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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2008 
Calderon Names Us-Educated, Spanish-Born Interior Secretary
 Associated Press
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| | Juan Camilo Mourino takes over as interior secretary. | | |
Mexico City - President Felipe Calderon replaced his domestic security chief on Wednesday with a young, Spanish-born and U.S.-educated aide who led his 2006 campaign effort.
Juan Camilo Mourino took over as interior secretary, replacing Francisco Ramirez Acuna, who stepped down amid an upsurge in drug-fueled killings and criticism that he has cracked down on opposition protests. He said he was resigning to "pursue personal activities."
The Cabinet switch, the third since Calderon took office just over a year ago, also came as his administration pushes major reforms that could lead to private investment in the country's state-run oil sector and revamp the slow, corruption-plagued criminal justice system.
The interior secretary has traditionally acted as the president's chief negotiator with the legislative branch, opposition groups and state officials. While Calderon has been able to get a number of bills through Congress, others - including the judicial reform and plans to widen private-sector participation in oil drilling - face stiff challenges.
Calderon said Mourino would press "reforms that will make the country's economy advance more quickly toward development."
Mexico's state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, is seeing a decline in production and reserves but it faces strict legal limits on using private-sector help for deep-water exploration for new reserves. The company also was hit by a series of rebel bomb attacks on its natural gas pipelines in mid-2007.
Mourino said he would lead an agency that stresses "compliance with the law, builds agreements with diverse political and social forces and the other branches of government, that promotes respect for democratic values."
Born in Spain, Mourino studied economics at the University of Tampa, Florida, and holds a graduate degree in accounting and finance from a university in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Campeche.
He became a Mexican citizen almost two decades ago, served as a federal legislator and went on to become Calderon's closest adviser as head of the Office of the Presidency. At 36, he is one of the youngest men to have held the politically sensitive post of interior secretary.
Mourino's family has business interests in southern Mexico, and Spanish firms have recently made major inroads in Mexico's telecommunications and banking sector, drawing criticism from some Mexicans who resent the influence of the country's former colonial master.
On Tuesday, Calderon named former Treasury Department official Ernesto Cordero as social development secretary, the top anti-poverty post. In September, he tapped Salvador Vega to head the federal comptroller's office. |
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