Since the December 2012 inauguration of President Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico has implemented a series of reforms that could forever change Mexican governance and its economy’s competitiveness.

Jessica Lopez, a four-year old with a shy smile, has suffered severe chronic asthma attacks since she was born. Her condition always worsened in the fall, when dust rose up from the abandoned fields that bordered her family’s modest one-room house.

Reforms to Mexico's energy sector were signed into law late last year. The legislation proceeded rapidly from President Enrique Peña Nieto's announcement of the reforms in August, to the negotiations among the major political parties during the fall, to voting in both houses of Congress, resulting in a majority of the 31 state legislatures changing the Constitution. For the first time in 75 years private participation will be permitted in Mexico's energy sector, not only in oil and gas, but also in electricity and power generation.

In his 2009 book, “The Next 100 Years,” George Friedman, the founder of Stratfor, wrote that by the end of the century Mexico will be the main power challenging the U.S. With $500 billion in trade with the U.S. (up from $75 billion two decades ago), with Mexicans spending twice as much on U.S. products as the Chinese, with over 33 million U.S. residents of Mexican origin, with the most frequently crossed international border in the world, it would be irresponsible to wait until the end of the century to pay attention to Mexico.

An oil industry overhaul approved by Mexico's Congress portends massive changes for the country's iconic national oil industry – and potentially a boost for the economy. The bill, approved overnight, would promote foreign investment and allow private companies to explore and exploit petroleum deposits – tasks previously reserved for Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, as the state oil agency is known. It must be ratified by state assemblies, approval that is expected.

Mexico's senate unveiled an historic energy bill Saturday (Dec 7) that goes further than expected to break the state's monopoly over the oil and gas industry. After months of negotiation between the ruling PRI party and the largest opposition party PAN, a bill was finally brought into the senate over the weekend. The right-wing PAN appears to have come out ahead with a pro-market bill.

Tens of thousands of people have protested in the centre of Mexico City against President Enrique Pena Nieto's planned overhaul of the energy sector. Opposition leader Andres Lopez Obrador told the crowd to surround the Congress this week. Mr Pena Nieto says the plan to allow private investment in the oil and gas sector is needed to boost the economy. His approval ratings have slumped to their lowest since he took office a year ago.

The Mexican oil industry, long a state monopoly, appears to be on the verge of opening itself to outsiders. In August, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto presented a proposal to allow national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, to enter into joint ventures, and for private oil companies to operate their own projects in profit-sharing agreements with the government. Mexico's opposition parties have their own proposals.