Fox names Castaneda as foreign minister

Fox names leftist as foreign minister
By Kevin Sullivan 
The Washington Post, November 23, 2000

MEXICO CITY –– President-elect Vicente Fox today appointed a left-leaning
college professor and author, Jorge G. Castaneda, as Mexico's next foreign
minister and a hard-nosed telecommunications executive, Francisco Gil Diaz,
to lead his economic team.

The diverse choices by Fox, who will be inaugurated Dec. 1, pointed to a
more assertive foreign policy alongside financial policies likely to
reassure the business and stock market players whose assessments are key to
Mexico's economic health. Fox announced his major cabinet picks as a
special commission presented him with a variety of suggestions for his
presidency that would include fundamental changes in politics and the
military.

Castaneda, 47, said in an interview that Mexico will be more committed to
human rights at home and more outspoken on human rights issues abroad under
the Fox presidency. Castaneda said Fox and U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights Mary Robinson plan to sign a declaration just after the inauguration
pledging Mexico's new commitment.

Castaneda said he will bring a new emphasis to overseeing Mexico's 50
consulates in the United States and will try to ensure better treatment of
Mexicans living in the United States, who send billions of dollars home
every year. Castaneda said he, Fox and other cabinet members will stand on
highways near the U.S.-Mexico border before Christmas, when traditionally
more than 1 million Mexicans come home for the holidays, in hopes of
discouraging Mexican police from shaking them down for bribes.

Although Castaneda's father served as foreign minister from 1979 to 1982
and his brother has been a high-ranking foreign service officer, some
critics saw him as too mercurial for the diplomatic post. But his
supporters pointed to his intellect and experience, from teaching at New
York University to writing several well-respected books on Mexican politics.
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52098-2000Nov22.html

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Carina A. Bandhauer
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Sociology
Binghamton University
State University of New York
Binghamton NY  13902-6000

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