Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista
Who is Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista?
He is Mexico's foreign minister and a candidate for the secretary-generalship of the Organization of American States.
Why watch him?
Derbez's low-key campaign for the OAS post has kicked up a gear in recent weeks. He is now, probably, running second in the race behind José Miguel Insulza, Chile's interior minister (previously the foreign minister). The third candidate is the US's choice, Francisco Flores, a former president of El Salvador, but he has been blackballed by several counties; notably, Venezuela.
Born: 1 April 1947.
Place of Birth: Mexico City
Educated: Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí where he read economics. He did his Master's in industrial organization at the University of Oregon and then did his doctorate at Iowa State.
Public Life:
Derbez worked for 14 years at the World Bank where he was responsible at different times for programmes in Chile, West and Central Africa, India, Nepal and Bhutan. He was responsible for the Bank's input into the structural adjustment programmes in Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. He is close to President Vicente Fox's political and economic strategist, Eduardo
Sojo.
Timeline
1983 to 1997: Worked at the World Bank
1997 to 2000: Worked as an independent adviser to the World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank.
2000 to 2003: Trade and industry minister
2003 to present: Foreign minister
Strengths
Derbez is an experienced international bureaucrat. He clearly understands the ways of international organisations and of Washington. There have been a series of spats between Mexico and the US this year, most notably over comments by the US ambassador claiming that Mexico's law and order system was in danger of collapse, and Derbez has not been afraid to speak up for Mexico. His and President Fox's robust defence of Mexican interests has not upset the US, which has backtracked from some of its more extreme comments on Mexican policies and agreed to a summit between Presidents Fox and Bush on 23 March.
Weaknesses
Derbez has started to show unexpected signs of ambition. Just before he launched his candidacy for the OAS job (in early December) he amazed political commentators in Mexico by announcing that he wanted to compete for the presidential nomination for the Partido Acción Nacional in 2006. Derbez has never run for elected office before. In Mexico he is seen as a rather colourless, but competent and honest, technocrat. The buzz in Mexico City is that President Fox offered Derbez his support for the OAS job to stop him from running for the presidency.
Prospects
Although the government is behind Derbez's candidacy, the rest of Mexico is unenthusiastic. This is despite the fact that no Mexican has ever held the OAS secretary-generalship. In theory, to win election Derbez needs the votes of 18 of the 34 member countries. The problem is that few foreign ministries believe that the OAS is resilient enough to stand a competitive election and then rally behind whoever wins. The Venezuelans certainly could not stomach Flores who was one of the few heads of state in the region to support the attempted coup against President Hugo Chávez in April 2002. What seems most likely is that Flores will be forced to withdraw and then the race will be between Insulza and Derbez. Derbez can already count on the support of Canada, Bolivia, Belize, St Vincent & The Grenadines and Honduras. Guatemala and Peru are also leaning towards Derbez. If Flores withdraws, the Central Americans could easily rally to him.