New Faces in Charge of the Mining Sector
Home > Mining > Article

New Faces in Charge of the Mining Sector

Share it!
Mon, 10/21/2013 - 09:52

1

Enrique Peña Nieto defeated his opponents in the Mexican federal elections in 2012, thus enabling the return of his party to power after a 12-year hiatus. He represents the new face of Mexico’s long-ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which held power in the country for over 70 years in the past century. Born in Atlacomulco, an industrial city in the State of Mexico (which neighbors Mexico City), Peña Nieto is the son of an electrical engineer and a teacher. He has been tied to politics and public service from birth: he is the nephew of a former mayor of Atlacomulco and has blood ties to two former governors of the State of Mexico.

Peña Nieto studied Law at Universidad Panamericana, one of Mexico’s top schools for this profession. During this period he joined the ranks of the PRI party, following in the footsteps of his family members. At the same time, he initiated his professional path as an employee at various legal firms. He later pursued a career as an independent lawyer and studied an MBA at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM). While he was completing his postgraduate studies, Peña Nieto was awarded his first position as a party representative at the national level.

After holding a string of political positions, Peña Nieto collaborated in two successful electoral campaigns and held relevant positions in both resulting governments within the State of Mexico. In 2003 he was elected local deputy for the state legislature, as a representative of Atlacomulco. This position was the stepping stone for his candidacy for the state government, which he won in 2005 thanks to the thorough list of notarized commitments he made to the local population. During his six year term as governor, Peña Nieto followed the observance of each of these commitments, which marked advances in the state’s infrastructure, public services and public finances. At the end of his term as governor, Peña Nieto actively sought the election as the PRI’s candidate for the 2012-2018 presidential period. His opponent’s withdrawal early into the primary elections gave him a valuable opportunity to structure his campaign, action plan, and proposals. Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign followed the same model as his previous bid for government: he toured the country extensively, signing a series of notarized commitments at both the state and federal levels, and meeting with relevant actors of Mexico’s civil society and the private sector in order to listen to their concerns and design public policies in response to their needs. He was declared the winner of the July 2012 elections by a margin of almost 7% of the vote.

2

An economist born in Nuevo Leon, the country’s industrial hub, Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal is the person in charge of fostering industrial development and supporting economic growth in Mexico. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Nuevo Leon’s Autonomous State University (UANL), he completed a master’s program in Economics at Arizona State University. Guajardo Villarreal did his doctoral studies in Economics and Public Finances at Pennsylvania University, and today has an extensive background in his field.

Guajardo Villarreal has been involved in the political economic planning and programming of Mexico since 1984, when he was named Director of Public Finances at the Economy Ministry, which was then named Ministry of Budget and Programming. He subsequently held various positions in different areas of federal government, including Director of the North American Free Trade Agreement Affairs Office, based at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, Undersecretary at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Deputy Ministry of Tourist Development, and Planning, Communication and Liaison Technical Secretary for the Trade and Industrial Development Ministry. Guajardo Villarreal also served as head of the Executive Office of the Governor of Nuevo Leon during 2003-2006, after which he became a Congressman, first at the state level and afterwards at the federal level. As a Federal Congressman, Guajardo Villarreal was Chairman of the Economics Commission and member of the Treasury and Public Credit Commission. After Enrique Peña Nieto was elected President, he called Guajardo Villarreal to his transitional team, naming him Vice Coordinator of Economic Policy, during the inauguration of the new presidential term he was named Economy Minister. He declared shortly afterwards his intention of promoting a series of reforms in the mining sector, namely concerning the industry’s fiscal framework and the de-regulation of foreign direct investment in the sector.

You May Like

Most popular

Newsletter