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Good afternoon members of the media.
 
            Today I have accepted the resignation of Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora Icaza.
 
I would like to thank him for his outstanding role as Attorney General. His professionalism, commitment and loyalty to Mexico have been crucial to promoting the modernization and purging of the procurement of justice and attacking organized crime, as we have done.
 
Thanks to brave men such as Eduardo Medina, we are advancing in the fight against crime and halting a process of institutional and social deterioration that had taken root in recent years in Mexico, particularly during the past decade.
 
            Mr. Medina Mora’s work has been instrumental in confiscating record amounts from criminals and in bringing many of the leaders of the main criminal organizations in Mexico to justice.
 
            His commitment was crucial to purging police and above all, ministerial corps through Operation Clean-Up.
 
I would also like to highlight his role in promoting the laws that will enable us to create a new legal architecture to consolidate the Rule of Law, such as the Constitutional Reform of the Penal Justice System and the new Organic Law of the Attorney General's Office.
 
            I have asked Eduardo Molina to continue contributing to the nation through the Mexican Foreign Service in a mission that will be announced in due course.
 
            Assistant Legal Attorney General and Head of Special Affairs Juan Miguel Alcántara will temporarily take over, guaranteeing the continuity of operations in the Attorney General's office and resolving the issues involved in it, in accordance with Article 89 of the Organic Law Regulations of the Attorney General's Office.
 
            I will propose the designation, according to Article 89, Section 9 of the Constitution, of Arturo Chávez, as the new Attorney General, whose nomination I will submit to Senate for approval.
 
            Arturo Chávez Chávez, who is not here  now, obtained a degree in law from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Chihuahua. He is currently a partner in a prestigious law firm and has extensive experience in the procurement of justice and specifically in fighting organized crime.
 
            He has already worked in the Attorney General’s office, where he served as a delegate in the state of Chihuahua. He was also Assistant Attorney General and Attorney General in the State of Chihuahua.
 
            He subsequently worked in Federal Government, which requires enormous legal knowledge, specifically in the Interior Secretariat, where he successively held the positions of Director of Internal Control, Undersecretary of Legal Affairs and Human Rights and Under-Secretary of the Interior.
 
            I am sure that Arturo Chávez has the necessary knowledge and experience to perform the delicate task of Attorney General, particularly nowadays when Mexico is building its future by determinedly facing organized crime.
 
            I have already accepted the resignation of Alberto Cárdenas, Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.
 
            I am extremely grateful for the time he directed the Secretariat, a job he performed with loyalty, efficiency and a vocation for service.
 
            Thanks to the leadership of Alberto Cardenas, this period saw a record increase in agricultural production and in particularly difficult years, both because of the international food crisis, the inclusion of the agricultural sector in the Free Trade Agreement and the international financial crisis.
 
            With Alberto Cárdenas as Secretary of Agriculture, the countryside achieved record harvests in several areas, including maize.
 
            I also hail his important work in protecting the image and innocuousness of Mexican products, including pork, during the outbreak and spread of the A/H1N1 virus.
 
            Alberto Cárdenas is a great Mexican and will undoubtedly continue to achieve further success in his career.
 
            SAGARPA and the Mexican government have completed a stage, particularly in this office led by Alberto Cárdenas. His performance has been successful, as shown by the many results obtained during his management.
 
            Suffice it to say that the agricultural sector is the only one to have grown in the economic crisis we underwent.
 
            Faithful to his commitment and loyal to his land, the State of Jalisco, he will return to his post as Senator, for which he has been elected, where he will lead the debate in Congress which I am sure will be a lively on, on policy for the countryside. At the same time, he will continue to be a key assessor to the President in this field.
 
            In his place, and using the authority vested in me by the Mexican Constitution, I have decided to designate Francisco Javier Mayorga Castañeda as new Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development. Fisheries and Food.
 
            He obtained a degree in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, and completed a master’s degree at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.
 
            Mr. Mayorga has occupied various positions in both the private and the public sector. He was President of the Regional Chamber of the Manufacturing Industry and Coordinator of the Council of Industrial Chambers in Jalisco and President of the Agricultural Council in the same state.
 
            In the public sector, he was Secretary of Rural Development of the Government of Jalisco, particularly when Alberto Cárdenas was state governor and Director of Supports and Services for Agricultural Commercialization, ASERCA, a decentralized organization of the Federal Agriculture Secretariat. He was also Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food in 2005 and 2006, so in a way, he is returning to a post he is familiar with.
 
            His broad knowledge of the agricultural sector, as well as his extensive career will enable him to successfully meet the challenges of the Mexican countryside and the new era, marked by the current situation.
 
            I have instructed the new Secretary to work hard to make every effort to take timely support to peasants and producers in the countryside as well as to fishermen and fish farmers, especially those with least.
 
            These are hard times for rural areas because of the international financial crisis and the various meteorological phenomena we are facing, the worst in decades.
 
            People in the countryside require the authorities’ total commitment to look after their families and at the same time, to put enough food on Mexicans’ tables.
 
            We must now redouble our efforts to ensure that the countryside continues to be a major trigger for Mexican families' development and well-being. It is a task that requires total dedication, as Alberto Cárdenas has had. And it is one that I am sure the new Secretary of Agriculture will fulfill with professionalism, loyalty and renewed enthusiasm.
 
            Lastly, today I have also decided to accept the resignation of Dr. Jesús Reyes Heroles, Director General of Petróleos Mexicanos.
 
            I thank Dr. Reyes Heroles for his important work as the director in our para-state company during the first three years of my government. His professionalism and high degree of responsibility were crucial to achieving a historic reform of Petróleos Mexicanos, the most important in decades in the oil industry,
 
            Its approval will enable us to provide PEMEX with better corporate schemes and set it on the path to becoming a major oil company and one of the most important in the world.
 
            Dr. Reyes Heroles’ work has also been crucial in restoring the reserve replacement levels and setting in motion the project to construct a new refinery in the state of Hidalgo, the first in 30 years, which, in the long term, will enable us to reduce our dependence on other countries for oil.
 
            I wish Dr. Reyes Heroles every success in his new projects, which will undoubtedly come to fruition and of which you will be informed in due course.
 
            In his place, I have decided to appoint Dr. Juan José Suárez. He obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and has held important posts in both the public, private and academic sector.
 
            In the public sector, he served as Coordinator of Assessors in the Secretariat of Finance. He has also been Corporate Finance Director of Petróleos Mexicanos, which gave him a great deal of knowledge about the parastate company, and he is familiar with the company's strengths and weaknesses.
 
            In the private sector, he has been Vice-President of Finances of Grupo Modelo, a position he held until a few weeks ago, and Assistant Director of Derivatives at Banamex. He has also been a professor of economics at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, of which he is also a graduate and the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and Brown University in the United States.
 
            I am sure that Dr. Suárez Coppel has ample credentials and the necessary experience to be able to perform this job well. I instruct him, as PEMEX's new Director General, to continue guaranteeing that the firm will be consolidated as a firm belonging to all Mexicans.
 
            His main role will be to preserve and expand national hydrocarbon assets and he should speed up the drilling and exploration of new oil and gas fields so as not only to increase the level of replacing reserves but also hydrocarbon production.
 
            His main responsibilities include guaranteeing full compliance with the reform approved for PEMEX and overhauling the institution to reinforce it and adapt it to the needs of Mexicans and the times. He should place special emphasis on improving the management of Pemex and eliminating any corruption or inefficiency.
 
            In short, his duty is to do everything possible to ensure that Mexican resumes its position as a major oil power.
 
            I thank my collaborators for having been at this first stage of Federal Government which is almost halfway through its administration and I wish them success in their new projects and tasks.
 
And to those assuming new responsibilities in public service, citizens, tax payers and all Mexicans demand that you work fully, efficiently and for the benefit of Mexico.
 
Thank you.