Ernesto Zedillo facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal family name is Zedillo and the second or maternal family name is Ponce de León.

Quick facts for kids Ernesto Zedillo
Official portrait, 1999

61st President of Mexico
In office 1 December 1994 – 30 November 2000
Preceded by	Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Succeeded by	Vicente Fox
Secretary of Public Education
In office 7 January 1992 – 29 November 1993
President	Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Preceded by	Manuel Bartlett
Succeeded by	Fernando Solana
Secretary of Programming and Budget
In office 1 December 1988 – 31 December 1991
President	Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Preceded by	Pedro Aspe
Succeeded by	Rogelio Gasca

Personal details
Born	Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (1951-12-27) 27 December 1951 (age 73) Mexico City, Mexico
Political party	Institutional Revolutionary Party
Spouse	Nilda Patricia Velasco (m. 1974)
Children	5
Parents	Rodolfo Zedillo Castillo Martha Alicia Ponce de León
Residences	Mexico City New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Education	National Polytechnic Institute (BA) Yale University (MA, PhD)
Signature

Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as the 61st president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000. He was the last president from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after 71 years of continuous rule.

During his time as president, Mexico faced a big economic challenge. This started just weeks after he took office. He also continued some economic policies from earlier presidents. His time in office also saw some conflicts with groups like the EZLN. He also made changes to allow people in Mexico City to elect their own mayor. The national railways were also privatized, meaning they were sold to private companies.

Even though Zedillo's policies helped the economy get better, many people were unhappy with the PRI party's long rule. This led to the party losing its majority in Congress in 1997. Then, in the 2000 Mexican general election, an opposition candidate, Vicente Fox, won the presidency. This ended the PRI's 71 years in power. Zedillo accepted the defeat and peacefully handed over power. This made his public image better in his last months as president.

Since leaving office, Zedillo has become an important voice on how countries around the world connect through trade and other things. He works at Yale University and is part of several important groups.

Early life and education

Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León was born on 27 December 1951 in Mexico City. His father, Rodolfo Zedillo Castillo, was a mechanic, and his mother was Martha Alicia Ponce de León. His parents moved to Mexicali, Baja California, hoping to find better jobs and schools for their children.

In 1964, when he was 13, he moved back to Mexico City. In 1969, he started studying at the National Polytechnic Institute. He paid for his studies by working at a bank. He finished his economics degree in 1972 and started teaching. He met his wife, Nilda Patricia Velasco, among his first students. They have five children together.

In 1974, he went to Yale University to get his master's and PhD degrees. His PhD paper was about Mexico's debt and how it related to oil.

Political career

Zedillo started working at the Bank of Mexico (Mexico's central bank) as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. He helped create economic plans to improve the country. By 1987, he became a deputy secretary in the Secretariat of Budget and Planning. In 1988, at 38, he became the head of that department. During this time, he started a reform for science and technology. He worked in this role for three years.

In 1992, President Carlos Salinas made him the Secretary of Education. In this job, he was in charge of updating public school textbooks. The changes were quite controversial, and the textbooks were eventually removed. A year later, he left this job to help with the presidential campaign of Luis Donaldo Colosio, who was the PRI's candidate.

1994 presidential campaign

Zedillo campaign items

In 1994, after Colosio was sadly assassinated, Zedillo became a candidate for president. He was one of the few members of the PRI who could take Colosio's place under Mexican law.

Many people thought the previous president, Salinas, was involved in Colosio's murder. Colosio had given a speech saying Mexico had many problems, which some saw as a disagreement with Salinas. Also, Colosio had visited the Zapatista movement and promised to talk with them, which the PRI didn't like.

Zedillo ran against Diego Fernández de Cevallos and Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas. He won the election with 48.69% of the votes. He became the last president from the PRI party to serve in the 20th century, ending their 70-year rule.

Presidency (1994–2000)

Vladimir Putin and Ernesto Zedillo at the Millennium Summit, 2000

Ernesto Zedillo during a meeting about the change of government in 2000

Ernesto Zedillo became president on 1 December 1994, when he was 42 years old. Many people saw his election as fair. However, he was an unexpected candidate and didn't have much political experience. At the start of his presidency, there were rumors that he might resign, which made the economy unstable.

Cabinet

Zedillo's team of ministers, called his cabinet, had to deal with many difficult situations. He had four different ministers in charge of the interior during his presidency. These included Esteban Moctezuma, who worked with the Zapatistas, and Francisco Labastida, who later ran for president.

Financial crisis of December 1994

Just a few days after Zedillo became president, Mexico faced one of its biggest economic problems ever. The outgoing president, Salinas, was mostly blamed for this crisis. Zedillo decided to lower the value of the Mexican currency, the peso, by 15%. This almost caused the financial system to collapse. The crisis ended after Zedillo made several changes and took action. The US president, Bill Clinton, even gave Mexico a large loan to help fix the banking system.

Break with Salinas

Zedillo became president unexpectedly after Colosio's assassination. Many thought he would be controlled by the former president, Salinas. To show he was independent, Zedillo took a big step. In February 1995, he ordered the arrest of Salinas's older brother, Raúl Salinas. This action clearly showed that Zedillo was making his own decisions.

Zapatista crisis

Mexico had been facing problems since January 1994, with the start of the Zapatista rebellion. President Zedillo inherited this situation in Chiapas. In January 1995, his Interior Secretary, Esteban Moctezuma, began secret talks with Subcomandante Marcos, a Zapatista leader. These talks seemed promising for peace.

In February 1995, the government identified Subcomandante Marcos as Rafael Sebastián Guillén. This was an attempt to show that the Zapatistas were led by an intellectual, not just indigenous people. The government then decided to restart talks. In March 1995, President Zedillo signed a law to promote dialogue and peace in Chiapas. In February 1996, the government and the Zapatistas signed the San Andrés Accords. Later, in December 1997, a tragic event known as the Acteal massacre happened, where indigenous people were killed.

Poverty alleviation

Zedillo's main goal as president was "Well-being for your family." He created a program called Progresa to help the poorest families in Mexico. This program gave money to families if their children went to school. It was later renamed Oportunidades (Opportunities) by the next president.

NAFTA and other economic measures

Zedillo was the first president to oversee the NAFTA for his entire term. NAFTA is a trade agreement between Mexico, the US, and Canada. The Mexican economy struggled after the 1994 peso crisis, but there was hope that NAFTA would help.

During Zedillo's time, the state-owned railway company, Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, was sold to private companies. This led to the end of passenger train service in 1997.

Electoral reform

Zedillo believed that making elections fairer was very important. In 1995, he started talks with different political parties about changing election rules. In July 1996, these talks led to a new agreement. This agreement created independent groups to watch over elections. It also made the position of Head of Government of Mexico City an elected one, instead of being appointed. These changes made it harder for the PRI to control elections and gave other parties more chances. In the 1997 elections, the PRI lost its majority in Congress for the first time.

Foreign relations

Zedillo worked to build new relationships with countries around the world, including China. He also successfully completed talks with the European Union for a Free Trade Agreement, which started in July 2000.

Approval ratings

Zedillo's popularity with the public changed a lot during his presidency. Usually, presidents are very popular when they first take office. However, Zedillo's approval ratings dropped very low just weeks after he became president. This was because of his decision to devalue the peso, which caused a big economic crisis.

His approval ratings stayed low for a while because of the economic problems and ongoing conflicts. However, his popularity started to grow steadily from January 1997 onwards. By the end of his term, his approval rating was much higher. This was helped by the economy getting better and the peaceful transfer of power to Vicente Fox in the 2000 election.

2000 election

Ernesto Zedillo

The presidential election on 2 July 2000 was a very important moment in Mexican history. For the first time, the PRI presidential candidate, Francisco Labastida, was chosen by an open vote within the party, not by the sitting president. New election rules meant that the government no longer controlled the voting process. Instead, an independent group called the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) was in charge. This made people trust that the elections would be fair.

The results of the election were historic. For the first time since the PRI party was founded in 1929, an opposition candidate won. This was a peaceful change from a government that had been in power for a very long time. When the polls closed, Zedillo went on national television and announced that Vicente Fox had won. This action showed that Zedillo was a true democrat and helped ensure a peaceful transfer of power in Mexico.

Post-presidency

Zedillo at the World Economic Forum Summit in Dubai, 2008

Since leaving the presidency, Zedillo has worked as an economic advisor for many international companies and groups. He currently teaches economics at Yale University and leads the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. In 2008, he helped organize a conference on global climate change at Yale.

Corporate boards

Alcoa, Board Member
Citigroup, Board Member (since 2010)
Coca-Cola, Member of the International Advisory Board
Electronic Data Systems, Board Member
Stonebridge International, Member of the Board of Advisors
Procter & Gamble, Board Member (2001-2019)
Union Pacific Corporation, Board Member (2001-2006)

Non-profit organizations

Kofi Annan Foundation, Member of the Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age (since 2018)
Berggruen Institute, Board Member
Migration Policy Institute (MPI), Co-Chair of the Regional Migration Study Group
Aurora Prize, Member of the Selection Committee (since 2015)
The Elders, Member (since 2013)
Natural Resource Charter, Chair of the Oversight Board (since 2011)
American Philosophical Society, Member (since 2011)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Member of the Global Development Program Advisory Panel (since 2007)
Group of Thirty, Member (since 2005)
Inter-American Dialogue, Member (since 2003)
Center for Global Development (CGD), Member of the Advisory Group
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), Honorary Member of the Board of Directors
Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management, Member of the Advisory Board
Club of Madrid, Member
Americas Quarterly, Member of the Editorial Board

In 2009, Zedillo led a review of how the World Bank Group is run. In 2020, he joined an independent group looking at how the WHO and countries handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honours and awards

National honours

: Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (1996)

Foreign honours

Argentina: Grand Collar of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín (1996)
Estonia: Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (27 October 1995)
Spain: Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (19 January 1996)
Italy: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (26 March 1996)
Uruguay: Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (1996)
Peru: Grand Collar of the Order of the Sun of Peru (1996)
Peru: Order of Merit for Distinguished Service [es] (1996)
Portugal: Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (30 September 1998)
United Kingdom: Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1998)
Finland: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1999)
Romania: Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of the Star of Romania (2000)
Hungary: Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2000)
Ukraine First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise