Posted on 04/16/2002 8:03:34 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, the former Marxist responsible for cooling Mexico's relations with Cuba, is admired abroad but reviled by critics at home who say his strident personality could be his undoing.
For his fans, the Princeton-educated 49-year-old is the visionary architect of a new U.S.-centered foreign policy to fit the nation's coming of age as a democracy after President Vicente Fox ended 71 years of one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
But a large band of detractors, mostly inside Mexico, see Castaneda as an aggressive opportunist who picks fights needlessly, openly despises the local media and shows no mercy in settling scores with anyone who crosses him. They also accuse him of pandering to Mexico's powerful neighbor to the north at the expense of Cuba.
Whether he serves out his term or not, one thing is sure -- the Castaneda is one of the most forceful and controversial members of a government not seen as top-heavy with talent.
"Castaneda is reshaping Mexico's foreign policy and he stands out in a mediocre Cabinet," said Lorenzo Meyer, a historian at the prestigious Colegio de Mexico research institute in Mexico City.
One of Castaneda's unqualified successes has been to put relations between Mexico and the United States on a firm footing and place the status of millions of illegal Mexican migrant workers in the United States on Washington's policy agenda.
He has helped secure a rotating place for Mexico on the U.N. Security Council and scored a coup by having the United Nations stage a major conference on development financing last month in Mexico's industrial city of Monterrey.
In October, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will be held in Mexico -- another foreign policy initiative which will bring dozens of foreign leaders to a gathering on Mexican soil.
"I think he has been able to establish a remarkably good relationship in Washington," said Rod Camp, a specialist on Mexican affairs at Claremont McKenna College in California. "He has earned his spurs."
Castaneda's immaculate English and skill in television appearances have won him admirers in the United States, where some even think he could make a future president.
Castaneda has declined repeated requests for interviews.
UNABASHEDLY PRO-U.S. POLICY MAKES WAVES
Explicitly placing Washington at the heart of Mexican diplomacy has aroused the wrath of Mexico's intellectuals, many of whom feel betrayed by Castaneda and criticize the near breakdown in relations with Cuba.
Only last month Cuba launched an extraordinary personal attack, accusing him of being the "diabolical" architect of Cuban President Fidel Castro's abrupt departure from the U.N. aid summit in Mexico last month.
Many Mexican journalists squarely put the blame for the incident on Castaneda and appeared to accept Cuba's insistence that Castaneda bungled the affair by pressuring Castro to either stay away from the summit or leave before President Bush arrived.
Photographs appeared in newspapers of a youthful Castaneda dressed in military fatigues while on a visit to Cuba in the 1970s -- an uncomfortable reminder of his Marxist past.
Mexico's media have never forgiven Castaneda for castigating local journalists shortly after Fox's election victory in July 2000 for what he described as provincialism and shortsightedness. Not surprisingly, he gets a very bad press.
"He is very highly educated and he feels a certain contempt for the Mexican intellectual, academic and journalistic world," said Lorenzo Meyer, a historian at Colegio de Mexico.
"He considers his equals are not here but in the United States or Europe," he added.
Matters are not made any easier for Castaneda because he is what Mexicans call a "Guero", a member of a fair-skinned elite which is alternately admired and despised by a majority of Mexicans of mixed Indian and European blood.
Castaneda, author of an acclaimed biography of Argentine-born revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevera, taught in the United States and had been about to take up a temporary professorship at Cambridge University in Britain when he was made foreign minister.
Many Mexican columnists believe Castaneda is a turncoat and an opportunist -- having spurned his left-wing past -- who wants to use his influence in foreign policy as a springboard for a presidential bid in 2006.
In a country in which backbiting in public life is the norm, Castaneda may also be a target because many envy his prowess. "In Mexico success is not easily forgiven, especially success abroad. There is a lot of envy," said Meyer.
OLD FRIENDSHIPS SOUR
High office has come at a price.
Castaneda has fallen out with long-standing friends. Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, a former national security adviser who is now Mexico's U.N. ambassador, is reportedly no longer on speaking terms with his former ally.
The foreign minister's marriage broke up last year and local media say he has taken up with a television presenter, Adela Micha.
A reputation for being vindictive in dealings with Foreign Ministry staff has rankled many career diplomats.
"He inspires feelings of vengeance in others because he takes vengeance," said one analyst who knew Castaneda personally but asked not to be identified. "People will oppose him just to get at him."
One such occasion was after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, when Castaneda said Mexico would support any response by the United States.
The remarks were welcomed in Washington but met with a storm of opposition in Mexico, where many commentators accused Castaneda of excessive pandering to the United States.
Castaneda still enjoys the firm confidence of President Fox, who himself has endured sliding approval ratings and attacks in the media.
Despite a well-publicized enmity between Castaneda and the first lady, Marta Sahagun, Fox relies heavily for policy advice on his foreign minister and appears to be very loyal to him.
Castaneda's short fuse may one day get the better of him and he could simply resign unexpectedly in a fit of pique or simply tire of the cut and thrust of politics, say analysts.
"I think Jorge would be the one to leave the marriage, not Fox," said George Grayson, a government professor who specialized in Mexico at William and Mary College in Virginia.
Colombian president says Mexico closing FARC rebel office in Mexico
Fox and Castaneda are not the real problem here. Bush is the problem. If Bush would get a backbone, he could blow both of these little pest away in a heartbeat.
If Bush would get a backbone..... Well I can dream can't I?
I am compassioned out, I don't have an ounce left for anyone but my struggling fellow citizens who receive zip from their government, much less the world.
I don't think it is a question of getting a backbone with Jorge Bush. I am convinced he fervently wants Amnesties for illegals and is squarely for the continuance of unchecked illegal immigration. He is THE PROBLEM and I see nothing that will change his positions on this. Unfortunately the guy is a stubborn S*B with a demented view of America's sovereignty.
One-term wonder Bush's position on our borders is more like a nightmare. It looks like he'll get 245(i) attached to the Border Security Bill so he can make his Mexican leech buddies happy, too..... despite widespread public outcry here in the U.S. "Out the door in 2004."
Amen to that!!
"Out the door in 2004."
No question about that. Immigration isn't the only issue either. More welfare for immigrants. Pouring more money into an already defunct school system. CFR. Middle east policy - or lack thereof.
The boy gotta go!!
Sorry, but I don't think a country that treats a good percentage of its own people so crappily that they come up here - with their own nation's blessing to INVADE - has any room censuring anyone.
And them using the United Nations to censure Cuba when their OWN government is so screwed? That's supposed to make me respect a pig like Castaneda? Give me a break!
Widespread? I guess not.
That's not exactly true...we receive foreign friends to compete for jobs with and sap our institutions and degrade our cultural and linguistic standards, don't we? We wouldn't receive this without the help of our government.
EARTH TO ADMINISTRATION Globalism is a very, very, bad idea!
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