After intense negotiating between the Mexican government and oil companies, which leader nationalized Mexico's oil in 1938?

After intense negotiating between the Mexican government and oil companies, which leader nationalized Mexico's oil in 1938?

• A. Porfirio Díaz
• B. Emiliano Zapata
• C. Pancho Villa
• D. Lázaro Cárdenas

Answer: (D)

The event tests the idea of resource nationalism—the state taking control of a strategic industry to assert sovereignty over national resources. In 1938, after firm bargaining with foreign oil companies, Mexico’s president Lázaro Cárdenas expropriated foreign oil properties and created Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to run the industry. This move put national interests over foreign ownership and marked a decisive shift in Mexican economic policy, reinforcing worker rights and national control over a crucial resource. Porfirio Díaz led earlier regimes that encouraged foreign investment, not nationalization. Zapata and Villa were revolutionary leaders, not the head of state implementing this policy in 1938, so they don’t fit the event described. The combination of the timing, the leader in office, and the creation of Pemex is why this is the correct association.

The event tests the idea of resource nationalism—the state taking control of a strategic industry to assert sovereignty over national resources. In 1938, after firm bargaining with foreign oil companies, Mexico’s president Lázaro Cárdenas expropriated foreign oil properties and created Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to run the industry. This move put national interests over foreign ownership and marked a decisive shift in Mexican economic policy, reinforcing worker rights and national control over a crucial resource.

Porfirio Díaz led earlier regimes that encouraged foreign investment, not nationalization. Zapata and Villa were revolutionary leaders, not the head of state implementing this policy in 1938, so they don’t fit the event described. The combination of the timing, the leader in office, and the creation of Pemex is why this is the correct association.