Mexican President President Enrique Peña Nieto and his government are suffering from really bad timing, the Houston Chronicle reports.  

“Peña Nieto made privatizing the nation’s energy industry the center of his plan to kick-start the nation’s economy in 2013. For the first time in 75 years, the government would abandon its monopoly on pumping, refining and selling oil and instead auction off leases and contracts to the private sector.”  

“The move was supposed to bring in billions of dollars in foreign direct investment to a country and an industry that badly needs it. Peña Nieto negotiated with leftist politicians and international CEOs to strike the right balance, and he won a historic referendum. Then last year the price of oil collapsed, international companies lost their enthusiasm and a recalcitrant government bureaucracy made things far more difficult than necessary.”