In 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas issued a decree that allowed the Government to take full control of the production and sale of crude oil in national territory.
Thousands of people have gathered this Saturday afternoon in the Plaza de la Constitución, in Mexico City, to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Oil Expropriation, promoted by then President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río.
The eve of the concentration, the current Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, invited all citizens to participate. “Let’s remember that historic decision, patriotic“, declared from the facilities of the 37th Infantry Battalion, in the state of Tabasco.
On March 18, 1938, General Lázaro Cárdenas issued a decree that allowed the Government to legally appropriate the oil exploited by seventeen foreign companies, taking full control of the production and marketing of crude oil in national territory, on land and at sea.
