Amid absurdity, Mexican congress passes landmark energy bill

Mexico's lower house has passed an energy reform bill that will throw open the doors for private investment in the long-insulated oil and gas and electric power sectors.

With a 353-134 vote, the lower house joined the senate in approving the historic legislation. It now moves to the 31 state legislatures, where a majority must sign off on the bill.

Days of increasingly absurd actions surrounding the pending energy reform reached a fever pitch in the early hours of Thursday (Dec 13) morning when a legislator stripped while arguing against the legislation.

Antonio García Conejo of the leftist PRD party began symbolically removing his clothing in front of nearly 500 fellow legislators as he claimed that previous privatizations of key industries like telecommunications and railroads had "stripped" the nation of benefits. This one would do the same, he claimed.

By the end of his speech, he was in nothing but underwear.

And the lawmaker was not even speaking from the real chambers of Mexico's lower house. On Wednesday, leftist legislators had barricaded themselves inside the main chamber to prevent discussion and voting, forcing the bill to be debated in another auditorium.

Clashes between opposition party members resulted in blows on various occasions, with one representative from the PRI party sporting an eye patch after having her retina scratched.

The bizarre displays were coupled with - or perhaps caused - a lack of real discussion or debate on the bill, said to be the most important in a portfolio of reforms in President Enrique Peña Nieto's young presidency.

Irked by the barricading of the chamber, energy bill supporters from the PRI and PAN parties decided to fast-track the bill, bringing it straight to floor instead of putting it to committees first.

Barely one day after receiving the legislation from the senate, the bill had been through two favorable votes and passed the lower house, now one step closer to becoming law.