Supports IFT, COFECE, CRE Merger / Excess in the Energy Sector

Supports proposal to merge IFT, COFECE and CRE. President López Obrador said he agrees with Morena's proposal in the Senate on merging IFT, COFECE and CRE into a single regulatory body, if this means savings. “I want only indispensable organisms for the well-being of the people. Not fashionable institutes that give work to friends and relatives as in the neoliberal period,” he said. The initiative proposes a reform to the Constitution to eliminate the economic competition, telecommunications and energy regulators, and creating the Institute of Markets and Competition for Welfare (INMECOB). The president said he was not aware of the proposal presented by Ricardo Monreal, his party’s leader in the Senate.

An excess in energy sector. President López Obrador lamented that in the energy sector alone, five or six unnecessary organizations were created and those tolerated corruption. “PEMEX is not enough? The Federal Electricity Commission and the Ministry of Energy are not enough?” he asked. The president said he will propose reducing the National Anticorruption System (SNA) to one single national office to address all national affairs, given its excessive cost and that it was created when corruption was not considered a serious crime.

Banking accounts for 3.9 million students. Scholarship holders in the Benito Juárez support program will be able to open bank accounts to receive their funds, the program’s head, Leticia Ánimas, said. Accounts will not allow cash deposits but only the MX$1,600 in monthly government transfers. There are over 3.9 million listed in the scholarship, a figure that will be updated after the next school year.

Calls for dialogue at Notimex. Regarding the labor conflict at the federal news agency, President López Obrador called on the parties involved to find a solution through dialogue, for which he will ask his communications head, Jesús Ramírez, and Labor Minister (STPS) Luisa María Alcalde to help in finding a solution. The president called on parties involved in the Notimex conflict to stop attacks on each other.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish