* Versión en inglés de la proclama lanzada por Morena el 11 de julio de 2013 (PROCLAMA EN ESPAÑOL)
PROCLAMATION
Let’s defend the oil and economy of Mexican families!
Mexico is currently living the greatest political, economical, social and security decay of its history. This is due to its governments that have been looting the goods of the nation and stripping the Mexicans from its rights.
Under the excuse of “modernization” banks, airlines, sugar mills, airports, mines, highways, and other public companies were privatized. Once they were privatized, they went bankrupt and the government rescued them with resources from the public purse. When the government privatized more than one thousand companies from the nation it gained 30 billion dollars, but when it rescued them shortly thereafter, it spent 90 billion dollars.
We are still paying the bank bailout and the federal government already wants to impose us the idea of giving out our oil industry and its enormous income to foreign companies. PEMEX (Mexican Petroleum) is the most profitable company of Mexico and the federal government says that it will neither sell it nor privatize it. But it isn’t necessary to sell the facilities of a public company to privatize its activities. For example, the government hasn’t sold a single piece of the Federal Commission of Electricity but private foreign companies produce half of the electricity; to stay in business, companies need to pay high electricity fees. That’s what they want to do with oil now.
Every year, the country obtains more than one trillion pesos, which is around one billion dollars. This represents 40% of the national budget. In other words, when a school is built, 40 % of the money to build it, comes from oil; same when building a hospital, or when paying the teachers or the doctors from the social security, 40% of their salaries come from oil. It also goes for the pensions of government employees. With oil, we also pay 40% of the books for free education, social housing, and water distribution. Oil finances the peacefulness of Mexican families and it is the base of our economical independence.
If our black gold is delivered to private companies, whether it is partially or completely, public finances will stop receiving more than one third of their income. And who’s going to pay for that shortfall? The poor and the middle class since government would raise taxes for them, while it will continue to forgive big entrepreneurs the payment of their fiscal contributions.
That’s why government wants to rise taxes from 16 to 19 percent and extend it to medicines, food, books, transport, tuitions and housing; this would be a hard blow on the economy of most of the Mexican families, since they spend around 90% of their money on these areas. It is inevitable that the privatization of oil would lead to the rise of taxes.
Foreign companies have the ambition of keeping the enormous earnings that oil generates, but they will not invest in the development of Mexico. When they were the owners of the Mexican oil, they didn’t pay taxes and paid miserable wages to their employees.
Oil is the main richness of our country and the last industry that remains on hands of the nation. Everything else has been given to private companies, national and foreign. If the income obtained from oil is privatized, taxes would rise and so will unemployment, poverty, and violence. In short, the future of millions of young people would be canceled.
We call the people of Mexico to stand up and defend the oil for the nation and the economy of our families, with information, organization and peaceful mobilizations.
NO TO THE PRIVATIZATION OF OIL!
NO TO THE RISE OF TAXES!
EVERYONE GO TO THE ZOCALO OF MEXICO CITY
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 AT 10 AM
WITH ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR
La esperanza de México
July, 2013
* Traducción: Secretaría de Mexicanos en el Exterior y Política Internacional Morena – CEN
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