Oil Expropriation Day is Almost Here!

Author's preface: This is a lightly edited and updated version of my original oil expropriation day story, published almost exactly a year ago. Once again I have to thank Wikipedia from whence I expropriated a good chunk of the history of oil expropriation day. For those who are not familiar, every March 18 is Oil expropriation day, a Mexican national holiday. It rivals the United States' Bunker Hill day in terms of awareness and popularity among the citizenry and is officially my favorite Mexican national holiday. Enjoy and Happy OE day!

On march 18, 1938 president Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized all of Mexico's existing oil reserves, facilities and oil companies. Shortly thereafter, the Mexican state-owned petroleum company Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) was established.

Mexicans, by and large, were quite happy with president Cardenas and a crowd of 200,000 or so gathered to rally in support of his actions. Apparently though, at least some Mexicans felt a bit guilty about their government's action, and on April 12, 1938, a crowd of thousands gathered in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes to make donations to pay the debt owed the foreign companies whose property was stolen (sorry, expropriated). These "donations" varied from chickens to jewelry. Not sure if this was meant as serious atonement, or a Mexican form of irony, but, as you might imagine this move did not sit well with the rest of the world. In this case the rest of the world featured, of course, the oil companies who had invested large sums of money in Mexican oil exploration and refining, and the United States.

In retaliation, the oil companies initiated a public relations campaign against Mexico, and many foreign governments closed their markets to Mexican oil. Mexico, however, caught two very lucky breaks. First, the U.S. government of Franklin Delano Roosevelt had only recently issued the Good Neighbor Policy, aiming to recalibrate U.S.Latin American relations and therefore the U.S. government did not intervene to aid U.S. oil companies affected by the Mexican expropriation. Second, the outbreak of world war II gave the world much bigger things to worry about, and we needed Mexican oil to fight the nazi's, so, what are ya gonna do? By 1940, Mexico had an agreement with the American Sinclair Oil Corporation to sell crude oil to the U.S, and the full-scale war in Europe guaranteed that Mexican oil would have international customers. PEMEX developed into one of the largest oil companies in the world and helped Mexico become the world's seventh-largest oil exporter. Today PEMEX mostly functions as a logo on hats and t-shirts (see image above for one example) and as the quasi-governmental agency everyone from Mexico is constantly pissed at for keeping gas prices so high, but everyone from anywhere else that now lives in Mexico constantly thanks for keeping gas prices so low.

In spite of, or because of this storied history, every year on March 18 Mexico celebrates oil expropriation day (OE day for short), one of its most beloved (by me), yet least well known or understood, national holidays. I first learned of the magical story of OE day not more than a few months ago but instantly fell in love with the tale (partially told in brief above) which tells of a plucky little country that could, sticking it to the greedy fat cat oil companies in a way no other country ever had or has since. That plucky little country also happened to catch two magically lucky breaks, including a world war, that saved its plucky little ass from almost certain backpedaling and humiliation. Therefore, OE day also marks the first time anyone ever said thank you for the global catastrophe that was World War II.

In honor of OE day I have assembled a list of national holiday appropriate OE day activities. Many of these are likely already a part of many of the raucous celebrations that occur each March 18th in Mexico. However, those that are not I humbly submit should become yearly traditions moving forward.

Setting up the OE day oil derrick in the living room

This should be done in the week leading up to OE day and the derrick set to run over the course of the entire week only turning off at the stroke of midnight on March 18. Turning off the derrick respresents the turning off of the greedy oil companies business in Mexico and all present must shout "This is Mexican oil, go home greedy capitalist invaders!" at the moment the switch is flipped. They can be kind of loud so best to put it in a room far away from where you sleep. We put ours right in front of the fireplace in the basement. Don't worry, we haven't struck oil yet, but when we do, we will be sure to put the fire out first.

Lighting of the oil can candles

Importantly the candles still have the oil in them and are quite explosive so the tradition says that after lighting them you are supposed to find the gas station in town with the highest prices, and throw your lit oil can candle gently towards the nearest pump.

Reading of the OE day proclamation re-enactment

The reading of the OE day proclamation is without a doubt the highlight of OE day celebrations every year. Traditionally the proclamation is read via HAM radio in honor of the medium of radio which was used to first communicate this historic decision to the Mexican people. This year I got to play the part of president Lázaro Cárdenas. I truly beamed with pride as I read the famous first paragraph of the announcement in my best Spanish accent. "In accordance with Article 27 of the Constitution of 1917 I Lazaro Cardenas declare today, March 18, 1938 to be the first ever oil expropriation day. For those of you who have no idea what expropriation means, do not worry, it is not important that you understand its meaning, but only that you understand its outcome. Cheap gas from now until the end of time for you and your family.. .." Truly heartwarming and it brings a tear to my eye even thinking about it now and every time I fill up at the local PEMEX station.

Oil expropriation day poetry contests

These are everywhere and it seems everyone fancies themselves a poet when OE day rolls around. This year my wife penned a very lovely ode to OE day.

My love for oil expropriation day is so great,

My heart melts for it

til dusk of day

the night warms

when it's away

burning oil til day's dawn

Again, I am crying. Gosh, I just love oil expropriation day so much. Next year I am definitely getting T-shirts made.