this information stemmed more likely from the assumptions of the energy ideologues who developed the Carter program. They had convinced themselves we must live in a world of lowered expectations and shortages and they wanted nothing to interfere with their conclusions. Certainly the Carter energy legislation bore this out. It was designed to raise taxes and manipulate people--not produce oil. Will the Mexicans give us access to the oil? That remains to be seen, but it will take patience and diplomacy on our part, plus an understanding of Mexico's fierce sense of national pride and its worries about foreign exploitation. The opportunity is there, as one magazine put it, to make it the "Oil of Ole"'. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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