Mario Ramón Beteta Monsalve (7 July 1925 – 5 October 2004) was a Mexican economist who served as the last Secretary of Finance in the cabinet of President Luis Echeverría (1975–76), as director-general of

Pemex Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company managed and operated by the Mexican government. It was formed in 1938 by nationalization and expr ...

(1982–87) and as governor of the State of México (1987–89).

Early life

Beteta was born in Mexico City into a family led by General Ignacio Beteta, a well-known artist and former chief of staff of President

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...

and brother of Ramón Beteta, who also served as Secretary of Finance during the presidency of Miguel Alemán Valdés. He 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 ...

(UNAM) with a bachelor's degree in Law (1948), completed a master's degree in economics at the University of Wisconsin (1950) and married Gloria Leal Kuri before working as a professor of Introductory Economics and Monetary Theory at the National School of Economics (UNAM, 1951–59). He worked as director-general of Credit (1964–70) and then as Undersecretary of the Treasury (1970–75) at the Secretariat of Finance, and when the secretary, José López Portillo, resigned to run for president as candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Beteta was appointed as substitute. During his tenure, he had to deal with the 1976 peso devaluation. After leaving the federal cabinet, Beteta served as president of the extinct Somex Group (1977–82), as director-general of

(1982–87), as governor of the State of México (1987–89) and as director-general of Comermex (1989–90). He died in Mexico City on 5 October 2004, victim of a chronic lung disease. His nephew, Óscar Mario Beteta, is a popular radio host in Mexico City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beteta, Mario Ramon Mexican Secretaries of Finance National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty 20th-century Mexican economists 1925 births 2004 deaths