APPOINTMENTS IN THE FOREIGN MINISTRY

On instructions from President Enrique Peña Nieto, Foreign Secretary José Antonio Meade announces the following appointments in the Foreign Ministry:

Undersecretary for North America: Sergio Alcocer Martinez de Castro. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and a doctorate in Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He has belonged to the National Researchers’ System since 1994. He has been Undersecretary of Energy Planning and Technological Development in the Energy Ministry, Secretary General of the UNAM and Director of the UNAM’s Engineering Institute.

Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights: Juan Manuel Gomez-Robledo Verduzco has been confirmed in his current post. He holds a law degree with Masters Degrees in International Law and International Relations from the University of Paris X and Paris Institute of Political Studies, respectively. He entered the Mexican Foreign Service in 1989 as a career diplomat and was promoted to the rank of ambassador in 2001. Abroad, he has been Alternate Representative of the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations and of the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the OAS and Legal Counsel of the Foreign Ministry. Since December 2006, he has been Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the Foreign Ministry, the post to which he has been re-appointed today.
 
Head of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID): Juan Manuel Valle Pereña, BA in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), with a Master in Public Policy in economics from Princeton University. He has held various government positions: Executive Director of Programs and Products in Financiera Rural; Head of Planning and Special Projects in the Revenues Department of the Finance Ministry; and head of the department for Banking, Securities and Savings. 

Director General of Social Communication: Eduardo del Río Holguin. He studied journalism at the Superior School of Journalism of Paris before working for a decade as a reporter for the press, radio and television, covering politics and economics. From 2003 to date, he has been the press attaché at the Mexican embassy in France, with additional duties in Mexico’s Permanent Delegations to UNESCO and the Paris-based OECD.

Foreign Secretary Meade thanked the officers from the previous administration for the professionalism and commitment with which they carried out their responsibilities in the posts that they have now handed over to the incoming officials. Ambassadors Lourdes Aranda, Norma Pensado and Julian Ventura, career diplomats, remain active in the Mexican Foreign Service.