On March 18, 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas confiscated all foreign-owned oil properties in Mexico. Aside from the doctrine that Mexican resources should belong to Mexicans, he claimed that the foreign owners were not exploiting the fields properly, had been exporting only 60,000 barrels of Mexican oil per day. "We shall increase our export to 200,000 barrels daily," boasted El Presidente. Instead, under Government operation, Mexican oil exports have dropped to around 45,000 daily while monthly operation costs have risen from 4,273,000 pesos to 6,500,000.
This spring the President, who had also justified...
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