By Juan Montes
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law Friday a bill that ends the 75-year-old government monopoly in the oil and gas industry, even as the main leftist party is pledging to undo the law by organizing the country’s first-ever referendum.
Mr. Peña Nieto became the first president in more than 50 years to propose and pass changes to the constitution on the subject of oil. The last one was Adolfo López Mateos in 1960, and that was to reinforce, rather than weaken, a state monopoly set up in 1938 when former President Lázaro Cárdenas expropriated the oil industry and turned oil into a nationalist symbol of Mexican sovereignty.
“This year, we Mexicans have decided to overcome myths and taboos in order to take a large stride toward the future,” said Mr. Peña Nieto in a speech at the National Palace.
