Videgaray, dubbed the “Viceroy” for his power behind the throne, is little loved by corporate Mexico.
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Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray, a key organiser in Donald Trump’s controversial visit to Mexico, has resigned, a ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
“They got to know each other and it opened lines of communication and that’s probably a good thing”, he said. “That’s how well we did”.
Pena Nieto thanked Videgaray for leading financial reforms during a ceremony at which the president announced he was accepting the resignation.
Pena Nieto was pilloried for hosting Trump, the Republican U.S. presidential candidate, at short notice last Wednesday.
Following a meeting with Trump in Mexico City, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto wrote a letter to Mexican newspaper El Universal stating his country would not pay for the wall. Now, Mexican Senator Armando Rios Piter is proposing legislation that could put Mexico in conflict with the United States.
Videgaray was reportedly the behind-the-scenes liaison to the Trump campaign.
The president’s approval rating has since sunk to 23 per cent, according to one poll.
Speaking at a town hall late Thursday where he fielded questions from young people, Pena Nieto sought to defend his decision to invite Trump to visit.
The 48-year-old, who ran Pena Nieto’s election campaign, was widely seen as the president’s top aide, with a huge influence on a broad swath of policy. This is perhaps in response to Videgaray, who was the individual responsible for inviting Trump to Mexico and ensuring the visit happened.
“Of all the scandals Pena Nieto has faced, this is the most devastating”, said Alfonso Zarate, a political analyst and columnist in Mexico City.
Videgaray’s role compromised his ability to negotiate the budget with the Congress, he said.
Pena Nieto named Jose Antonio Meade to be his new Finance minister, after Luis Videgaray – said to have been behind the invitations to Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton – handed in his resignation. In other words, it would be illegal to pay for Mr Trump’s notorious border wall.
“Whoever wins (the U.S. election), the relationship, at least with Pena Nieto until there’s a new (Mexican) president, will already be cooler than it should have been before Trump’s visit”, Crespo said.
Meade, who was also once energy minister, is among those hopefuls.
Videgaray’s departure comes with the economy not performing as well as hoped, shrinking by 0.3 percent in the second quarter, while the peso has dropped against the dollar.
Although an investigation led by the minister for public administration cleared Videgaray and Pena Nieto of wrongdoing a year ago, critics questioned the probe because it was conducted by someone the president had picked.
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“We can’t take a partisan view of this”, says Senator Rios.
