Antonio Ortiz Mena is one of the outstanding Latin American economic policymakers of this century. In 12 years as Mexico's finance minister and 17 years as the president of the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), as well as periods in other important posts in the Mexican government, Ortiz Mena has been involved in virtually all key economic challenges facing the region over the last 50 years.
A lawyer by training, with a master's degree in Latin American studies from the University of London, Ortiz Mena was president of Mexico's Social Security Institute from 1952 to 1958, and finance minister from 1958 to 1970. Taking over from Chilean Felipe Herrera, he headed the IDB in Washington from 1971 to 1987, when he...
