One of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s closest advisers and confidants, Luis Videgaray Caso, on Wednesday resigned as Mexican secretary of finance and public credit in a move seen as linked to the unpopular decision to invite US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to visit Mexico.
Pena Nieto has taken responsibility for inviting Trump, but a former government official familiar with the workings of the administration said Videgaray Caso would have played a preponderant role in the decision.
Newspaper columnists in Mexico have reported Videgaray Caso was behind last week’s visit, after which Pena Nieto was criticized for not being forceful enough in rejecting Trump’s proposals and comments about Mexico.
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Videgaray Caso “was the architect” of Trump’s visit, because he was the adviser that Pena Nieto had “the most reliance on, and was closest to,” columnist and political analyst Raymundo Riva Palacio said.
Even Trump himself said Videgaray Caso’s resignation was related to his visit.
Trump told a televised US national security forum on Wednesday night that “the people that arranged the trip in Mexico have been forced out of government. That’s how well we did.”
Videgaray Caso acted as Pena Nieto’s campaign manager during his 2012 election campaign and has been seen as the architect of many administration policies. He led Mexico’s Treasury Department and is sometimes referred to as treasury secretary or minister, but because he oversaw budgets and fiscal policies, his role was closer to that of a finance secretary.
He has shared both in the president’s triumphs and embarrassments. In 2014, Videgaray Caso acknowledged he had bought a house from the same government contractor that sold a mansion to Pena Nieto’s wife, Angelica Rivera, in the administration’s deepest scandal.
Pena Nieto thanked Videgaray Caso for leading financial reforms during a ceremony at which the president announced he was accepting the resignation. He did not announce a new post for Videgaray Caso.
“He has been an official very committed to Mexico, and very loyal to the president,” Pena Nieto said.
Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena replaced Videgaray Caso as finance secretary. Luis Enrique Miranda Nava will take over the social development post.
Pena Nieto said Meade Kuribrena will be in charge of turning in a primary budget surplus for next year, meaning government spending will have to be less than revenue, not including interest payments on debt.
In comments to local media, Meade defended the president’s meeting with Trump, saying it had lowered the risk of confrontations and helped moderate some of Trump’s policy proposals, especially his vow to change the North American Free Trade Agreement.
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