Pena Nieto Names a Mix of Young Reformers and Old-Style Political Figures to Cabinet Juan Montes and Laurence Iliff - Dow Jones
go to original November 30, 2012

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's incoming president, Enrique Pena Nieto, named his cabinet Friday, bringing a mix of young reformers and old-style political figures to a government he hopes will bring down the levels of criminal violence that has racked the country for the past six years while stepping up economic growth in a difficult global environment.

There were no major surprises in Mr. Pena Nieto's cabinet as he prepares to take office Saturday, returning the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to power after 12 years in opposition.

Mr. Pena Nieto's long-time colleague and former campaign manager Luis Videgaray was appointed to head the Finance Ministry, and former Hidalgo state Gov. Miguel Osorio Chong is to head a revamped Interior Ministry.

Mr. Videgaray, an economist, was finance secretary of Mexico state under Mr. Pena Nieto's governorship, and went on to manage this year's presidential campaign before taking charge of the economic transition team in the lead-up to the change of administration.

The new Interior Minister, Mr. Osorio Chong, is a career PRI politician who held a number of legislative, administrative and party positions, including governing central Hidalgo state from 2005-2011. He was appointed to take over a beefed up Interior Ministry, which will include control of the federal police once Congress passes a proposed administrative reform.

As Finance Minister, the 44-year-old Mr. Videgaray will oversee the government's economic policies, including public finances and debt. He will inherit an economy that is growing around 4%, but faces a slowdown as the outlook for the global economy remains complicated, with Europe still struggling to solve a debt crisis and the U.S. negotiating ways to avoid next year's planned spending cuts and tax increases that could derail the recovery.

Mr. Videgaray's biggest challenge will be get Congress to pass tax and energy overhauls, two of the most important so-called "structural reforms" promised by Mr. Pena Nieto intended to unleash growth in an economy that has had an anemic annual average growth of 2.2% over the last 20 years.

Alejando Schtulmann, head of research at the political consulting firm Empra, said Mr. Videgaray has both legislative experience in fashioning government budgets and forging accords, and the technical experience to head the ministry.

Mr. Pena Nieto appears to be favoring cabinet members in key positions who combine political skills and technical expertise given the coming political minefield of trying to overhaul the state-run energy industry and bringing about tax reform, Mr. Schtulmann said.

Mr. Osorio Chong, meanwhile, faces the task of reducing the levels of violence that ballooned across the country in the past six years after outgoing President Felipe Calderon launched an all-out campaign against drug cartels and criminal gangs, leading to increased infighting among the gangs, and confrontations between organized crime and government forces, including army and navy troops.

In the key energy sector, Mr. Pena Nieto appointed PRI party president Pedro Joaquin Coldwell as Energy Minister, and economist Emilio Lozoya as chief executive of state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos.

Other appointments include outgoing Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade as foreign minister, Ildefonso Guajardo as economy minister, in charge of trade and domestic industrial development, and Gerardo Ruiz Esparza as communications and transport minister.

Write to Juan Montes at juan.montes@dowjones.com and Laurence Iliff at laurence.iliff@dowjones.com

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