Pemex and Mexico

MEXICO

- For the Sovereignty of the Nations of the Continent!
- The Natural Resources Belong to the People!
- PEMEX Belongs to the Mexican People!
- The Oil Belongs to Venezuela, not to Exxon-Mobil!
- No to NAFTA-ASPAN!
All Out for the General Assembly of Sunday, February 24, at 11 a.m., Marina Nacional 329, in front of the PEMEX building, Called by the National Democratic Convention and Andrés Manuel López Obrador!

During these past days, two measures demonstrate the acceleration of the offensive of the U.S. government and corporations against the peoples of the continent:

In Mexico, Felipe Calderon, with the support of the PRI and the PAN political parties, announced his plan to privatize PEMEX, in the framework of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and ASPAN. In Venezuela, the Exxon-Mobil company and the U.S. government have declared "economic war" against the Venezuelan people.

Mexico: Calderon aims to hand over Pemex to the U.S. multinationals
In Mexico, the illegitimate government of Calderon has announced its plan to give the shares of PEMEX to the multinational corporations. He has pledged to hand over the exploration, exploitation, refining, transport, and stocking of the oil. Calderon went to the United States precisely to work out the details of the draft law that he aims to present to Mexico's Congress.

This is a measure that aims to liquidate the expropriation decree of 1938, which states in its Article One: "The machines, installations, buildings, oil-ducts, refineries, tanks storage, routes transportation, tankers, service stations, boats and other assets (of the oil companies) are expropriated for the benefit of the Mexican nation."

The offensive to destroy nationalized PEMEX property is contained in the NAFTA agreement and in the ASPAN agreement. These are the political and legal instruments of the U.S. government and corporations to destroy the Mexican nation, its natural resources, and its labor and social rights.
Exxon-Mobil declares "economic war" against Venezuela
Exxon-Mobil, the U.S. multinational oil corporation, supported by the U.S. government, declared "economic war" against the people and government of Venezuela. The Venezuelan government took the sovereign decision to nationalize the Cerro Negro project on the banks of the Orinoco river through Decree 5200. Exxon-Mobil, which is making profits unprecedented in the history of U.S. corporations, refuses to accept this sovereign decision -- the equivalent of the act taken by the government of Lazaro Cardenas in 1938.

It began legal proceedings in London and New York to have judges freeze US$12 billion in financial assets of the PDVSA Venezuelan company, which is more than 17 times the losses they took! On Tuesday, February 12, the Venezuelan government decided sovereignly to suspend the sale of oil to this company.

The situation is delicate. Several Republican members of the U.S. Congress want to characterize Venezuela as a state that "supports terrorism," as was done concerning Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Cuba. At the same time, the U.S. government has pushed the Colombian government toward war against the people of Venezuela.

As one state-worker in Venezuela said: "This is not a commercial quarrel; it is a political quarrel against a government that exercises its sovereignty and reclaims the oil riches for the benefit of its people."

Solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela! The oil of the Orinoco belongs to Venezuela, not Exxon Mobil!