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Tribute to Aguilar Zínser
By Hon.
David Kilgour
Embassy Magazine
June 15th, 2005
Seńor Aguilar Zínser, who recently died
at age 55 in a car accident near Mexico City, probably achieved as much as
anyone in the three nations of North America to combat corruption, to build
representative democracy at home and to strengthen the United Nations.
Following his death, Kofi Annan said that he "served his country with
dedication, wit and independence of spirit at a critical time for the
multilateral system." The UN Secretary General was referring to his leadership
on the Security Council during 2003, when as Mexico's permanent representative
he played a key leadership role in blocking U.S.-backed resolutions seeking UN
approval to invade Iraq.
Aguilar Zínser came by his independent spirit naturally as a grandson of
Mexico's first environmentalist. He obtained a master's degree from Harvard's
Kennedy School of Government, and in the 1970s became disillusioned with the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Later, as an independent in the lower
house of Congress, his work as a committee chair against corruption attracted
death threats from three different groups. Nothing would silence him.
During this time, Aguilar Zínser and I both happened to attend a human rights
conference outside of Mexico City. People in the small community kept coming up
to encourage him. He'd become a national hero to many.
By 1997, Aguilar Zínser, who at various points during his public life supported
three different political parties, was representing the Green party in Mexico's
Senate when he visited Canada. His analysis of his country's politics to some
Canadian MPs included this observation: "Our major problem today is that most
legislators of the governing party [PRI] do not believe in it."
When Vicente Fox won the presidency in 2000, breaking the PRI's 71-year hold on
the office, Aguilar Zínser campaigned at his side often. When he became national
security advisor afterwards, he attempted to make the environment a security
issue. Fox soon nominated him to represent Mexico at the UN.
In that role, Aguilar Zínser quickly caused difficulty for Fox with President
Bush, which was compounded when in late 2003 he accused the U.S. of treating
Mexico not as a partner but as "a backyard." When forced to resign as Mexico's
representative at the UN, he admitted that he was "a
diplomat who is not very diplomatic," adding that he was also "an independent,
principled man without prejudice."
Aguilar Zínser was also a giant among all of us on this continent and beyond,
who fought without fear all his life for the dignity of human beings everywhere.
"Que su alma descanse en paz."
David Kilgour, M.P.
-- Mr. Kilgour is the independent member of
Parliament for Edmonton-Beaumont. He served with Aquilar Zínser for several
years as co-director of an International Human Rights Foundation.
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