Mexico, Guatemala link power grids
June 15, 2006 - EFE
Mexico City: President Vicente Fox and Guatemalan
counterpart Oscar Berger met Tuesday in the southern
Mexican border town of Tapachula to inaugurate a link
between the two countries’ power grids as part of
a regional integration initiative.
Besides launching the $40 million interconnection
project, the two heads of state witnessed the signing
of an accord under which Mexico will export electricity
to towns and rural areas in Guatemala, which, like
its Central American neighbors, is struggling to cope
with surging energy prices. Fox said in his remarks
welcoming Berger that the beginning of the grid-linking
effort and the agreement on power exports constitute
“good news” not only for Mexico and Guatemala, but
for ambitions to bring development to all of “Mesoamerica,”
a term denoting southern Mexico and the Central American
isthmus. The interconnection project is part of Fox’s
Puebla-Panama Plan, a regional development scheme
that was recently joined by Colombia and the Dominican
Republic. “I am convinced the two countries (Mexico
and Guatemala) will continue working to transform
Mesoamerica into a place of opportunity and justice
for all, with growing economic development,” said
Fox, whose six-year term ends in December. Berger
hailed the interconnection project as proof of the
two governments’ commitment to make Mesoamerican integration
a reality, and he praised his fellow conservative
for Mexico’s macroeconomic stability, calling it an
inspiration for Guatemala. Also on hand for Tuesday’s
ceremony was the director of Mexico’s Federal Electricity
Commission, Antonio Elias Ayub, who told reporters
that the interconnection with Guatemala is just part
of a project to link the power grids from Mexico to
Colombia. He said that Spain and the Inter-American
Development Bank are joining the Mexican and Colombian
governments in financing that massive project, expected
to cost more than $320 million.
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