Tag Archives: Ildefonso Guajardo

Rosario Robles and the Master Fraud

By RICARDO CASTILLO     Once upon a time, back on Dec. 2, 2012, when former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto appointed Rosario Robles Berlanga as the Social Development (Sedesol) Secretary, this columnist published an article in The News – then the only English-language daily in Mexico – claiming that Rosario was “a woman for all seasons” and “a survivor.” That may

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Free-Trade Talks Take Center Stage in Mexico

By RICARDO CASTILLO     With the dust from Mexico’s July 1 electoral storm finally beginning to wane, it is definitely time to start talking again about the nation’s international future regarding free trade. And believe you me, the upcoming free-trade talks agenda, set to begin next week, is going to be a doozy. For starters, Mexican business organizations will host the fifth

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Is Trump Putting NAFTA on Life Support?

By RICARDO CASTILLO     U.S. President Donald Trump’s claimed that his reason for slapping Canada, Mexico and the European Union with tariffs on steel and aluminum was a matter of “national security.” Definitely, the response from all of the nations in question — friendly allies all of them — is that Trump’s reason is pure, unadulterated humbug. None of the affected and definitely offended leaders liked

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Videgaray, in the Eye of the Hurricane

By RICARDO CASTILLO     Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray seems to be a master chef for all the dishes in the nation’s formidable international menu. But being a jack-of-all-trades has its shortcomings, and, indeed, Videgaray is now in hot water many reasons. FIRST: Last Monday, May 21, Videgaray convened with the so-called Lima Group’s (GL, for Grupo de Lima) representatives, comprised by

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NAFTA Enters into Last Leg of Renegotiations

By RICARDO CASTILLO     A critical stretch of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations between Canada, the United States and Mexico begins today, May 7, and may or may not last long. According to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, if negotiators don’t come to a deal in the upcoming three weeks, talks will certainly come to a standstill until

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Trump’s Damocles Sword Keeps Swinging

By RICARDO CASTILLO     Despite the fact that U.S. President Donald Trump keeps swinging his Damocles sword over the trilateral talks, aimed particularly at Mexico and Canada, the sixth round of negotiations in Montreal officially kicked off on Sunday, Jan. 21, and will extend through Jan. 29. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer keeps repeating what he has been saying all along since the North

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