Reuters AlertNet Lite - Mexico leftist threatens energy reform protests

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Mexico leftist threatens energy reform protests

03 Oct 2006 17:15:59 GMT
Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Mexico's leftist opposition leader threatened on Tuesday to launch protests against any attempt by President-elect Felipe Calderon to privatize the country's energy industry.

"We are not going to allow the privatization of the electricity or oil industry in any form," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost July's presidential election, told Mexican radio.

Calderon, who takes office on Dec. 1, is a former energy minister who wants private investment by Mexican and foreign companies in the natural gas, oil refining, petrochemical and electricity generation sectors.

But he says he would not privatize state-owned oil giant Pemex or other government-run energy companies.

"We will not allow the sale of refineries, we will not allow privatization. We are going to defend the national patrimony whatever way we can," the leftist said.

Lopez Obrador has a long history of organizing protests. He paralyzed the center of Mexico City for over six weeks to promote his claims of fraud at the July election.

A court threw out the allegations of vote rigging and named Calderon the election winner by less than 1 percentage point.

Lopez Obrador led demonstrations in his home state of Tabasco in the mid-1990s which he said on Tuesday were against attempts to liberalize the energy sector.

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Last updated:Tue Oct 3 17:20:34 2006