One of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s top ministers and closest allies resigned on Wednesday, an apparent casualty of Pena Nieto’s wildly unpopular meeting last week with Donald Trump.
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Mexico Finance Minister Luis Videgaray is leaving the government, Finance Ministry spokeswoman Claudia Algorri said on Wednesday, citing no reason for the departure.
Pena Nieto, 50, has seen his public approval ratings plummet amid dissatisfaction with the government’s efforts against corruption, violence and growth below its own expectations that has dogged him since taking office in 2012.
Trump has sparked fury with threats to make Mexico pay for a border wall, carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants and rewrite trade treaties – and the fiery reaction to the visit had increased pressure on Pena Nieto to make changes.
Trump has pledged to build a wall on the USA border to keep out migrants from Mexico.
Trump insists Mexico will foot the bill for the structure, while Peña Nieto vows his nation would never pay for it instead.
“President Pena Nieto realized things could not stay as they were, and that they could no longer insist that it had been a good call” to invite Trump.
“Donald Trump has characterized the resignation of Mexico’s finance minister as a campaign victory derived from his visit to that country”.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at World Economic Forum on Latin America 2010.
Well, I think absolutely.
Videgaray, who has also been rumored as a potential 2017 gubernatorial candidate for the PRI in the state of Mexico, a populous region next to the capital, will not take another public post, a finance ministry spokeswoman said.
“Mexico has lost a brilliant finance minister and wonderful man who I know is highly respected by President Peña Nieto”, Trump wrote in a tweet.
The Mexican peso extended its loss, falling 0.5 percent to 18.3683 per dollar in afternoon trading in NY.
Pena Nieto has defended his decision to meet Trump as necessary to open dialogue with someone who could possibly become his counterpart in the United States after the November election. Such remarks led President Pena Nieto to compare the American to Italian fascist leader Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler.
He was also ensnared in another scandal, over his purchase of a home from a government contractor.
He denied any wrongdoing or conflict of interest.
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“In his handling of the economy, there are mixed points of view”, he said.
