Ezequiel Padilla Peñaloza

Who was Ezequiel Padilla Peñaloza?

Ezequiel Padilla Peñaloza was a Mexican statesman. Born in Coyuca de Catalán, Guerrero, he served in the Senate, as Attorney General in 1928, as Secretary of Education from 1928 – 1930, as ambassador to Hungary from 1930 – 1932, and as Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 1940 – 1945.

His appointment to the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs by President Manuel Ávila Camacho marked an end to the Post-Revolutionary domination of politicians from the North of the country. With his co-cabinet member Miguel Alemán Valdés, he "gave Mexico the most progressive foreign policy and the most orderly internal government in the nation's history." By 1941, he had successfully settled all foreign claims against the government stemming from the Cárdenas-era expropriations. He negotioated a favorable economic treaty, fixed the peso to the United States dollar, and secured loans for industrial development from the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

During World War II, he was a strong proponent of inter-American unity and led conferences of the foreign ministers of countries of the Americas to this end. He was criticized by some for being too pro-American.