Fernando Solana Morales (February 8, 1931 – March 23, 2016) was a Mexican diplomat, politician and businessman. He served as the Mexican

Secretary of Public Education The Mexican Secretariat of Public Education ( in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of ...

, of

Commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

and of

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

Biography

Born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, Fernando Solana graduated from the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

, where has been a professor in Economics, Philosophy, and Political Sciences. He has also served as Secretary General of the University. He began his public service career after he was appointed as Secretary of Commerce by president

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 t ...

in 1976. Less than one year later, he was appointed Secretary of Education, a position that he retained to the end of the López Portillo administration in 1982. That same year, the new president

Miguel de la Madrid Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado (; 12 December 1934 – 1 April 2012) was a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 59th president of Mexico from 1982 to 1988. Inheriting a severe economic an ...

named him General Director of

BANAMEX #redirect Grupo Financiero Banamex Grupo Financiero Banamex S.A. de C.V. has its origins and is the owner of the Banco Nacional de México or Citibanamex (formerly Banamex). It is the second-largest bank in Mexico. The Banamex Financial Group wa ...

, the largest private bank in Mexico that had just been nationalized by the previous government, he remained in this charge until 1988 when

Carlos Salinas de Gortari Carlos Salinas de Gortari CYC DMN (; born 3 April 1948) is a Mexican economist and politician who served as 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), earlier in his career he wor ...

named him as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. From 1994 to 2000 he was senator representing the Federal District and chair the senatorial commission on International Affairs. Today he chairs the board of the Mexican Council on Foreign Affairs a non governmental organization, with some 500 independent members that include businessmen, diplomats, professors and people link with the international activities of Mexico. He is also member of the board of some of the largest Mexican corporations, the Institute of the Americas in California, the Mexican American Foundation for Science, Euro America Foundation in Madrid, Canning House in London and president of Solana Consultores, a business consultancy firm.

References

1931 births 2016 deaths Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Mexican diplomats Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) People from Mexico City Mexican Secretaries of Foreign Affairs Mexican Secretaries of Education 20th-century Mexican politicians {{Mexico-diplomat-stub