Foreign Secretary (Mexico)

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The **Secretary of Foreign Relations** (Spanish: **Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores**), colloquially known as the **Foreign Secretary**, is a senior government position in Mexico and a member of the Council of Ministers. Within the Mexican order of precedence, the secretary of foreign relations is the second highest civil office, behind only the office of President of the Council of Ministers. The office's control over the international relations and Mexican diplomatic corps makes the secretary of foreign relations one of the most powerful and influential figures within government.

As head of the Secretariat of the Exterior, the foreign secretary is responsible for the coordination and execution of the foreign policy of the Mexican government. Due to the importance of foreign policy, the foreign secretary works closely with both the emperor and their prime minister to develop policies to advance the national interests of the Mexican state - similarly, the importance of diplomatic relations means that the office is occasionally occupied by career diplomats rather than politicians. The secretary of foreign relations is also a plenipotentiary of the government and is thus able to take part in international summits, bilateral meetings, and treaty negotiations on behalf of the emperor. The foreign secretary is also responsible for the work of Mexican diplomats in embassies across the world and has oversight over various foreign intelligence agencies associated with the Mexican government. The foreign secretary is accountable to both the prime minister and to congress, and is expected to inform congress of the actions of the Secretariat of the Exterior through legislative questioning, select committees, and the regular publication of written statements.

Similarly to all government ministers, the secretary of foreign relations is appointed by the emperor at the recommendation of the prime minister, though the emperor retains the power to reject a recommendation. The incumbent officeholder must either be a sitting member of the Congress of Mexico, a member of the civil service, or a serving member of the armed forces in order to hold office, but is not subject to any term limits for their position. Instead, they serve at the pleasure of the emperor, who has the power to dismiss the secretary of the treasury at any given point. Similarly, the Congress of Mexico also has the power to remove the foreign secretary from office with a simple majority vote, but the emperor can veto any such resolution. Like most other cabinet ministers, the secretary of foreign relations is bound by departmental responsibility; this means that any failures of the Secretariat of the Exterior are automatically considered to be failures of the incumbent minister, who is consequently expected to offer their resignation to either the emperor or the prime minister.

The office of secretary of foreign relations was first created in September 1821, alongside the offices of Justice Secretary and Treasury Secretary, during the first days of the reign of Emperor Agustín I and his prime minister Valentín Gómez Farías. Since the office's creation, there have been 12 people to hold office as secretary of foreign relations, across 17 separate periods in office. The longest serving foreign secretary was José Cecilio del Valle, who served for 20 years and 256 days across three non-consecutive periods in office between 1828 and 1870. The shortest serving foreign secretary was Melchor Ocampo, who served for 1 year and 336 days between 1870 and 1872, though José Cecilio del Valle served a shorter period of 105 days from 1869 to 1870 during his third term.

## See Also

* President of the Council of Ministers of Mexico