Q: I'm from Hispano Mexican University. I'm studying
international affairs. Some people would think that a student of
international affairs, is perhaps not interested in nuclear
energy, but I do want to say that this is very important for me,
because this is a key to the economy, and that's the essence of
the international situation. So, my question is, coming back to
the question of Mexico in 1982, where there was a policy for
nuclear development and then a setback to that (the sound is
breaking up)--. But how could we retake our nuclear development?
What's the easiest way to development this, to the development
and benefit of the country, which I think is a very important
question, in light of the problems which exist with the
unfortunate Bush Administration? But how do we go towards
nuclear, especially because oil is becoming exhausted?

LAROUCHE: Well, we probably should do what many people who
are experts in Mexico think we should do on this question. And
that is, first of all, we should have a recovery of the petroleum
policy that existed in 1982, before the change. Because there
are other things we can use petroleum for, besides power, besides
burning it for power. Petroleum can also be a feedstock for
fertilizers and for chemicals and things of that sort.

So we will want to recover the industry. Now this may take
five to seven to ten years to fully realize the potential which
existed in Mexico with Pemex, back in 1982. That's a fair
estimate. But at the same time, we want to develop, go back to
the idea of at least 20 nuclear plants very quickly, for Mexico,
and put them in places where they become centers of production,
power for agriculture, and so forth and so on. So you want,
that's the first policy.

And in this, the petroleum then will shift its function from
being consumed as a source of power, and will become a chemical
feedstock for various kinds of products. And that's the way to
go. Use petroleum in the best way it can be used, where it's
most efficient. And petroleum, like natural gas, is very good as
a chemical feedstock for making fertilizers and plastics and all
kinds of things.

So do that. So you build up your industries. So, building
up the petroleum development of Mexico, is not a contradiction to
the need for nuclear energy: quite the contrary, the two go
together. Look at petroleum as a feedstock for your chemical
industry, and where you have petroleum, in the meantime, you may
use it for fuels, until you get your nuclear power system cranked
up. But, your long-term objective is to use it as a chemical
feedstock for various kinds of things, while building up a
nuclear context as a basic power source for the economy.