From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ernesto Zedillo
Ernesto Zedillo
Ernesto Zedillo cially its impact on relations between developed and de-
veloping nations.
He is currently Director of the Center for the Study
of Globalization at Yale University and director of Citi
Group.
Early life and education
Ernesto Zedillo was born on December 27, 1951 in Mexico
City. His parents were Rodolfo Zedillo Castillo, a mechan-
ic, and Martha Alicia Ponce de León. Seeking better job
and education opportunities for his 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 adoles-
54th President of Mexico cence, young Ernesto actively participated in school
In office events, such as alumni societies and head of the school
December 1, 1994 – November 30, 2000 newspaper.
In 1965, at the age of 14, he returned to Mexico City.
Preceded by Carlos Salinas de Gortari
In 1969 he entered the National Polytechnic Institute,
Succeeded by Vicente Fox financing his studies by working in the National Army
Mexican Secretary of Education and Navy Bank (nowadays Banjercito). He graduated as an
Economist in 1972 and began lecturing. It was among his
In office first group of students where he met his wife, Nilda Patri-
1992–1993
cia Velasco with whom he has 5 children: Ernesto, Emil-
Preceded by Manuel Bartlett iano, Carlos (formerly married to conductor Alondra de
la Parra[1]), Nilda Patricia and Rodrigo.
Succeeded by Fernando Solana
In 1974 he pursued his master’s and PhD studies at
Personal details Yale University. His doctoral thesis was titled: "Mexico’s
Born 27 December 1951 (1951-12-27) public external debt: recent history and future growth
Mexico City, Mexico related to oil".
Political party Institutional Revolutionary Party
Spouse(s) Nilda Patricia Velasco
Political career
Zedillo began working in the Bank of Mexico (Mexico’s
Religion Roman Catholic
central bank), as a member of the Institutional Revo-
Signature lutionary 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.
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (born December 27, 1951) In 1988 at the age of thirty-six he headed that secretariat.
is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as Pres- During his term as Secretary, Zedillo launched a Science
ident of Mexico from December 1, 1994 to November 30, and Technology reformation.
2000, as the last of the uninterrupted seventy year line of In 1992 he was appointed Secretary of Education by
Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary president Carlos Salinas, a year later he resigned to run
Party. Since the ending of his term as president in 2000, the electoral campaign of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRI’s
Zedillo has been a leading voice on globalization, espe- presidential candidate.
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ernesto Zedillo
1994 presidential campaign
Main article: Mexican general election, 1994
Zedillo at the World Economic Forum 2009
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 rela-
tionship 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 Ernesto Zedillo with Edmund Phelps, winner of the 2006 Nobel
place after Colosio visited the members of the Zapatista Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, at the World Economic
Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda 2008
movement in Chiapas and promised to open dialogue,
something the PRI opposed.[citation needed]
After Colosio’s murder, this speech was seen as the administration. The crisis ended after a series of reforms
main cause of his break with the president.[citation needed] and actions led by Zedillo. US president Bill Clinton
The choice of Zedillo was interpreted as Salinas’ way of granted a US$50 billion loan to Mexico, which helped in
bypassing the strong Mexican political tradition of non- one of Zedillo’s initiatives to rescue the banking system.
reelection and retaining real power, since Zedillo was not At first Zedillo was regarded by many as a puppet-
really a politician, but an economist (like Salinas), who president but any rumors of obedience to Salinas finished
clearly lacked the president’s political talent and influ- when Raúl Salinas, the "inconvenient brother" of the for-
ence. It is unclear if Salinas had attempted to control mer president was convicted of murder.
Colosio, who was generally considered at that time to be His political motto was Bienestar para tu familia (a pun
a far better candidate. in Spanish meaning both "Well-being for your family"
Zedillo contested against Diego Fernández de Ceval- and "Welfare for your family"). His most lasting act of
los and second-timer Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas of the Na- government was the creation of Progresa, a poverty-fight-
tional Action Party and Party of the Democratic Revolu- ing program based on subsidizing the poorest families
tion respectively. He won with 48.69% of popular vote, provided their children go to school, later renamed Opor-
some 17,181,651, and at the time this was considered the tunidades (Opportunities) by president Vicente Fox.
cleanest election in the country’s history.[citation needed] Zedillo’s administration was unable to resolve the
EZLN uprising in Chiapas, which lasted until Vicente Fox
Presidency came to power. Two massacres took place during the
presidency of Zedillo: Aguas Blancas and Acteal. It was
A few days after taking office, one of the biggest econom-
strongly suspected that top officers within Zedillo’s cab-
ic crisis in Mexican history hit the country. Although it
inet (but not Zedillo himself) were involved, but none of
was outgoing president Salinas who was mainly blamed
them were ever indicted.
for the crisis, Salinas claimed that president Zedillo made
In 2000 Zedillo recognized the electoral victory of op-
a mistake by changing the economic policies held by his
position candidate Vicente Fox before midnight on elec-
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ernesto Zedillo
Party political offices
Preceded by PRI presidential candidate Succeeded by
Luis Donaldo Colosio 1994 (won) Francisco Labastida
(assassinated)
tion day, paving the way for what seemed an unlikely [3] "Outside Review Supports World Bank Group
change of power. For this reason some PRI members con- Reform". 21 October 2009.
sider him a traitor, despite an 11-point advantage for http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/
PAN, claiming that the election was too close to admit de- NEWS/
feat so soon and that, in any event, the concession should 0,,contentMDK:22360012~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSiteP
have come from the PRI’s candidate, Francisco Labastida, [4] Smith, Randall (27 February 2010). "Citigroup to
and not Zedillo. Restructure Its Board". The Wall Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/article/
Post-presidency SB10001424052748704625004575089271339238714.html?mod=WSJ_
After leaving office, Zedillo has held many jobs as an eco-
nomic consultant in many international companies and
External links
organizations. • Appearances on C-SPAN
Zedillo currently works at Yale University in the • Ernesto Zedillo at the Internet Movie Database
United States, where he teaches economics and heads the • Works by or about Ernesto Zedillo in libraries
Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. He is an advi- (WorldCat catalog)
sory board member of the Millstein Center for Corporate • Ernesto Zedillo collected news and commentary at
Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Man- The New York Times
agement. In 2005 he became a member of the influen- • Ernesto Zedillo at the Notable Names Database
tial Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group • (Spanish) Extended biography by CIDOB Foundation
of Thirty. He serves on the board of advisors for Stone- • (Spanish) The website of Ernesto Zedillo during his
bridge International.[2] In 2009 he headed an external re- presidency
view of the World Bank Group’s governance.[3] In 2010 he
joined the board of directors of Citigroup.[4] He is also a
member of the board of directors of Procter & Gamble,
Sources
Alcoa, the Global Development Network (GDN) and Elec- Schmidt, Samuel. 2000. Mexico encadenado. El legado de
tronic Data Systems. Dr. Zedillo is also a member of the Zedillo y los retos de Fox. Mexico D.F.: Colibri
Coca-Cola Company International Advisory Board. Union Persondata
Pacific owns some of the railroads that Zedillo privatized Name Zedillo, Ernesto
during his presidency in Mexico. Dr. Zedillo now serves
as a Director of Union Pacific Corporation. Alternative Zedillo Ponce de León, Ernesto (Spanish);
Among his other post-presidency activities, Zedillo is names Zedillo Ponce de Leon, Ernesto (English)
a member of the editorial board of Americas Quarterly, Short de- President of Mexico (1994–2000)
a policy journal that explores relations and development scription
in the Western Hemisphere. He is also a member of the Date of 27 December 1951
Club of Madrid. birth
Place of Mexico City, Mexico
See also birth
• Cabinet of Ernesto Zedillo Date of
death
References Place of
death
[1] Zócalo Saltillo - Alondra de la Parra toma la batuta
de su divorcio
[2] "Stonebridge International Board of Advisors".
http://www.stonebridge-international.com/
pages/page01b.html#zed.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernesto_Zedillo&oldid=474471159"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ernesto Zedillo
Categories:
• 1951 births
• Group of Thirty
• National Polytechnic Institute alumni
• Living people
• Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians
• Mexican Secretaries of Education
• Mexican economists
• Mexican politicians
• Mexican Roman Catholics
• Mexican presidential candidates (1994)
• People from Mexico City
• Presidents of Mexico
• Procter & Gamble
• Recipients of the Star of Romania Order
• Recipients of the Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana
• Yale University alumni
• Yale University faculty
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