ABSTRACT
On the night of October 10, 2009, while most Mexicans celebrated the qualification of their national football team to the World Cup 2010, police troops seized the premises of the state-owned electricity company Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC, Central Region Light and Power), which served more than 6 million users in the capital city and adjacent municipalities. Such action followed a decree of liquidation signed by Mexican President Felipe Calderón that referred to the company’s allegedly proven history of financial and operational inefficiency. A larger public enterprise, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE, Federal Electric Commission) took over the services until then provided by LyFC. The mighty Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME, Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union) perceived the closure of the company as a virtual declaration of war against unionized labour, since approximately 45,000 employees would be fired. Thousands of SME members, backed by other workers, students, peasants, progressive intellectuals, and a wide range of social and political activists, marched in the streets to express their anger. The mobilization continued for several weeks, and included a huge demonstration on November 11, 2009 that virtually paralyzed traffic in downtown Mexico City. The government was forced to rule out privatization, but many social sectors believed that the closure of such a big company constituted a major step towards the full liberalization of the electricity sector, which most Mexicans see as a symbol of national pride worth defending.
