Mexico Government: López Obrador Safeguards His Priority Projects By Decreeing Them Matters of National Security

El Economista, 

November 22, 2021

By Maritza Perez

Yesterday evening, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decreed the carrying out of priority projects and works headed by his administration to be a matter of public interest and national security. With this action, the president will be able to keep the information related to their development from public knowledge. In addition, it allows the issuance of provisional permits or licenses in less than five days in order to start their construction as soon as possible.

In the evening edition of the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), the president published the agreement that "declares of public interest and national security the carrying out of projects and works by the Government of Mexico ".  By this Agreement, all government agencies are instructed to carry out the actions indicated in relation to the projects and works of the Government of Mexico considered of public interest and national security, as well as priority and strategic for national development.

MV Note: "of public interest" is a legal term in the Mexican Constitution which places some resource, such as land or minerals, under the control of the federal government. 

It should be noted that according to Article 3 of the Federal Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, all the information generated, obtained, acquired, processed, or in the possession of federal employees is public and accessible to any person, and only exceptionally may it be classified as confidential and temporarily reserved for reasons of public interest and national security.

Moreover, Article 110 of this same law adds that the reserved information may only include information that compromises national security, public security, or national defense and has a genuine purpose and a demonstrable effect.

The works covered by this decree are associated with the infrastructure of communications, telecommunications, customs, border protection, water, the environment, tourism, public health, railroads, ports, airports and others that, for their purpose, characteristics, nature, complexity and magnitude, are considered priorities or strategic for national development.

Therefore, projects such as the Felipe Ángeles International Airport; the Mayan Train, and the Olmeca oil refinery in Tabasco, among others, would be able to benefit from this decree.

MV Note: All of these projects are publically controversial.

Likewise, the government of President López Obrador ordered the entire Federal Public Administration to grant the provisional authorizations, permits or licenses necessary to start the projects, “and thereby guarantee their timely execution, the expected social benefit and the expenditure of the authorized budgets.”

The Agreement establishes that provisional permits will be issued within a maximum period of five business days, counted from the presentation of the application, and in the event that an express provisional authorization is not issued within said period, it will be considered to be positively resolved. The provisional authorization will be valid for twelve months, a period in which the definitive authorization must be obtained.

Among his arguments for the Agreement, the Mexican president asserted that Mexico requires infrastructure to promote its development in an inclusive way and bring opportunities to the regions of the country most lagging in communications, telecommunications, customs, border services, water, environmental protection, tourism, health services, roads, railways, energy, ports, airports, and other priority and strategic facilities that will contribute to the growth and national security of the country.

He declared that regional infrastructure, socio-economic development, and tourism projects are important to increase the economic benefits of tourism, create jobs, promote sustainable development, and protect the environment.

In addition, the president stated that 

“the development and growth of the infrastructure in charge of the agencies of the federal government is in the public interest and a matter of national security. They will translate into a collective benefit for all Mexicans. Therefore, the current administration continues with the route aimed at promoting and consolidating the projects that will lead us as a nation to achieve economic growth and thereby achieve social well being.”

The decree was signed by all of the secretaries of the president's cabinet. 

Spanish original