 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2005 
Fox Taps PAN Stalwart for Creel's Post
 José Luis Ruiz - El Universal
| | Carlos Abascal |
Mexico City – President Vicente Fox on Thursday tapped Labor Secretary and National Action Party (PAN) ally Carlos Abascal to take over the reins at the Interior Secretariat after Santiago Creel resigned the day before.
Abascal, considered one of the most conservative members of Fox's cabinet, will be in charge of overseeing the nation's upcoming presidential elections in 2006. He will also direct political, domestic and security affairs for the executive branch.
Creel resigned on Wednesday to begin his campaign for the nation's top post.
"Mexico deserves and will have fair, transparent and respectable elections that strengthen our nation's democratic transition," Abascal said during a televised address with Fox and Creel.
He also hinted he would push for reforms that the Fox government has so far been unable to achieve due to opposition in Congress.
"We don't have the luxury of wasting time," Abascal said. "This is not the time for haggling or confrontations, but rather for dialogue, concentration and fundamental accords."
He added he would initiate dialogue with the legislative and judicial branches of the government in the hopes of finding middle ground.
Analysts consider labor, energy and fiscal reform as the nation's most pressing needs.
Lawmakers from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) said Abascal was a "negotiator" and said they were willing to give him "the benefit of the doubt" when working with him. The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), however, criticized Fox's decision, accusing him of placing a figure from the "ultra-right" in one of the nation's top posts.
Abascal, a devout Catholic, created a stir in 2001 when a teacher was fired from his daughter's school for assigning the book "Aura" by Carlos Fuentes. While Abascal says he was not responsible for the firing, he had previously stated the book was inappropriate for middle-schoolers because of its sexual narrative. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us