Treasure under the sea

A five-minute spot on prime time TV is part of a campaign by President Felipe Calderon: "Mexico has a great treasure, a treasure hidden below the bottom of the sea," the narrator says soothingly above joyous music. "But the world now confronts a new reality." Suddenly, the watcher is bombarded with graphics explaining deep sea drilling; the oil is at a depth 30 times greater than Mexico's highest building; the pressure is like 60 trucks weighing on a can of soda. As the music reaches a dramatic finale, the narrator hits the punch line: "Reaching our oil is one of the biggest challenges of our time," he says. "And Mexico has to take the necessary actions to achieve it."

Clearly, the stakes are high. What do you think about energy reform in Mexico?

"We must go after that oil," Calderon told reporters last month. "It's a problem of technology and operational capacity."

But... what about the dirty politics surrounding this discussion?