Santiago creel

Santiago Creel Miranda (Mexico City, December 11, 1954) is a Mexican lawyer and politician, member of the National Action Party. Since September 1, 2021, he is a federal deputy and currently serves as president of the Chamber of Deputies.

He served as Secretary of the Interior during the presidency of Vicente Fox from 2000 to 2005, as a Senator of the Republic from 2006 to 2011, serving as President of the Senate from 2007 to 2008, and as a constituent deputy of Mexico City.

Biography

Personal and Family Life

His family hails from the northern state of Chihuahua, the land where his great-great-grandfather, General Luis Terrazas, was governor.. Terrazas defended the roving republic led by President Benito Juárez and defeated the invading French troops in the battle of Chihuahua. This allowed Juárez to leave his refuge in Paso del Norte —today Ciudad Juárez— and return to the Chihuahuan capital to begin his return to the country's capital and achieve the restoration of the Republic.

Years later, Luis Terrazas became cacique of the state of Chihuahua, protected by Porfirio Díaz. The Terrazas family consolidated their power by intermarrying with the Creel family.

His great-grandfather Enrique C. Creel was also Governor of Chihuahua, and also served as Secretary of Foreign Relations, Ambassador of Mexico to the United States, and local and federal representative. His work in the state, known as the "Creel Law," the massive dispossession of land first against small ranchers and then on a large scale in favor of family and friends was one of the factors that triggered the armed uprising in late 1910s. His extralegal land demarcation actions against indigenous peoples and former military settlers who had obtained land as rewards for the Mexican state's military campaigns against the Apaches in the late 20th century XIX, even made him fall out of favor with the Porfirian government.

After the defeat of the Division of the North, which meant the reestablishment of power for various oligarchic groups in Chihuahua, especially the Terrazas-Creel clan, he participated very actively in the modernization of the Mexican financial system, its central bank, as well as of the different financial services, aimed at expanding credit as an instrument for development.

His great-grandfather Enrique's father—his other great-great-grandfather—was Reuben W. Creel, consul of the United States of America, appointed by President Abraham Lincoln. He married Paz Cuilty Bustamante, who is a descendant of the family of eminent insurgent, politician and historian Carlos María de Bustamante, who was secretary of José María Morelos y Pavón, editor of the Constitution of Apatzingán, deputy of the Second Constituent Congress of 1824 that approved the Constitutive Act of the Mexican Federation and the Constitution of 1824, and Governor of Oaxaca.

His grandfather, lawyer Luis Creel Terrazas, was an industrialist, banker and farmer, married to Teresa Luján Zuloaga, a descendant of the family of General Félix María Zuloaga, president of Mexico. The couple had six children, two of whom: Enrique and René —Santiago's father— identified with the ideologues of PAN: Manuel Gómez Morín and Adolfo Christlieb Ibarrola. The affinity translated into intense partisan activity.

The family environment in which he was immersed exerted a notable influence on him, as did the world of art and culture, which he drew from his maternal grandfather, Salvador Miranda de Teresa —author of various works on the ancient history of Constantinople, particularly about the Great Sacred Palace of Byzantium, he was also an antiquarian and collector based in San Ángel—and above all from his mother, Dolores Miranda Saalfeld, who inherited the same fondness for the world of art and antiquities.

From his marriage to Beatriz Garza Ríos he had three children: Santiago, María and Beatriz Creel Garza. At the beginning of the 2000s, Constanza Creel González was born, the daughter of actress Edith González. He remarried Paulina Velasco Salcido, with whom he has two daughters: Miranda and Paulina Creel Velasco.

Childhood and youth

He completed his primary and secondary studies at the Colegio Simón Bolívar, his high school education was completed at the Universidad Panamericana. He where he participated in the student organization and began his first steps in what later translated into social and civic activism and finally his participation as an electoral observer.

At the age of 17, as a high school student, he witnessed how the police arrested two of his friends who were participating in a rally of the '71 student movement.

Studies and Training

He has a law degree from the Law School of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He also has graduate studies from Georgetown University and a master's degree in law from the University of Michigan.

He also served for some years as secretary of the Board of the magazine Vuelta, when the Nobel Prize for Literature, Octavio Paz, was its president. When presenting the magazine, Paz explained the following: “The Mexican public has proven to be more curious, open and intelligent than those who insist on keeping it in a perpetual minority suppose. This experience is what has moved us to publish Vuelta.” The magazine was awarded by the Prince of Asturias Foundation in 1993 in the area of Communication and Humanities; To contextualize the importance of this magazine, it is enough to remember that the award jury document specified that Vuelta "has fought intellectually, in a systematic and incorruptible way, against all forms of political oppression, religious or ideological persecution, against censorship, the inquisitions, the dogmatisms, in the name of democratic culture”.

He participated in the San Ángel Group formed in 1994 by intellectuals, social leaders, legislators and non-partisan citizens; It started with about 30 people, it spread to almost 80; It was a discussion forum that sought to offer proposals for progress on the road to democracy. Among others, it was made up of Sergio Aguayo Quezada, Miguel Basáñez Ebergenyi, Jorge Castañeda Gutman, Manuel Clouthier Carrillo, Carlos Fuentes, Enrique Krauze, Clara Jusidman, Lorenzo Meyer, Carlos Monsiváis, Elena Poniatowska, Federico Reyes Heroles and Alfonso Zárate.

Professional career

Attorney

In his first years of professional life he was a legal consultant for the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, as well as various international organizations and private companies. Over time, he was a member of various boards of directors of companies of national relevance, some of them listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange, others on Dow Jones. During his practice, he has worked as a lawyer and partner of the most renowned law firms in the country.

He is a member of the Mexican Bar Association - Bar Association.

Teacher and writer

He was director of the law school and head of its academic department, as well as a professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. Likewise, he has been a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and at the Pan-American University. His courses have dealt with: philosophy of law, theory of law, theory of the constitution, constitutional law, electoral law, political reform and transition to democracy.

He has published numerous articles and collaborations on democracy, political transition, legal philosophy, human rights, constitutional law, private international law, electoral reform, civil and commercial law, among others. Namely:

• “Survey of World Enforcement of Foreign Judgments”, a publication by Matthew Bender (E.U.A., 1998)
• “A Proof of Efficiency to the Legal Order: the Celebration and Compliance of Household Leasing Contracts in the Federal District”, a publication of the Economic Culture Fund (1991)
• “El Appointment of Legal Representatives and Powers of Mercantile Societies to the Public Corridor”, a publication by Editorial Fontamara (1994)
• "La Democracia Electoral, en el libro "Los Compromisos con la Nación", una publicación de Plaza & Janes (1996)
• The Electoral Reform in the Mexican Political Transition in the book "Mexico: Dialogue among Generations", a publication of Editorial Ocean (1998)
• “Narcotráfico, Crisis Social, Derechos Humanos y Gobernabilidad”, a publication by Editorial Porrúa (2010);
• The Constitutional Reform of Human Rights. The strengthening of the National Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Protective Agencies, in the book “The Humanist Reform, Human Rights and Constitutional Change in Mexico”, a co-edit of the Senate of the Republic, the Political Humanism Foundation, Miguel Ángel Porrúa and Konrad Adenauer Foundation (2011).
• “Paradoja del Sistema Político Mexicano”, in the book Monitor Democratic 2019. "Causes and legal effects of the electoral virage in Mexico (2018) vs pluripartidismo en México", Colegio de Profesores-Investigadores con actividades Académicas Formales en Universidades Extranjeras de Excellence, Procesos Editoriales don José (2019).
• “Using a Power: Unconstitutional Militarization of Public Security”, in the book Monitor Democratic 2020. "The role of the division of powers and autonomous constitutional bodies in democratic presidentialism in Mexico." Colegio de Profesores-Investigadores con actividades Académicas Formales en Universidades Extranjeras de Excellence, Procesos Editoriales don José (2020).
• “Chihuahua 1986. The beginning of the Mexican electoral transition” (release).

Political career

At the beginning of the 1990s, he was coordinator of the legal affairs commission of the Citizen Council for the Observation of the Plebiscite in the Federal District, in which the citizens of the Federal District were consulted on the possibility of electing a Chief of Government, to have a congress in top shape and for the Federal District to become the thirty-second state of the republic.

IFE Counselor

From 1994 to 1996, he was a member of the first General Citizen Council of the then Federal Electoral Institute, today the National Electoral Institute, where the following were also citizen advisors: Miguel Ángel Granados Chapa, José Agustín Ortiz Pinchetti, José Woldenberg, Ricardo Pozas Horcasitas and Fernando Zertuche Muñoz. In the mid-nineties, he was together with José Agustín Ortiz Pinchetti, organizer and coordinator of the Chapultepec Castle Seminary, antecedent of the electoral political reform of 1996, which allowed alternation in government and the consolidation of the transition democratic. Specifically, this reform citizenized the Federal Electoral Institute, created the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary, and established new conditions of fairness in electoral competition. The presidents of the three main political parties participated in this seminar, Santiago Oñate Laborde of the PRI, Carlos Castillo Peraza of the PAN and Porfirio Muñoz Ledo of the PRD, as well as intellectuals, academics, activists and militants from the different parties and ideological currents.

Federal Deputy and Vice President of the Chamber

In 1997, he headed the list of candidates for multi-member deputies of the National Action Party, being elected by proportional representation for the 57th Legislature. Prior to his protest, he summoned the opposition parliamentary groups to agree on what was called "The Aesop Agreements", which served so that the opposition could install itself as a new legislature and for the first time form a majority legislature in the Chamber of Deputies. At the installation of the legislature, he was appointed as vice president of the Chamber of Deputies. Later he was appointed as president of the Commission on the Interior and Constitutional Points, he also served as secretary of the first work commission and member of the Federal District and parliamentary regulations and practices commissions.

As a federal deputy, he promoted, ruled on, and obtained approval of the reforms that create the Superior Audit Office of the Federation, which consolidates the autonomy and constitutional independence of the National Human Rights Commission, and which strengthens the municipality free.

Candidate for Head of Government of the Federal District

In 1999 he joined the National Action Party. He participated as a candidate of the Alliance for Change to Head of Government of Mexico City in the 2000 elections. According to the final count issued by the electoral authority, 69.86% of the citizens registered in the electoral roll participated. He obtained almost a million and a half votes, which represents 34.29% of the vote, remaining only three points behind the first place led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador with 37.75%.

As a member of the National Action Party, he has been a member of the National Executive Committee, of its National Council, of the Permanent Commission, as well as President of the National Elections Commission and of the National Political Commission.

Secretary of the Interior

After the triumph of Vicente Fox as President of Mexico, he was invited to the transitional cabinet as coordinator of the political area. He was later appointed Secretary of the Interior, taking office on December 1, 2000. He was the first Secretary of Governance of a government of alternation, after more than 70 years of the hegemony of the PRI.

As responsible for internal security and member of the security cabinet, he was part of the strategy that resulted in the lowest rates of violence that Mexico has had in recent decades. At the beginning of the administration in the year 2000, the rate of violent crimes was 14 per hundred thousand inhabitants, 5 years later, in the year 2005, this rate had decreased to 8 per hundred thousand inhabitants, that is, almost 50 % less compared to the previous government, which is equivalent to practically a third of the current rate. This index was maintained until the end of President Fox's administration and lasted for 2 more years, that is, until 2007, when the security strategy changed. As the person in charge of the relationship with the Congress of the Union, he promoted and obtained the approval of the reforms regarding indigenous rights and culture, the Federal Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information, which promoted the creation of the Federal Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data, which is established by the National Institute for Women and which is established by the National Council to Prevent Discrimination.

Likewise, it obtained the approval of all the budgets for expenses of the Federation proposed by the head of the Executive branch to the Congress of the Union. During Secretary Creel's mandate, the Legislative Branch approved 72% of the initiatives sent by the President of the Republic. Similarly, he launched the National Human Rights Program that was recognized and set as an example by the United Nations Organization. In addition, he facilitated the creation of the National Conference of Governors. At the administrative level, he restructured the Ministry of the Interior in its internal organization and modernized its operating systems, which resulted in savings to the public treasury equivalent to one year of the agency's own budget.

Senator and President of the Senate

In 2006 he was elected Senator of the Republic for the 59th and 60th legislatures. In 2007 he was elected President of the Senate, of its Political Coordination Board and Parliamentary Coordinator of the group of PAN Senators. In addition, he chaired the Permanent Commission of the congress and the different inter-parliamentary meetings that the Mexican Congress held with the United States Congress, with the Canadian Parliament and with the European Parliament, among others. As Coordinator of the Parliamentary Group of Senators of the National Action Party, he ensured the inauguration of the President of the Republic before the Congress of the Union, despite the post-electoral conflict and the resistance that prevailed in December 2006.

Among the reforms whose approval he spearheaded are: human rights, religious freedom, electoral, criminal and oral trials, national security, the one that creates the national prosecutor's office against corruption, the one that fights money laundering, anti-kidnapping, combating human trafficking, against child sexual exploitation, victims, migrant protection, women's access to a life free of violence, donation of organs, nurseries, antimonopolies, promotion of green energy, climate change, among others. In the same way, he promoted the ratification of a number of international treaties, among others the amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, the Free Trade Agreements with Peru, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, as well as the Agreement with the United States regarding transboundary hydrocarbon deposits in the Gulf of Mexico.

Constituent Deputy of the CDMX

From September 2016 to February 2017, he was a Constituent Deputy for the formulation, negotiation and approval of the first Political Constitution of Mexico City, he also coordinated the parliamentary group of the National Action group in the Constituent Assembly. The approved constitution establishes the mayoralties as successors of the previous delegations, the direct vote of their mayors, establishes the right to a healthy environment, free time and animal protection, and recognizes the city as a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural site. It is the only constitution that fully includes the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Federal Deputy and President of Congress

In 2021 he was elected federal deputy by way of proportional representation for the 65th Legislature. Prior to the electoral process, he was one of the coordinators of the formation of the electoral alliance & # 34; Va por México & # 34; made up of the National Action, Institutional Revolutionary and Democratic Revolution parties.

At the installation of the legislature, he was appointed vice president of the Chamber of Deputies for the first legislative year.

At the end of 2021, he promoted dialogue between the federal government and his National Action party, this because for the first time in the recent history of the country, a national government refused to dialogue with political forces opposed to it. Initially, President López Obrador accepted the offer he received in a letter from Santiago Creel. However, despite some progress, the dialogue was suspended due to the failure to comply with agreements by the government emanating from MORENA.

During the first legislative year, he participated in the debate on the constitutional reform on electricity that President López Obrador sent, which he rejected on the grounds that said reform was contrary to what the Mexican constitution stipulated on human rights in matters of health, environment, healthy development and economy. His vote against was one of those who rejected said reform.

During a controversial session in the Chamber of Deputies, when he was President of the Board of Directors in the absence of the then President Sergio Gutiérrez Luna, the benches clashed over a statement by Gabriel Quadri who called the trans deputy Salma "Sir" Luévano Luna, which led to the seizure of the rostrum and to the fact that the also trans deputy María Clemente García Moreno prevented him from following the session. The behavior he assumed in said crisis as acting President led him to be recognized by all parliamentary groups and who were part of the debate.

At the end of August, the National Action Party announced that it would be its proposal to preside over the Chamber of Deputies during the second year of the legislature, since it was up to said party to put that proposal before the plenary for consideration. The announcement was later endorsed by the benches that make up the Va por México legislative alliance and later by the main leaders of each of the congressional benches. On August 31, the plenary session of deputies unanimously elected him as its President with zero votes. against, being the first to achieve such a vote since 2018.

With this, he becomes one of the two Mexican politicians who have been President of the two chambers that make up the Congress of the Union since the arrival of political plurality in Congress in 1994. From 2007 to 2008 he was head of the Senate of the Republic and from 2022 to 2023 of the Chamber of Deputies. The first politician to have this distinction was Manlio Fabio Beltrones in 2010 when he presided over the Senate after having been the representative of the federal deputies from 2004 to 2005.