Julio Hernández López: Shipyard

J

John Kerry, who is formally the special envoy for the climate by the Joe Biden government, will be in Hermosillo next Friday for a joint review with the Mexican president of the Sonora Plan, which includes energy issues and, especially, lithium .

A frequent visitor to Mexico for meetings with President López Obrador, a kind of direct adjuster of agreements and even messenger of warnings or disagreements, Kerry will appear on the scene in the Mexican capital of lithium: Sonora, whose governor, Alfonso Durazo, has been appointed by National Palace as a kind of commissioner for the operation of LitioMx, the public company that will manage everything related to that mineral, whose original ownership has been claimed by the current federal government, based on what is established by the Constitution.

The virtual undersecretary of Foreign Relations, Roberto Velasco, whose real appointment is head of the Unit for North America, yesterday confirmed the appointment in Sonora and specified, after meeting with López Obrador and Governor Durazo: It will be a meeting with the President to discuss what has been advanced and working on energy and climate change.

The issue of lithium is fundamental. The Obradorista administration has sought to advance in the ordering and reordering of this item, although without reaching expropriations or nationalization. Until now, Mexico has legally reinforced the domain of the so-called White gold either oil of the future and has created a company (the aforementioned LitioMx) for the exploration, exploitation, benefit and use of the mineral.

But the United States maintains an understandable strategic interest in investing in the exploitation of lithium. Investing would mean controlling and securing Mexican material for its demand for batteries and other energy storage mechanisms, in addition to the production of electric cars. The measure of the authentic preservation of the national interest in this matter will be defined by the contractual terms that apply to investors in general, but above all to foreigners, specifically from the United States. That is to say, the 4T will facilitate private investments to exploit lithium; will have to see the degree of openness that is granted.

It is worth remembering that the Chinese firm Gangfeng (which in turn bought the Anglo-Canadian company Bacanora Lithium) is still the most important concessionaire for the exploitation of this resource in Mexico. Now, with LitioMx and with Durazo as investment facilitator (as defined: https://bit.ly/3gpnTSG), it will be sought that there are more private companies that enter the business.

That’s where Kerry goes. For this she will meet with AMLO. Yes, climate change; yes, the mega solar plant in Puerto Peñasco (built on 2,000 hectares donated by the Vidanta Group, adjacent to one of the hotels of this very active six-yearly company, owned by the employer Daniel Chávez). But… the lithium of Bacadéhuachi and its surroundings.

Meanwhile, a joint military exercise has been held on the US-Mexico border. The disposition to the interoperability of the armies is striking, even if it has been now through a simulation of attention, in Reynosa, to the civil population affected by hurricanes or accidents. The neighbors brought utility helicopters to rehearse rescue operations and transport of the wounded. Friendly Forces 2022 this binational exercise was called. 122 Mexican elements and 111 Americans participated (https://bit.ly/3yVznUo).

A complementary piece of information: in May of this year, the Secretary of the Navy reported having carried out (for the first time) the Tradewinds Multinational Exercisewith more than 400 Mexican naval sailors deployed in Quintana Roo and Belize, as well as more than 300 foreign members of the armed forces from several American countries, including Brazil, Canada, Colombia and the US. (https://bit.ly/3Dgu4Bt). Until next monday!

Twitter: @julioastillero

Facebook: July Shipyard

[email protected]