Latin American Policy Forum 2017

The Latin American Policy Forum provides an opportunity for renowned practitioners and world-class policy leaders to discuss Latin American policy issues with graduate and undergraduate students, including leading academic researchers in the Chicago area. In past years, the event hosted many notable Latin American policymakers and leaders, such as current and former ministers, Latin American ambassadors to the U.S., prominent scholars and policy experts.

This is our 5th anniversary and we are working very hard to make this one the best Forums to the date. We are very happy to announce the amazing keynote speaker of this year: former President of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo.

More event details coming soon!

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ABOUT THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León was President of Mexico from 1994 to 2000. He was born on December 27th 1951 in Mexico City and raised in the city of Mexicali in the state of Baja California. He holds a BA in Economics from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) and a PhD in Economics from Yale University.

He started his career in public service as an economic analyst in the Bank of Mexico. During Carlos Salinas Administration (1988-1994), he served as Secretary of Programming and Budget (1988-1992) and Secretary of Education (1992-1994). In 1994, he served as the Campaign Manager of Luis Donaldo Colosio, presidential nominee of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). After Colosio was assassinated, Zedillo took over as the candidate and went to win the election in August 1994.

During his six-year term, he dealt with a deep economic crisis and growing demands of democratization from the civil society. He strengthened the electoral and human rights commissions, alleviated the public finances and created Progresa, the first conditioned-cash transfer program in Latin America, which became the model in the region. In 2000, his last year of office, Mexican economy grew 6% in real terms. Zedillo oversaw a peaceful democratic transition when Vicente Fox from the opposition party Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) won the presidential election, ousting the PRI out of power after 71 years.

After retiring from public life, he became the Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization in his alma mater. He also sits in several corporate boards as an independent advisor. He is still active on global forums, where he pushes for an agenda towards the legalization of drugs, fight on climate change and promotion of trade.  

Questions? Contact ggarciamedina@uchicago.edu.