Mexican Oil Reforms Are Vital on Both Sides of the Border

In recent days a coalition of Mexican advocacy groups has been protesting in front of Televisa, the country’s largest TV network, to contest the legitimacy of President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto’s July 1 victory. These protests are the second in a string of such demonstrations scheduled before Pena Nieto takes office in December. They bode ill for Mexico’s near-term political future, pointing to a rocky transition at a time when the challenges facing the country are anything but modest. Americans might assume that tackling the drug trade that has resulted in more than 47,000 deaths since 2006 would top the agenda. But a strong case can be made that energy reforms are at least as urgent, for if Mexico can’t stem its sharply deteriorating energy situation, its ability to tackle other systemic problems will be severely compromised.