(Expansion) – How many have it happened? I once heard of a woman who arrived at the CDMX airport at 4:30 am to catch a flight to Villahermosa that left two hours later. Carrying only carry-on luggage, he quickly printed his boarding pass, went through security, and headed for domestic departures. There was a lot of time left, so he went for coffee to scare off sleep.
She found the exit door, tried to settle into a chair, and when she did, she fell asleep. When she woke up, she heard her flight door closing and, even as she rushed towards her, the plane was already taxiing towards the runway to take off. He had lost it, irretrievably.
The president flies economy class. Despite being the busiest man in Mexico, AMLO does not miss flights. In addition, you have not had to ask to delay a takeoff because you are late. But he has asked for the resignation of at least one who dared to do so.
Although he gets carried away by any airline, the president is a controller who obsessively orders the takeoffs and landings of how much actor and political factor in this country. From his Tower in the National Palace, it is his will to direct all the tracks. From the microphone in the morning, open and close tracks. He also enjoys being in command of ships that are not under his command; he wants to be the Captain of the Supreme Court, of the Autonomous Constitutional Bodies. Aspire to draw the master plan of the Universe.
In law, this is achieved by reordering the Constitution, but at least for half of its mandate it no longer did so. For three years, like those who cross turbulent skies, he had us with Jesus in his mouth because of few ships he was not a commander.
In principle, with a remote control, he took the direction of the autonomous bodies of the energy sector and brought them down at his feet. Not even the dust remains of what CRE and CNH once were. In Congress, he held an overwhelming number of seats. For three years, the Constitutional reforms were seen coming, like birds that would clog the turbines of the ship that would go downhill.
But nothing, the Captain of Captains did put us in great clouds with lightning and flashes, but their changes did not reach cruising altitude. He reformed, among others, the Electricity Industry Law, the Hydrocarbons Law but, amid shocks, the judges made the president swallow dirt with dozens of suspensions. The energy industry, so far, has been saved from having mounted a round flight, whose destination coincides with its beginning: the monopolies of Pemex and CFE.
What a strange country AMLO is manning. For decades, the Constitution could not be reformed on energy because it was not politically viable. Until 2013, a Constitutional reform initiative on energy was not imaginable that did not burst at the door of Congress. Then, almost inexplicably, it was possible.
During Peña Nieto’s administration, what was previously politically impossible became full-fledged, without greater resistance from the public and with great acceptance from the markets. Then, after a short time, it was stunned to later receive shots, first from the Ministry of Energy and the regulatory bodies. The attacks came first from the president’s soldiers. However, the judges ceased fire.
Weeks later, the projectiles came from Congress but also the shelters detonated them in the air. None reached their goal; scraped and somewhat riddled, the energy reform continues its course in hostile skies.
His demolition would have required a Constitutional reform with which he threatened several times. The escalation towards the Constitutional reform did not take place during the first three years and now, that it has already lost control of the Congress, it swears that it will present them, f … The question is: What for?
Editor’s Note: Miriam Grunstein is a professor and researcher at the ORT Mexico University and is an associate academic at the Mexico Center of Rice University. She has also been an external professor at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching and coordinator of the Federal Government Training Program on Hydrocarbons at the University of Texas at Austin. Today she is a founding partner of and runs the blog Energeeks. Follow her on. The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
