Jorge Castañeda Gutman
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Jorge Castañeda Gutman (born May 24, 1953) is a Mexican politician and academic who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2000–2003). He also authored more than a dozen books, including a biography of
Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...
, and he regularly contributes to newspapers such as ''
Reforma Reforma, the Spanish word meaning reform, has the following meanings: Companies and organizations * ''Reforma'' (newspaper), a daily published in Mexico City :* Grupo Reforma, parent company of the newspaper :* Agencia Reforma, news wire agenc ...
'' (Mexico), ''
El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' (Spain), ''
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'' (USA) and ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' magazine. He was elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
in 2008.


Early life and education

Castañeda was born in
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. His father was Jorge Castañeda y Álvarez de la Rosa who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1979–1982), during the administration of
José López Portillo José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco (; 16 June 1920 – 17 February 2004) was a Mexican writer, lawyer, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 58th president of Mexico from 1976 ...
. He received the French
Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...
from the
Lycée Franco-Mexicain The Liceo Franco Mexicano A.C. or the Lycée Franco-Mexicain is a private French school with three campuses. It is one of the largest French lycées in the world with over 3,000 students in its two Mexico City campuses: Polanco in Miguel Hida ...
in Mexico City. He graduated with an AB in history from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
in 1973 after completing a 241-page long senior thesis titled "The Movement of the Revolutionary Left in Chile: 1965-1972." Then after receiving his
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in Economic History from the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
(Panthéon-La Sorbonne) he worked as a professor at several universities, including the
National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...
, the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
,
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
,
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, and the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
. He was a Bernard Schwartz fellow at The
New America Foundation New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is an American Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal think tank founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security, technology, health, gender, ...
. He was married to Miriam Morales (a
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
an citizen) and he has one son, Jorge Andrés.


Academic books

Among his books is ''Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War'' (Vintage Books, 1993), an assessment of leftist politics in Latin America. The book has had a wide readership for its sometimes controversial overview of left-leaning politics in the region post-1990. Its main theme is a shift from politics based on the
Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
to politics based on broad-based
new social movements The term new social movements (NSMs) is a theory of social movements that attempts to explain the plethora of new movements that have come up in various Western world, western societies roughly since the mid-1960s (i.e. in a post-industrial economy ...
, from armed revolutions to elections. Another of Castañeda's well-known works is ''Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara'', which analyzes the Argentine
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
revolutionary.


Political career

Castañeda's political career began as a member of the
Mexican Communist Party The Mexican Communist Party (, PCM) was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1917 as the Socialist Workers' Party (, PSO) by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian revolutionary. The PSO changed its name to the ''Mexican Communist ...
but he has since moved to the political center. He served as an advisor to
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano (; born 1 May 1934) is a Mexicans, Mexican politician and civil engineer. A prominent Social democracy, social-democrat and the son of 51st president of Mexico Lázaro Cárdenas, he is a former List of heads of ...
during his (failed) presidential campaign in 1988 and advised
Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006. After campaigning as a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Fox was elected president on the Nat ...
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 Castañeda left the post in January 2003 and began traveling around the country, giving lectures and promoting his ideas. In July 2003,
United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...
Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...
appointed him to the United Nations Commission on the Private Sector and Development, which was co-chaired by
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. Th ...
of
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and former
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was the 61st president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Re ...
of
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.


Presidential candidacy

On March 25, 2004, Castañeda officially announced his presidential campaign by means of a prime-time campaign advertisement carried in all major Mexican television stations. He presented himself as an independent "citizens' candidate", a move contrary to Mexico's electoral law that gives registered parties alone the right to nominate candidates for election. In 2004, Castañeda started to seek Court authorization to run in the country's 2006 presidential election without the endorsement of any of the registered political parties. In August 2005 the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
ruled against Castañeda's appeal. The ruling essentially put an end to Castañeda's bid to run as an independent candidate; however, soon after this ruling he took his case to the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court H.R.) is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a human r ...
in order to defend his
political right Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property, ...
s; in 2008 the IACHR found that the State violated the American Convention on Human Rights and ordered major electoral reform in the country.


Later career

In 2014, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...
appointed Castañeda as co-chair of a commission of inquiry to investigate human rights abuses in the
Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...
, alongside Fatimata M'Baye and Bernard Acho Muna; within two months, however, Castañeda resigned from the position.Michelle Nichols (January 23, 2014)
Central African Republic children forced to commit atrocities: U.N.
''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
''.


Articles

He has published articles in ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' and writes regularly for ''
Project Syndicate ''Project Syndicate'' is an international nonprofit media organization that publishes and syndicates commentary and analysis on a variety of global topics. All opinion pieces are published on the ''Project Syndicate'' website, and also distribu ...
''. In a ''Newsweek'' article published in March 2009, he suggested that
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
was plotting a coup in Cuba due to concerns that Raul Castro would make concessions that would betray the
Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
. According to his thesis, Hugo Chávez asked
Leonel Fernández Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna () (born 26 December 1953) is a Dominican lawyer, academic, and was the 50th and 52nd President of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012. From 2016 until 2020, he was the President of th ...
of the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
to support the plot, but he declined. Castañeda's statements were met with scepticism from politicians and scholars. He has admitted that he has no proof, calling his thesis "informed speculation".


Bibliography

* ''Nicaragua: Contradicciones en la Revolución'' (1980) * ''Los últimos capitalismos. El capital financiero: México y los "nuevos países industrializados"'' (1982) * ''México: El futuro en juego'' (1987) * ''Limits on friendship: United States and Mexico'' (1989), co-authored with Robert A. Pastor * ''La casa por la ventana'' (1993) * ''Sorpresas te da la vida - México 1994''. Editorial Aguilar (1995) * ''The Mexican Shock'' (1995) * ''Utopia unarmed'' (1995) * ''The Estados Unidos Affair. Cinco ensayos sobre un "amor" oblicuo'' (1996) * ''La vida en Rojo, una biografía del Ché Guevara'' (1997) * ''La Herencia. Arqueología de la sucesión presidencial en México'' (1999) * ''Somos Muchos: Ideas para el Mañana'' (2004) * ''Ex Mex'' (2008) * ''Mañana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans'' (2011) * ''America through Foreign Eyes'' (2020)


See also

*
2006 Mexican general election General elections were held in Mexico on Sunday, 2 July 2006. Voters went to the polls to elect a new President of Mexico, President of the Republic to serve a six-year term, replacing then President Vicente Fox (ineligible for re-election under ...


References


External links

*
NYU: Voices of Latin American Leaders

Profile
at The
New America Foundation New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is an American Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal think tank founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security, technology, health, gender, ...

The Right Deal on Cuba
by Jorge Castañeda, ''The Wall Street Journal'', April 20, 2009
How Fidel Snookered Everyone
by Jorge Castañeda, ''Newsweek'', May 4, 2009 issue
Adios, Monroe Doctrine: When the Yanquis Go Home
by
Jorge G. Castañeda Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese . It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios' ...
, ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', December 28, 2009 * Video
Does Che Guevara Still Matter?
interview with biographer Jorge Castañeda
Castañeda on the Drug War, Legalization, Immigration and Free Trade
- video interview by ''
Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Castaneda Gutman, Jorge 1953 births Living people Jewish Mexican politicians Latin Americanists Mexican democracy activists Mexican economists Secretaries of foreign affairs of Mexico Mexican people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico New York University faculty Politicians from Mexico City University of Paris alumni Princeton University alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty Mexican columnists Mexican Zionists International relations scholars Mexican expatriates in the United States Mexican expatriates in France 20th-century Mexican politicians 21st-century Mexican politicians 20th-century Mexican Jews 21st-century Mexican Jews International members of the American Philosophical Society