OPINION: President López Obrador’s Mexico is my ‘Shadowland'
(Photo/Adolfo Félix/Unsplash)
By Adriana Sánchez
If you’ve ever seen the movie or show “The Lion King,” you know the character Nala, a lioness forced to flee her pride and homeland after a tyrannous king’s governance brought death and famine to the land and the animals that inhabit it.
Even though she loves her land, or rather, because she loves it, Nala must depart to save herself and protect her home and pride. While leaving, she sang a heartfelt melody, “Shadowland […] the river’s dry, the ground has broken. So I must go. Now I must go.
I heard this song a million times, the lyrics stuck in my head. But in October 2021, those words found their way from my heart to my head.
I was born and raised in Mexico City.
As the granddaughter of a military man, I was taught to care for my country. Growing up,I developed a deep love for it. After I graduated college as a Chemical Engineer from Anahuac University in Mexico, I started working at a clean energy company to do my part in leading the country towards a clean energy transition.
In 1938, the Mexican government seized foreign private and foreign-owned oil assets and created a state-owned oil company. This move ensured that Mexico could control its natural resources and helped fund the country's economic and social development.
However, by the end of the 20th century, the state-owned oil company faced declining production and mounting debt, leading to the industry’s eventual opening to private investment and sustainable modernization. This resulted in increased foreign investment, modernized facilities, and improved production.
In October 2021, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a reform initiative on Electricity and Mining. This aimed to reduce private sector participation in the energy market from 62% to 46% by canceling existing clean energy generation contracts and halting the formation of new agreements.
The initiative also sought to modify the sequence in which generation sites produce and distribute energy. Typically, the order begins by prioritizing the dispatch of clean and renewable sources due to their affordability and environmental friendliness. Oil plants, on the other hand, are typically activated for energy production and distribution when demand is high, as they are costlier and contribute to detrimental pollution. The reform aimed to alter this established order.
With this “reform,” the oil plants of the Federal Electricity Commission, the government’s utility, would dispatch first, followed by the renewables. This change would not only give more power and money to the government-controlled company but also pollute more. Moreover, the increased cost of producing electricity using fossil fuels is likely to hinder access to electricity for low-income citizens.
As a consequence of the reform, Mexico would be non-compliant with international environmental and trading agreements. This would cause a significant decrease in foreign investment, which is not only a source of employment but also facilitates the exchange of information and technology.
I was able to observe the impact of this reform firsthand. The company that I worked for operated two wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico, and this new measure threatened to cancel their generation permits. So, if approved, the reform would’ve meant bankruptcy for the company. With so much at stake, our jobs, and the country’s future, we started lobbying for a sustainable future by talking to congressmen and congresswomen.
In April 2022, Congress rejected the reform.
While this felt like a little win to me, many international companies began to withdraw their investments in clean energy projects in Mexico, including a new project that my company was developing. Investors were afraid of the country’s unstable energy policy. They feared that the President could try to stop clean and renewable energy projects again, which would cause the investors to lose money. My team tried to convince investors to continue the projects, but our words felt empty in their ears. They had already made up their minds about not investing. So even without being approved, the President’s reform initiative led to a domino effect of unpleasant consequences both for my company and the country.
I felt powerless. I thought I lacked adequate knowledge, experience and conviction to persuade the investors. I felt frustrated like there was nowhere to move and nothing else to do.
I felt helpless. Here I was, with a company that had the technology, infrastructure and a competent team of clean energy experts. Moreover, it was trying to do the best for Mexico by making a difference in the lives of Mexican citizens and championing the transition to clean energy. Yet, our hands were tied.
This took me back to Nala’s song, “Shadowland.” All of a sudden, her words made sense to me.
I had to go. But how could I bring myself to do that? To just leave my country seemed unfair. Why do I have to go, even when I know that the reason for this disruption will only benefit a few powerful people? Why would I leave my family, friends, life as I know it, and the country I love?
Because I love them, that’s why. Because I love myself. Just like Nala did.
I have to go and seek help, knowledge and tools to fight against such policies. I have to go in order to do what I love, which is work to stop climate change because, in my own country, the opportunities I had to do this are being taken away. They are taking away the opportunities we Mexicans have to be better, to do better.
I have to go. Now I must go.
Adriana Sánchez (MS ‘23) is a graduate of the Sustainability Management Master’s program at Columbia University’s Climate School. She was born and raised in Mexico City and is a 2020 graduate of the Chemical Engineering program at Universidad Anáhuac.
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