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Jorge German Castañeda Gutman is a Mexican politician and author who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2003. On March 25, 2004 he officially started his presidential campaign for the 2006 election.
Castañeda was born in Mexico City on May 24, 1953. He is the son of Jorge Castañeda y Álvarez de la Rosa, a politician who also served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the administration of José López Portillo. 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, 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), the Los Angeles Times (USA) and Newsweek magazine.
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.
On March 25, 2004, Castañeda officially announced his presidential campaign by means of a prime-time campaign advertisement carried on all of Mexico's television stations.
Castañeda is divorced from Miriam Morales, a Chilean citizen. They have one son, Jorge Andrés.
See also
External links
- NYU: Voices of Latin American Leaders (http://www.nyu.edu/voices/rsvp?action=4&projectid=3)
- Official campaign site (http://www.jorgecastaneda.com) (in Spanish)
- Jorge Castaneda's syndicated op/ed column (http://www.project-syndicate.org/contributors/contributor_comm.php4?id=640)es:Jorge Castañeda