Luis Videgaray Caso

Luis Videgaray Caso
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Assumed office
4 January 2017
President Enrique Peña Nieto
Preceded by Claudia Ruiz Massieu
Secretary of Finance and Public Credit
In office
1 December 2012 – 7 September 2016
President Enrique Peña Nieto
Preceded by José Meade
Succeeded by José Meade
Personal details
Born (1968-08-10) 10 August 1968
Mexico City, Mexico
Political party Institutional Revolutionary
Education Mexico Autonomous Institute
of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology

Luis Videgaray Caso (born August 10, 1968) is a Mexican politician and diplomat who serves as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Previously he was the Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, also in the cabinet of Enrique Peña Nieto, from 2012 to 2016. He also was General Coordinator of his campaign for the 2012 Mexican presidential election.[1] On July 11, 2012, Peña Nieto announced Videgaray as the person in charge of promoting the economic reforms and the government agenda's related topics,[2] and on September 4, he named Videgaray as co-head of the team that set policy direction for the new government that took office on December 1, 2012.

In September 2016, a week after the visit of U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump to Mexico City to meet with President Peña Nieto, Videgaray resigned as finance minister. According to the first Wall Street Journal report on the resignation, Videgaray will be replaced as finance minister by the man Videgaray had replaced from President Felipe Calderón's administration, the current foreign minister and minister for social development José Antonio Meade Kuribreña.[3]

Until June 21, 2011, Videgaray was President of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) of the State of Mexico.[4][5] He is Federal Deputy with license elected by the proportional representation principle for the 5th Circumscription, which includes the states of Colima, Michoacán, Hidalgo and the State of Mexico, he was also President of the Budget and Public Account Commission of the LXI Legislature of the Mexican Congress and General Coordinator of Eruviel Avila's campaign for Governor of the State of Mexico.[6]

Early life and education

A native of Mexico City, Videgaray Caso is the son of Luis Videgaray Alzada and older brother of TV host Eduardo Videgaray Caso. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology, (ITAM). He graduated in 1994 with the thesis "Failure of the market, regulation and incentives: Case of the Mexican port’s privatization.”[7] He received his Doctorate in Economics, specializing in Public Finances at MIT[8] with the thesis “The fiscal response to oil shocks.”[9] Later, he taught classes in the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology, (ITAM) and in the Ibero-American University, (UIA).

Career

Political beginnings

In 1987 he was part of the Revolutionary Juvenile Front of the PRI party. From September 16, 2005, to March 31, 2009, he was Secretary of Finance, Planning and Administration in the State of Mexico Government. Between 2008 and 2009 he became National Coordinator of the states’ Finance Secretaries. Before that, he was counselor of the Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, Pedro Aspe Armella (1992–1994), counselor of the Secretary of Energy (1996) and Public Finance Director of Protego Asesores, a consulting company owned by Pedro Aspe Armella (2001–2005) where the project about the public debt financing of the State of Mexico, Sonora, Oaxaca and Durango stands out.

State of Mexico Government Finance Secretary

On September 15, 2005, when Enrique Peña Nieto was sworn in as constitutional governor of the State of Mexico, Luis Videgaray was named Secretary of Finance, Planning and Management, position he had for four years. In his own words, the three columns of his administration were “more investment capacity to generate more resources, strong finances and modernization of the administration”.

During this period, several actions of fiscal discipline and modernization of the public sector were executed. The credit score improved and for the first time, this entity obtained an investment rank. The state’s income increased more than 150% by expanding the contributor’s base and making more efficient the taxes collection process.

Additionally, the state’s debt of 25,000 million pesos was refinanced in order to be paid in a 25-year term with an interest rate 30% lower.[10] Another transaction in the same period—IDEAL’s $700 million toll road ABS—obtained recognition in the Latin Finance magazine for the “2008 Deal of the Year" inaugurating the "Best Sub-Sovereign Financing” category.[11] Also, the state developed one of the country’s most complete legal frameworks for providing services and the country’s first project under this guidance were executed.

Finance Minister

Alongside having a track record of spearheading contentious economic reform, Videgaray Caso was unable to avoid the recent political fallout of Enrique Peña Nieto's meeting with Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate and announced his resignation on September 7, 2016.[12] After much controversy, the Mexican government revealed that the idea to meet with Trump originated with Videgaray Caso.[13]

Foreign Affairs

On January 4, 2017, before the January 20 inauguration of now-U.S. President-elect Trump, Videgaray Caso was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs by Pres. Peña Nieto. With a weakened peso versus the dollar since the U.S. election[13] and good relations with the incoming U.S. President facilitated in 2016 through Jared Kushner, Videgaray's appointment was deemed by one U.S. publication as "jarring to many in Mexico." The secretary, in his first speech in the position, though, said he would choose neither "a strategy of conflict, confrontations, and even insult, ... [or] a shameful submission." Instead, he said, Mexico would pursue a course of "intelligence and dignity, opening the doors to dialogue."[14] Upon his new appointment Videgaray also addressed a major subject of the Trump campaign - a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border which Mexico would pay for - stating about the payment "there's no way that could happen." Other issues to be addressed in this context with Mexico's northern neighbor are NAFTA and U.S.-owned manufacturing plants in Mexico.[15] On February 9, 2017, CBS News reported that Mexican officials said Videgaray, with Jared Kushner, helped to rewrite portions of Trump's speech about the U.S.-Mexico border wall, although the White House denied that assertion.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Presenta Peña a su equipo de campaña; lo encabeza Luis Videgaray". Oem.com.mx. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
  2. ↑ El Universal. (11 July 2012). "Peña Nieto anuncia su equipo de trabajo; Videgaray entre ellos." (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 July 2012. Videgaray es nombrado coordinador de políticas públicas.
  3. ↑ Luhnow, David, "Mexico’s Finance Minister Resigns in Wake of Trump Visit", Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
  4. ↑ "Videgaray asume presidencia del PRI-Edomex - El Universal - Estado de Mexico". El Universal. 2011-04-08. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
  5. ↑ "Videgaray Caso, nuevo presidente del PRI mexiquense - Estado de México - Elecciones 2011". Terra. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
  6. ↑ "Luis Videgaray coordinará la campaña de Eruviel Ávila". Oem.com.mx. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
  7. ↑ "Consulted in the "Raúl Bailleres" Library of the ''ITAM''". Hammurabi.itam.mx. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
  8. ↑ Ficha curricular de Luis Videgaray.
  9. ↑ "Videgaray Caso Luis 1968". Biblioteca.universia.net. 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
  10. ↑ "State of Mexico Leads Jumbo MXP Refinance" (subscription required), LatinFinance, April 17, 2008. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
  11. ↑ "Deals of the Year Results" (subscription required), LatinFinance, February 1, 2009. Retrieved 2016-09-08.
  12. ↑ Luis Videgaray Caso, 'La Cartita'
  13. 1 2 DeFotis, Dimitra, "Mexico Cozies Up To Trump As Peso Crumbles", Barron's, January 5, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
  14. ↑ Woody, Christopher, "Carrots and sticks: Mexico is getting ready to make deals with President Donald Trump", Business Insider, January 9, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
  15. ↑ "Mexico again says there is 'no way' it will pay for Trump wall", Reuters, January 10, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
  16. ↑ "Mexican FM helped Jared Kushner re-write Trump border wall speech", CBS News, February 9, 2017. Retrieved 2017-02-9.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Ricardo Aguilar Castillo		 Leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party in the State of Mexico
2011–2012 		Succeeded by
Raúl Domínguez Rex
Political offices
Preceded by
José Meade		 Secretary of Finance and Public Credit
2012–2016 		Succeeded by
José Meade
Preceded by
Claudia Ruiz Massieu		 Secretary of Foreign Affairs
2017–present 		Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.