Trade Between U.S., Mexico

The report published about the outcome of the meeting between U.S. President George Bush and Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in Monterrey, Mexico, states that “the Mexican government showed a new willingness to give American companies a role in its state-owned oil monopoly” (Part A, Nov. 28). That view is further stressed in your editorial (“President Salinas Shows the Oil Card,” Nov. 29), by presenting Salinas as gambling with a new card, “the oil card,” which, in turn, is seen as “a stunning crack in long-held Mexican policy.”

Such an interpretation springs from a guarantee loan requested by PEMEX, the Mexican oil company, to the U.S. Export-Import Bank, in order to finance oil drilling plans in Mexico. The $1.5-billion guarantee loan request is part of a much broader investment program that PEMEX has been negotiating recently with several international financial institutions. In fact, the possible credit has already been included in the 1991 budget submitted to the Mexican Congress on Nov. 15.

Furthermore, foreign participation in PEMEX drilling activities is far from being new. The presence of both domestic and foreign private companies in the Gulf of Mexico drilling wells has been common since the late 1970s.

In the case of international credits aimed at financing goods and services provided by foreign firms, PEMEX’s practice has been to extend payments to contractors with financial resources. At no time has the practice been, nor will it ever be, sharing or compromising oil reserves ownership or PEMEX’s assets.

Let it be stressed once again that the free trade negotiations will not include two issues: oil and migrant labor.

It should be evident that there is no “oil card” being played by President Salinas. Mexico’s oil policy is firm and straightforward.

MARTIN TORRES, Press Attache

Consulate General of Mexico

Los Angeles