Research Library

Aside from the massive cost of constructing a physical barrier along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, factors such as private and tribal land ownership and the impact on the environment must be taken into account.

Mexico is gradually laying the foundation for an oil and gas sector where private—along with some state-owned—international companies are taking central stage. However, authorities should not ignore the necessity of developing a domestic oil and gas sector, writes Adrian Duhalt in a post for the Baker Institute blog.

Media reports that Pemex, Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, is looking for buyers for its fertilizer subsidiary may indicate that it is seeking to scale down operations by selling assets and, perhaps more importantly, to withdraw from an economic activity seen as strategic in reducing Mexico´s dependency on imports of basic staples such as corn.

Colombians on Sunday (10/2) voted against a peace deal with FARC negotiated by President Juan Manuel Santos. What are the potential ramifications of the vote, and the prospects for resolving the country's decades-long confict with the rebel group?

In this blog post, Mexico Center director Tony Payan discusses the results of Mexico's June 5 election and what they mean for the country's 2018 presidential election.

Texas loses between five to six million acre-feet of water per year to evaporation from surface water supply reservoirs. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), whereby water supplies are stored underground, may provide a useful strategy for managing and protecting water supplies.

After more than half a century of a highly restrictive policy toward Cuba that ranged from an economic embargo to prohibiting most travel by U.S. citizens to the island, President Obama announced on Dec. 17, 2014, that Washington and Havana hope to restore diplomatic relations in the near future. While President Obama's new Cuba policy falls short of lifting the embargo, which can only be done through congressional action, it nonetheless represents a historic shift in U.S. relations and leadership in Latin America.

Twenty years after NAFTA came into force, Mexico is more dependent than ever on food imports. Energy reforms could help change that.

On Monday, three committees in Mexico’s senate — constitutional issues, energy and legislative studies — voted to bring an energy reform bill to the chamber’s floor for debate. The legislation would provide international oil companies the opportunity to participate in profit-sharing contracts and concession-like licenses for energy operations in Mexico, and it is expected to become law by the end of the legislative session Dec. 15.