Ernesto Zedillo

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Zedillo and the second or maternal family name is Ponce de León.

Ernesto Zedillo
54th President of Mexico
In office December 1, 1994 – November 30, 2000
Preceded by	Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Succeeded by	Vicente Fox
Secretary of Education
In office 1992–1993
Preceded by	Manuel Bartlett
Succeeded by	Fernando Solana
Personal details
Born	Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (1951-12-27) December 27, 1951 Mexico City, Mexico
Political party	Institutional Revolutionary Party
Spouse(s)	Nilda Patricia Velasco
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature

Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (born December 27, 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as President of Mexico from December 1, 1994 to November 30, 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 70-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party. Since the ending of his term as president in 2000, Zedillo has been a leading voice on globalization, especially its impact on relations between developed and developing nations.

He is currently Director of the Center for the Study of Globalization at Yale University and is on the board of directors of Citigroup.

Early life and education

Ernesto Zedillo was born on December 27, 1951 in Mexico City. His parents were Rodolfo Zedillo Castillo, a mechanic, and Martha Alicia Ponce de León. Seeking better job and education opportunities for their children, his parents moved to Mexicali, Baja California.

His humble origins made him appreciate the idea of progress and self-improvement, even though he was well aware of the few opportunities he had for this. Zedillo was educated in public schools in Mexicali where he was recognized as an excellent student. During his adolescence, young Ernesto actively participated in school events, such as alumni societies and head of the school newspaper.

In 1965, at the age of 14, he returned to Mexico City. In 1969 he entered the National Polytechnic Institute, financing his studies by working in the National Army and Navy Bank (nowadays Banjercito). He graduated as an economist in 1972 and began lecturing. It was among his first group of students that he met his wife, Nilda Patricia Velasco with whom he has five children: Ernesto, Emiliano, Carlos (formerly married to conductor Alondra de la Parra), Nilda Patricia and Rodrigo.

In 1974 he pursued his master's and PhD studies at Yale University. His doctoral thesis was titled: "Mexico's Public External Debt: Recent History and Future Growth Related to Oil."

Political career

Zedillo began working in the Bank of Mexico (Mexico's central bank) as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, where he supported the adoption of macroeconomic policies for the country's improvement. By 1987 he was named deputy-secretary of Planning and Budget Control in the Secretariat of Budget and Planning. In 1988 at the age of 36 he headed that secretariat. During his term as Secretary, Zedillo launched a Science and Technology reform.

In 1992 he was appointed Secretary of Education by president Carlos Salinas. A year later he resigned to run the electoral campaign of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRI's presidential candidate.

1994 presidential campaign

Main article: Mexican general election, 1994

Vladimir Putin and Ernesto Zedillo, at the Millennium Summit, 2000

In 1994 after Colosio's assassination, Zedillo became one of the few PRI members eligible under Mexican law to take his place, since he had not occupied public office for some time.

The opposition blamed Colosio's murder on Salinas. Although the PRI's presidential candidates were always chosen by the current president, and thus Colosio had originally been Salinas' candidate, their political relationship had been affected by a famous speech during the campaign in which Colosio said that Mexico had many problems. It is also notable that the assassination took place after Colosio visited the members of the Zapatista movement in Chiapas and promised to open dialogue, something the PRI opposed.^{[citation needed]}

After Colosio's murder, this speech was seen as the main cause of his break with the president.^{[citation needed]} The choice of Zedillo was interpreted as Salinas' way of bypassing the strong Mexican political tradition of non-reelection and retaining real power, since Zedillo was not really a politician, but an economist (like Salinas), who clearly lacked the president's political talent and influence. It is unclear if Salinas had attempted to control Colosio, who was generally considered at that time to be a far better candidate.

Zedillo ran against Diego Fernández de Cevallos of the National Action Party and second-timer Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas of the Party of the Democratic Revolution. He won with 48.69% of popular vote, some 17,181,651, and at the time this was considered the cleanest election in the country's history.^{[citation needed]}

Presidency

Zedillo at the World Economic Forum 2009

Ernesto Zedillo with Edmund Phelps, winner of the 2006 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, at the World Economic Forum's Summit on the Global Agenda 2008

A few days after taking office, one of the biggest economic crisis in Mexican history hit the country. Although it was outgoing President Salinas who was mainly blamed for the crisis, Salinas claimed that President Zedillo made a mistake by changing the economic policies held by his administration. The crisis ended after a series of reforms and actions led by Zedillo. US president Bill Clinton granted a US$20 billion loan to Mexico, which helped in one of Zedillo's initiatives to rescue the banking system.

At first Zedillo was regarded by many as a puppet-president, but any rumors of obedience to Salinas finished when Raúl Salinas, the "inconvenient brother" of the former president, was convicted of murder.

Zedillo's presidential motto was Bienestar para tu familia ("Well-being for your family"). His most lasting act of government was the creation of Progresa, a poverty-fighting program based on subsidizing the poorest families provided their children went to school, later renamed Oportunidades (Opportunities) by president Vicente Fox.

Zedillo also privatized the state railway company, Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México. This led to the suspension of passenger service in 1997.

Zedillo's administration was unable to resolve the EZLN uprising in Chiapas, which lasted until Vicente Fox came to power. Two massacres took place during the presidency of Zedillo: Aguas Blancas and Acteal. It was strongly suspected that top officers within Zedillo's cabinet (but not Zedillo himself) were involved, but none of them were ever indicted.

In 2000 Zedillo recognized the electoral victory of opposition candidate Vicente Fox before midnight on election day, paving the way for what seemed an unlikely change of power. For this reason some PRI members consider him a traitor, despite an 11-point advantage for PAN, claiming that the election was too close to admit defeat so soon and that, in any event, the concession should have come from the PRI's candidate, Francisco Labastida, and not Zedillo.

Post-presidency

Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico (1994–2000), at the World Economic Forum Summit on the Global Agenda 2008 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

After leaving office, Zedillo has held many jobs as an economic consultant in many international companies and organizations.

Zedillo currently works at Yale University in the United States, where he teaches economics and heads the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. He is an advisory board member of the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management. In 2005 he became a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty. He serves on the board of advisors for Stonebridge International. In 2009 he headed an external review of the World Bank Group's governance. In 2010 he joined the board of directors of Citigroup. He is also a member of the board of directors of Procter & Gamble, Alcoa, the Global Development Network (GDN) and Electronic Data Systems. Dr. Zedillo is also a member of the Coca-Cola Company International Advisory Board. Union Pacific owns some of the railroads that Zedillo privatized during his presidency in Mexico. Dr. Zedillo now serves as a Director of Union Pacific Corporation.

Among his other post-presidency activities, Zedillo is a member of the editorial board of Americas Quarterly, a policy journal that explores relations and development in the Western Hemisphere. He is also a member of the Club of Madrid, as well as the current chair of the Natural Resource Charter's Oversight Board.

Connecticut Trial

According to a 2012 Economist article, a group of ten anonymous Tzotzil people claiming to be survivors of the Acteal Massacre have taken an opportunity to sue former President Zedillo in a civil court in Connecticut, "seeking about $50 million and a declaration of guilt against Mr Zedillo." The victims of the massacre were members of an indigenous-rights group known as Las Abejas; however the current president of that organization, Porfirio Arias, claims that the alleged victims were in fact not residents of Acteal at all. This has led commentators to allege the trial to be politically motivated, perhaps by a member of his own political party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, angry about Zedillo's reforms that led to the party losing power in the Mexican presidential election, 2000, after 71 years of continuous political rule.

The United States Department of State recommended that President Zedillo be granted immunity from prosecution due to the actions occurring as part of his official capacity as head of state. This motion is not binding in the US court system, but judges "generally side with the State Department."

See also

• Cabinet of Ernesto Zedillo

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Ernesto Zedillo at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Ernesto Zedillo in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Ernesto Zedillo collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Ernesto Zedillo at the Notable Names Database
• (Spanish) Extended biography by CIDOB Foundation
• (Spanish) The website of Ernesto Zedillo during his presidency

Sources

Schmidt, Samuel. 2000. Mexico encadenado. El legado de Zedillo y los retos de Fox. Mexico D.F.: Colibri

Political offices
Preceded by Carlos Salinas de Gortari	President of Mexico 1994–2000	Succeeded by Vicente Fox
Party political offices
Preceded by Luis Donaldo Colosio (assassinated)	PRI presidential candidate 1994 (won)	Succeeded by Francisco Labastida