Ambassador Ortiz: Lessons from a Life of Service

5: Mexico City the First Time Around: A Prideful Mistake

When we arrived in Mexico City in  with two kids, I was well known in the Foreign Service because of my fan dancer report. We were received “with interest,” you might say. The Ambassador first assigned me to the economic section, but as a bilingual with political experience, I was moved to the political section almost immediately. I did pretty well. Within a short time, Dolores and I were accepted in those circles that were important to U.S. interests. My immediate boss, Andrew Donovan, was of the old school, and very demanding. I couldn’t get away with doing things half-way, which was very good for my training. The U.S. Ambassador to Mexico at the time, Francis White, of an old Baltimore family also was tough—so much so that he was scary. He rarely smiled and was very rigid. He intimidated me and gave me the impression that he thought of me as an unlettered dolt. Then, strangely enough, he started inviting Dolores and me to important dinners and events at the embassy. He saw we could interact easily with his most important and sophisticated guests. When he left Mexico at the end of his tenure there, he wrote a letter to the Director General of the Foreign Service commending me as a very good officer. He recommended that the Service give me good assignments. I was  5 Mexico City the First Time Around: A Prideful Mistake surprised when I received a copy of his letter and the Director General’s favorable reply. Ambassador White was replaced by Robert C. Hill, from New Hampshire, a very rich man, high in Republican circles whose impatience made him a bull in a china closet. He immediately took me out of the political section and made me his special assistant. This required a very close relationship. I had some peculiar problems working with Hill. For example, he had the habit of sending me off to buy things without providing me with the money to do so. As my expenses started to add up, I asked if we could start a petty cash fund. Hill reacted angrily, demanding to know why I needed money. When I explained that neither the Embassy nor I pay his petty expenses, he was surprised. The upshot of this and other interactions was that Hill respected me for speaking up, and our relationship improved. He was not used to having people stand up to him and I was not about to be subservient to anyone. Mexico in the s was still very much under the political, economic, and cultural dominance of the autocratic, statist Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). Mexicans accepted rampant corruption as a fact of life, and basic economic and political precepts that we universally hold in the U.S. were mostly anathema to the governing circles of Mexico. I brashly coined a new motto for the PRI: “Don’t rock the trough.” The slogan was published in a Drew Pearson newspaper column, but fortunately was not attributed to me. These fundamental differences in governance and economics made U.S.-Mexican relations very difficult at the time. The U.S. embassy worked hard to improve the situation but seemed to be content with just holding the line. After a short time, leading Mexicans came to like my family and me and invited us to many social and official gatherings. This was not always the case with other embassy officers. As was our habit, we reciprocated by inviting people to our home often. We also joined a club for junior diplomats, which further put us in contact with diplomats from other countries. Ironically, our very success in making significant contacts created a major problem for me.  MEXICO CITY THE FIRST TIME AROUND One fine day, the CIA station chief called me to his office and asked if I would help his agency. He knew of our success in getting officials to come to our home. The CIA was actively recruiting agents and at that time was particularly interested in some junior diplomatic officers of various embassies in Mexico City. He told me that the CIA could provide me with money if I would entertain certain people at our home. The idea was that we would also invite CIA officers to our gatherings so they could pursue intelligence interests. This was in , in the thick...