| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2009 
US Ambassador to Mexico Will Leave job, but Not Country
 Jeremy Schwartz - Cox News Service
go to original
| | Tony Garza and wife Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala | |
Mexico City — An ambassador who leaves a posting here is usually feted with rounds of despedidas, lavish going-away parties that last deep into the night. But outgoing U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza hasn’t received any despedidas, and it’s not because the noted tequila connoisseur doesn’t like a good party.
It’s because Garza, a Brownsville native and former Texas railroad commissioner, is staying in Mexico City. After six years as U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Garza, once considered a rising superstar in the Texas Republican Party, has decided to enter the private sector in Mexico.
"You’re not going to see me on the ballot again," Garza said in an interview at his embassy office on Mexico City’s swank Avenida Reforma. "The opportunity for public service has been enormously satisfying, but I see myself moving into a different arena. . . . I sense some closure to the public side of my life."
Garza said he is weighing several projects in the legal and business fields, and also considering some public policy work. Although he plans to live in Mexico (while probably maintaining a house in Texas), Garza said he has no plans to pursue Mexican citizenship.
Before Garza arrived in Mexico, he was widely considered a strong contender for Texas governor or U.S. senator.
But that political course changed dramatically, as did his personal life. In 2005, he married Modelo beer empire heiress Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala, one of the richest women in the hemisphere. The melding of political power and money only fueled more speculation about Garza’s future.
Garza leaves his post to near-unanimous applause from experts and Mexican officials, who say that despite the sometimes frosty relationship between Mexico and the United States, he managed to achieve unprecedented cooperation on security issues.
His crowning achievement may well be the Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion, multiyear U.S. aid package to help the Mexican government combat warring drug cartels. Mexico’s festering drug war left a record 5,600 dead in 2008, including hundreds of police and government officials. The U.S. released the first of the money late last year to buy aircraft and detection equipment for the Mexican military.
The agreement is a sharp contrast to the squabbling that marked Garza’s early days in Mexico. Then, the ambassador routinely received heavy criticism for speaking out about Mexico’s burgeoning drug violence, especially along the border.
But those diplomatic clashes probably laid the groundwork for a closer relationship.
"Since those early days when he ruffled Mexican feathers, we’ve seen a maturity in the debate and the understanding of the issue," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, a Mexico expert and head of the Washington-based consulting firm Peschard-Sverdrup & Associates. "At the end of the day we have a common enemy, which is organized crime."
Garza said his proudest achievement was in changing the tone of discussions between the two countries. "We are far more open in how we discuss difficult issues now," he said. "That has allowed us to move light-years away from the finger-pointing and recriminations. . . . While I was once criticized for being direct and putting issues on the table, that’s now somewhat the way in which we do things." |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us