Mexico is engaged in one of the most pivotal debates in its modern history: the future of its oil industry. The question is whether oil operations should remain in state hands or be privatized. Mexico exported 1.1 million barrels of oil per day to the United States in 2007, making it the third-largest supplier of oil to the United States, after Canada and Saudi Arabia. Yet the U.S. media has paid scant attention to the debate over what will happen with Mexico’s most important industry.