Luis Videgaray Caso

Luis Videgaray Caso (born 10 August 1968) is a Mexican politician who served as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018.

In 1987 he joined the Revolutionary Juvenile Front of the PRI party.

Before that, he was counselor of the Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, Pedro Aspe Armella (1992–1994), counselor of the Secretary of Energy (1996) and Public Finance Director of Protego Asesores, a consulting company owned by Pedro Aspe Armella (2001–2005) where the project about the public debt financing of the State of Mexico, Sonora, Oaxaca and Durango stands out.

He graduated in 1994 with the thesis "Failure of the market, regulation and incentives: Case of the Mexican port’s privatization.” In 1998 he received his PhD in Economics from MIT, specializing in Public Finances with the thesis “The fiscal response to oil shocks.” Later, he taught classes in the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM) and in the Ibero-American University (UIA).

From September 16, 2005, to March 31, 2009, he was Secretary of Finance, Planning and Administration in the State of Mexico Government.

On September 15, 2005, when Enrique Peña Nieto was sworn in as constitutional governor of the State of Mexico, Luis Videgaray was named Secretary of Finance, Planning and Management, position he had for four years.

In his own words, the three columns of his administration were “more investment capacity to generate more resources, strong finances and modernization of the administration”.

During this period, several actions of fiscal discipline and modernization of the public sector were executed.

The credit score improved and for the first time, this entity obtained an investment rank.

The state's income increased more than 150% by expanding the contributor's base and making more efficient the taxes collection process.

Additionally, the state's debt of 25,000 million pesos was refinanced in order to be paid in a 25-year term with an interest rate 30% lower.

Between 2008 and 2009 he became National Coordinator of the states’ Finance Secretaries.

Another transaction in the same period—IDEAL's $700 million toll road ABS—obtained recognition in the Latin Finance magazine for the “2008 Deal of the Year" inaugurating the "Best Sub-Sovereign Financing” category.

Also, the state developed one of the country's most complete legal frameworks for providing services and the country's first project under this guidance were executed.

In 2009, he was elected Federal Deputy under the principle of proportional representation as part of the LXI Legislature of Mexico's Congress.

As such he served as president of the Budget and Public Accounts Committee.

Until June 21, 2011, Videgaray was President of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) of the State of Mexico.

He served as Federal Deputy elected by the proportional representation principle for the 5th Circumscription, which includes the states of Colima, Michoacán, Hidalgo and the State of Mexico, he was also President of the Budget and Public Account Commission of the LXI Legislature of the Mexican Congress and General Coordinator of Eruviel Avila's campaign for Governor of the State of Mexico.

He held this legislative seat until March 29, 2011, when he requested a leave of absence to serve as political campaign coordinator for the then candidate for Governor of the State of Mexico, Eruviel Ávila.

Among the proposals approved during his tenure as congressman in the Chamber of Deputies, were:

Luis Videgaray requested a leave of absence from his seat in Congress in 2011, to coordinate Eruviel Ávila's campaign for governor of the State of Mexico.

At the same time, he served as president of the State Steering Committee of the PRI.

Eruviel Ávila won the state elections held on July 3, 2011 with 61.47% of the vote, followed by Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez of the PRD with 21.6%, results that were ratified by the electoral authorities despite the challenges entered by the opposition against said results.

After Eruviel Ávila became governor of the State of Mexico, Luis Videgaray was appointed on December 14, 2011 by Enrique Peña Nieto as his campaign coordinator for the 2012 presidential elections.

During the development of that campaign, which began on October 30, 2011 of March 2012, Videgaray was related to the so-called "Monex Case" in which the local banking institution called Monex was allegedly used to buy votes by issuing cash cards that were distributed to targeted sectors of the population.

However, the accusations in the case were dismissed as unfounded by the Federal Electoral Institute (today the National Electoral Institute), and Videgaray declared his party would abide by the decision of the electoral watchdog.

A few days after Peña Nieto's victory in the presidential elections, he formed a team that would carry out the rapprochement with the different political forces of the country and the preparation towards his inauguration as President.

This team was formed by Luis Videgaray, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong and Jesús Murillo Karam, the first of them as head of "public policies", the second as coordinator of "dialogue and political agreement" and the third as coordinator of "legal affairs".

Previously he was the Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, also in the cabinet of Enrique Peña Nieto, from 2012 to 2016.

Prior to Peña Nieto's victory in the elections, Videgaray was General Coordinator of his campaign for the 2012 Mexican presidential election.

On July 11, 2012, Peña Nieto announced Videgaray as the person in charge of promoting the economic reforms and the government agenda's related topics, and on September 4, he named Videgaray as co-head of the team that set policy direction for the new government that took office on December 1, 2012.

Videgaray led the campaign until its culmination in the elections of July 3, 2012, which resulted in Enrique Peña Nieto being formally declared president-elect of Mexico on 31 August 2012.

After that, in September of that year, the president-elect formed a new team of 45 people with aims to easing the transition from the administration of Felipe Calderón Hinojosa to the new government, which would take office on 1 December 2012.

In September 2016, a week after the visit of U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump to Mexico City to meet with President Peña Nieto, Videgaray resigned as finance minister.

Videgaray was replaced as finance minister by José Antonio Meade Kuribreña the man Videgaray had replaced from President Felipe Calderón's administration.

Emilio Lozoya Austin, former head of PEMEX, accused Videgaray Caso in July 2020 of responsibility for a MXN $52 million bribery scandal related to Odebrecht in 2012-2014.

On 2021 he was disqualified to take any public role in his country.

A native of Mexico City, Videgaray Caso is the son of Luis Videgaray Alzada and Guadalupe Caso.

He is also older brother of TV host Eduardo Videgaray Caso.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Economics from the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM).