Anonymous - 8-6-2003 at 10:29 AM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/20...
July 23, 2003
MEXICO CITY (AP) --
Health problems will force President Vicente Fox's chief aide for affairs along the U.S. border to leave his post in coming months, a spokesman said
Wednesday.
Agustin Rojas, a spokesman for Ernesto Ruffo, said the border czar first asked Fox for permission to step down several months ago, but that the
president asked him to remain in his job until after a meeting of U.S. and Mexican border state governors that will be held in the northern city of
Chihuahua on Aug. 7 and 8.
The 51-year-old Ruffo has suffered from heart problems and has been advised by doctors to avoid stressful situations, Rojas said.
Fox picked Ruffo as his top border official in December 2000, the month he took office and ended 71 straight years of single-party rule in Mexico.
Ruffo's job has been to promote national and international investment and social development on the Mexico-U.S. border and his office has served as a
centerpiece of the president's effort to better streamline cooperation and communication between the seat of government in Mexico City and other
regions of the country.
Ruffo's victory for the National Action Party in the 1989 Baja California state governor's race made him Mexico's first opposition-party governor in
generations. It was a landmark step toward Fox's presidential victory for the same party.