President-Elect Calderon Names Cabinet
 E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
| | Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon, center, poses with his new cabinet, from left, Juan Rafael Elvira, Environment Secretary, Alberto Cardenas, Agriculture Departmen, Beatriz Zavala, Social Development Secretary, Josefina Vazquez, Education Department, Abelardo Escobar, Agrarian Reform Secretary and Jose Cordoba, Health Secretary, in Mexico City, Mexico, Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
President-elect Felipe Calderon on Friday named several close allies from his conservative National Action Party to lead his administration's anti-poverty efforts, which are considered crucial to winning the support of millions of poor Mexicans who voted for his opponent.
As Calderon announced the appointments, supporters of the fiery leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador protested outside the headquarters of the incoming government.
Earlier this week, Lopez Obrador, who claims the July 2 presidential elections were compromised by fraud, staged a ceremony in which he swore himself in as Mexico's "legitimate" president, and named members of his own unofficial government.
Calderon won by less than 1 percent in a race that laid bare Mexico's deep divide between rich and poor. In his bid to strengthen his government's grip on power, the president-elect has tried to adopt some of Lopez Obrador's proposals.
On Friday, Calderon appointed Dr. Jose Angel Cordoba, a federal National Action congressman, as health secretary. He asked the surgeon to set up a universal health care program, which Lopez Obrador had proposed.
Beatriz Zavala, a federal National Action congresswoman from southeastern Yucatan state, was appointed social development secretary. In accepting, she said that "without social justice we cannot complete the path toward democracy that Mexicans embarked on just a few years ago."
Alberto Cardenas, former environment secretary under outgoing President Vicente Fox, will head the Agriculture Department. Cardenas, previously governor of western Jalisco state, was one of three members of the ruling National Action Party who sought the party's presidential nomination. He was beaten in the primaries by Calderon.
Josefina Vazquez, who stepped down as Fox's social development secretary to run Calderon's campaign, will run the country's Education Department.
Calderon also named Juan Rafael Elvira, an assistant prosecutor in the federal Environment Department, as environment secretary. Abelardo Escobar, an agronomist, will continue in his position as Mexico's agrarian reform secretary, who mediates land disputes.
On Tuesday, Calderon named six government technocrats, many with U.S. degrees, to head up his economic team, which he said will focus on job creation.
"We Mexicans know that an orderly, competitive economy is indispensable in combatting poverty and inequality and the best way to do that is the generation of dignified, well-paid jobs," Calderon said Friday.
He added that his government's social policy will ensure every child "has the same opportunities," pointing out that some 20 million Mexicans live in extreme poverty, a fact that "angers, hurts and offends the entire society." He takes office Dec. 1. |
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News Around the Republic of Mexico | November 2006 
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