When Mexican children hit eight, they turn to page 120 of their government-approved history books, stare at a picture of glorified peasants and workers framed by oil rigs and the red, white and green colours of the national flag, and then start reading the text below.
“Beneath the earth and seas of Mexico there is oil in abundance, but there was a time when only foreigners took advantage of our oil wealth,” it says. “In 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas, supported by Mexicans, ruled that only our government can extract oil from national territory.”
