Down with the Gang of Four?
Amidst the wailing, gnashing of teeth, rending of garments and general raging rumpus that gushed forth in the wake of the liquidation of Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC) last week, one interesting detail escaped us, until now: a rather modest paid advertisement in Reforma taken out by the Mexican Wind Energy Association (AMDEE). The ad states simply, “Muchas Felicidades Señor Presidente.” Now, unless President Calderón and his wife were celebrating their anniversary last week, we presume the congratulations refer to the dissolution of the electric company. Seems straightforward enough, but the more we think about it, the little ad reads like a Mao-era Chinese wall poster. The congratulations without any mention of the topic (birthday? Tae Kwon Do medal?) is uncharacteristically coy for this form of communication, even though the message is presumably implicit under the circumstances. Mexico’s major wind farms, located far from the capital, certainly don’t compete with LyFC in power generation, and LyFC bought most of its power from the CFE anyway. If the ad appeared only in Reforma (we don’t know if it appeared elsewhere), was it intended as an intimation of fellow-travelership aimed at the paper’s pro-business, pro-private sector readership? But word, of course, gets around in this talky town. If the ad appeared in the Pravda-like La Jornada, it would be perceived as a deliberate poke in the eye by that paper’s readership. One would think the AMDEE would take pains to keep its image associated with more progre-friendly concepts such as “green,” “eco,” “carbon-neutral,” and whatnot, so why stick their necks out when danders are up? We found no mention of the LyFC topic on the organization’s web site. Considering that AMDEE’s membership includes numerous multi-national energy companies, we can only surmise that the cryptic ad is a winking affirmation of AMDEE members’ support for eventual privatization and opening up of Mexico’s energy sector in general. But then again, to borrow a phrase from Ed Grimley, it’s difficult to say.