07 - The Lost Decade

Mexico limps through the 1980's following a collapse in oil prices and an effective default on its national debt. When the Harvard-educated, neoliberal Carlos Salinas takes office in 1988, he takes on the old structure of Mexico's statist economy, including PEMEX, the Oilworkers' Union, and its colorful leader, La Quina. You won't believe how close PEMEX came to getting it right in the early 1990's - before Salinas' government got so many things so very wrong.Suggested reading: http://petroleo.colmex.mx/