duncan wood

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - In three recent speeches in the Rio Grande Valley, the vice president for strategy and new initiatives at the Wilson Center talked about a potential game changer for Mexico that would also positively impact the Port of Brownsville.

Duncan Wood is also a senior advisor to the Mexico Institute. On July 27, he spoke at a luncheon held at Texas Southmost College that was hosted by the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. On July 28, he spoke at a breakfast held at the McAllen Country Club that was hosted by the CEO Club. And, later that same day, Wood gave the keynote address at the MXLAN Festival’s International Economic Summit.

In each of the speeches Wood referenced the Transoceanic road and rail corridor Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is building in southern Mexico. He said the project has the full support of the private sector.

“Before I move on, a quick word about the Port of Brownsville and the LNG (liquefied natural gas) project. It made me think. I always think of Texas ports as being headed for Europe. That is what they are, traditionally. Now they can get to Asia but to get to Asia they have to go down through the Panama Canal,” Wood said, at the GBIC event.

“One of the few major policy initiatives from the Mexican government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador with which I agree, is actually the Transoceanic Corridor, in the narrowest part of Mexico, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. For many years, in fact going back to the times of Porfirio Díaz, it has been speculated that (you could) either dig a canal or your could make a rail or road link. The government now is finally doing that.”

Wood continued: “And the fascinating thing about this is that, yes, you could take goods from South Texas by boat down to Coatzacoalcos, take them across the rail link onto ships at Salina Cruz and get them to Asia in a relatively short time, quicker than going through the Panama Canal which, by the way, is experiencing all kinds of problems anyway, because of low water levels at this point in time.”

But that is not the only benefit, Wood said.

“Imagine now if you built a pipeline across there as well. So perhaps you could bring down LNG, you could re-gasify it on one side, pump it through the pipeline, re-liquefy it at Salina Cruz and take it to Asia. Take advantage of much higher gas prices in Asia. 

“And then you think about what the government is actually thinking about doing down there, which is building out manufacturing capacity on either side of that rail and road link of Isthmus of Tehuantepec. All of a sudden you have a new border with the United States, which is right there in southern Mexico.”

Wood said this project fulfils a top priority of the López Obrador administration - improving the economy of southern Mexico.

“But it also creates new possibilities for Texas companies to work with Mexican companies down there to be part of that integrated manufacturing platform for export to Asia. That's a very, very, juicy prospect. There's a lot of work to do. But the idea is fundamentally sound.”

Here is an audio recording of everything Wood said about the Transoceanic Corridor at his one speech in Brownsville and two speeches in McAllen.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - When renowned Mexico expert Duncan Wood last came to the Rio Grande Valley to speak about that country’s economy and its governance he was not optimistic. 

It was in January, 2020, and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had just started his second year in office. Wood spoke at the McAllen Performing Arts Center at an event hosted by IBC Bank and the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. He said he was concerned about AMLO reneging on much-heralded energy reforms that were facilitating large foreign investments into Mexico.

Fast forward three and a half years and Wood, senior advisor to the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC., is now much more bullish. 

“If we can get the federal government in Mexico to work not just with the U.S. government, but with Mexican northern states to make sure that they have not just the energy they need, the infrastructure they need, the human capital they need, and if we can have that conversation in a cross-border way, the future is extremely bright,” Wood said. 

“Not just for Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, but, in fact, for Texas, for Brownsville, for McAllen. All the way along the border we will see opportunities exploding. So for the first time in, I would say, more than five years. I am extraordinarily optimistic. 

“I’m optimistic about Mexico. I'm optimistic about the United States. I'm optimistic about Texas. I'm actually optimistic about geopolitics, even though it is a highly complicated time. How far we've come in just a couple of years blows my mind on a daily basis.”

Wood made those remarks during a speech about near-shoring and re-shoring that was hosted by the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation and held at Texas Southmost College.

Here are his remarks in full.

For the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service website.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

It was a terrific opportunity yesterday to observe Mexican democracy in action. And, I have to say that the INE (Instituto Nacional Electoral) did an incredible job. They did an incredible job of organizing the election. 

I would say more importantly than that, of working with Mexican civil society, and by civil society I do not mean NGOs (non-government organizations. I mean the people on the street who organized themselves to run the polling stations. The INE work hand in hand with them in terms of the training, providing them with the resources they need to actually execute a very well-run, fair, free, transparent election. 

I had the opportunity to travel around the southern part of Mexico City yesterday, visiting five different polling stations. I was there for the rapid count in one of them and it is an extraordinarily simple process but it is one that works very, very well. 

One of the biggest takeaways of this election is democracy does work in Mexico. I know that a lot of people have had doubts about the future of democracy. It is alive and well. The INE did a great job, as I said, but Mexican civic culture, the culture of democracy is alive and kicking. And there is great pride on the part of the Mexican people in their own elections. And a large part of that comes from the fact that they are so intimately involved in it. 

Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service's website to see the full commentary from Duncan Wood, vice president for strategy and new initiatives; senior advisor to the Mexico Institute. Wood made his remarks on a  Mexico Institute webinar titled Ground Truth Briefing - Mexico’s Mid-Term Elections. Wood was in Mexico as an official elections observer for the mid-term elections. The attached podcast features the webinar.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

MCALLEN, Texas - Duncan Wood, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, recently spoke in McAllen, Brownsville, Laredo and San Antonio.

The subject was the policies of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, one year into his presidency of Mexico.

The Woodrow Wilson Center, chartered by Congress in 1968, is the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for the policy community.

 Wood is an internationally renowned specialist on North American politics, Mexico and U.S.-Mexican ties who lectures and publishes on hemispheric issues and relationships. He regularly testifies to the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Mexico relations and is a widely quoted source on Mexican politics.

An authority on energy policy, international banking regulation and corruption, he is currently co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Transparency and Anti-Corruption, and is a member of the editorial board of Foreign Affairs Latinoamerica.

The above podcast features Wood’s remarks at the McAllen event, which was hosted by IBC Bank and the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. It took place at the McAllen Performing Arts Center. Wood was introduced by Adrian Villarreal, president of IBC Bank-McAllen.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.