NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF MEXICO PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF MEXICO PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

Adolfo Miguel Aguilar Zinser, the new Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Aguilar Zinser served as the National Security Adviser and Commissioner of Law and Order in Mexico from December 2000 to January 2002.

He was also the International Affairs Coordinator for the transition team of elected President Vicente Fox Quesada, from July to December 2000. 

Mr. Aguilar Zinser was elected to Congress as an external Partido de la Revolución Democrática candidate and founded the Independent Citizens Congressmen Group (1994-1997).  He has also served in various capacities on several national commissions, including the Commission for the Investigation of CONASUPO (national supply company for basic consumption commodities).  As Secretary of that Commission, he headed investigations of corruption of high public officials.  Other commissions on which he served included those concerning Foreign Affairs; Border Affairs; Radio, Television and Cinematography and Social Communication Special Commission.

As an independent candidate of the Partido Verde Ecologista Mexicano, he was elected Senator in the Federal ballot of 1997 and held this office from 1997 to 2000. 

Mr. Aguilar Zinser has held a number of academic positions, in Mexico and abroad, doing research, as well as teaching in the areas of international relations and Mexican foreign policy.  He had also served as guest faculty member at the Latin American Studies Program at Georgetown University, the School of International Service at American University, University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley. 

He is an author of several books and a syndicated columnist whose articles have appeared in Reforma, Frontera de Tijuana, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Le Monde Diplomatique.  He has also contributed a number of essays to books and specialized magazines regarding international political and economic relations, national security and refugees, among other topics.

Born in Mexico City on 2 December 1949, Mr. Aguilar Zinser received his BA in International Relations at El Colegio de Mexico in 1975 and his MA in Public Administration and Economic Development at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1978.  He is married and has two children.