Jorge Castañeda
Jorge Germán Castañeda Gutman (b. May 24, 1953) is a Mexican politician and academician who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2000 – 2003).
Castañeda was born in Mexico City. After receiving his B.A. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from the University of Paris I (Panthéon-La Sorbonne) he worked as a professor at several universities, including the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the University of California at Berkeley, Princeton University, the New York University, and the University of Cambridge. He also authored more than a dozen books, including a biography of Che Guevara, and he regularly contributes to newspapers such as Reforma (Mexico), El País (Spain), Los Angeles Times (USA) and Newsweek magazine.
Castañeda is of half-Jewish parentage through his mother. He is also the son of Jorge Castañeda y Álvarez de la Rosa, who also served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1979 – 1982) during the administration of José López Portillo. His half brother is Andrés Rozental Gutman [1], was married to Miriam Morales (a Chilean citizen) and has one son, Jorge Andrés.
Political career
Castañeda's political career began as a member of the Mexican Communist Party but he has since pragmatically moved into the political center. He served as an advisor to Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas during his (failed) presidential campaign in 1988 and advised Vicente Fox during his (successful) presidential campaign in 2000. After winning the election, Fox appointed Castañeda as his Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Following a number of disagreements with other cabinet members he left the post in January 2003 and began traveling around the country, giving lectures and promoting his ideas. He has never been elected to public office.
Presidential candidacy
On March 25, 2004, Castañeda officially announced his presidential campaign by means of a prime-time campaign advertisement carried in all major Mexican television stations.
Castañeda presented himself as an independent "citizens's candidate", but this is contrary to Mexico's electoral law that gives registered parties alone the right to nominate candidates for election.
Castañeda's Court appeal
In 2004 Castañeda started to seek Court authorization to run in the country's 2006 presidential election without the endorsement of any of the registered political parties. On August, 2005 the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ruled against Castañeda's appeal. The ruling essentially put an end to Castañeda's bid to run as an independent candidate, however soon after this ruling he said he would take his case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in order to defend his political rights.
Bibliography
- Nicaragua: Contradicciones en la Revolución. (1980)
- Los últimos capitalismos. El capital financiero: México y los "nuevos países industrializados" (1982)
- México: El futuro en juego. (1987)
- Límites en la amistad: México y Estados Unidos. (1989) Co-authored with Robert A. Pastor.
- La casa por la ventana. (1993)
- The Mexican Shock. (1995)
- La utopía desarmada. (1995)
- The Estados Unidos Affair. Cinco ensayos sobre un "amor" oblicuo. (1996)
- La vida en rojo: Un biografía del Ché Guevara. (1997)
- La Herencia. Arqueología de la sucesión presidencial en México. (1999)
- Somos Muchos: Ideas para el Mañana. (2004)