Editing 78-13-A1 (section)

= Mexico's Oil =

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=== Transcript ===
Eyes and ears were turned toward Camp David during much of
September, but while the summit was going on another story was
announced that could have major, long-range significance for us and
our neighbor, Mexico. It was the announcement by Mexico's President
Jose Lopex Portillo, that his country's possible oil reserves were
being revised upward to 200 billion barrels. This could put Mexico
in the Saudi Arabia class as an oil supplier.

Developed with care, the oil reserves could not only bring
economic strength to Mexico and generate jobs for its exploding 
population, but they could also provide us with a major alternative to
Arab and other OPEC oil.

Another byproduct of Mexico's development of its oil reserves could
be a reduction in the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. The
Mexican "campesinos" leave the land because it can't support them.
They flow into the cities of Mexico and into the U.S. in a steady
stream. It is said that five million of the estimated eight million
"illegals" in the U.S. are Mexican.

Why didn't the administration take the Mexican reserves into
account when Mr. Carter launched his energy program in spring, 1977?
Nobody is talking for attribution, but various press leaks by Department
of Energy officials suggest that the administration withheld CIA data
which verified the Mexican reserves.

Those who believe in conspiracy theories may attribute all this
to the big U.S. oil companies, which are deeply involved in Saudi
Arabia and several other oil producing nations, but which can't touch
Mexican oil (which was nationalized in 1938). But, I think the
reluctance to reveal this information stemmed more likely from the
assumptions of the energy ideologues who developed the Carter program.
They had convinced themselves we must live in a world of lowered
expectations and shortages and they wanted nothing to interfere with
their conclusions. Certainly the Carter energy legislation bore this
out. It was designed to raise taxes and manipulate people--not produce
oil.

Will the Mexicans give us access to the oil? That remains to be
seen, but it will take patience and diplomacy on our part, plus an
understanding of Mexico's fierce sense of national pride and its
worries about foreign exploitation. The opportunity is there, as one
magazine put it, to make it the "Oil of Ole"'.

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.

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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>09/19/[[Radio1978|1978]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/2024-07/40-656-7386263-014-011-2024.pdf#PAGE=3 Online PDF]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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