"Hey, baby, why settle for an Ambassador when you can have a Senator? Teresa? What about her? She's only worth $750 million.
Posted on 04/23/2005 2:22:42 PM PDT by axes_of_weezles
Mexican Elite Fetes Marriage of U.S. Envoy, Heiress
By Noel Randewich
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's rich and famous celebrated the high society marriage of a charismatic U.S. ambassador to a beer baroness with a fortune worth $1.5 billion on Saturday in a lavish but very private party.
Bride Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala and groom U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza invited 400 friends to a lakeside resort town for a wedding, billed as Mexico's society event of the year.
Guests invited to the glamorous couple's party near Mexico City included U.S. first lady Laura Bush, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim, an embassy source said.
"It's a list of their closest friends," he told Reuters.
Garza, 45, a lawyer and judge who is the grandson of Mexican immigrants to the United States, is an old family friend of the Bushes. A Republican, he served as Texas secretary of state when President Bush was governor, and was the first Hispanic to win statewide elected office, winning the key post of railroad commissioner, with regulatory power over the state's huge oil and gas industry.
The White House on Friday confirmed Laura Bush would be traveling from the family's Crawford, Texas ranch to attend the wedding.
Garza was considered one of the most eligible bachelors in Mexico until he announced he was marrying Aramburuzabala, who controls the country's top beer company, Modelo, brewer of the popular Corona lager.
Garza and Aramburuzabala, a divorced mother of two, were due to tie the knot in a civil ceremony on Saturday night.
They held a low-profile Roman Catholic wedding in February. In Mexico, church and civil weddings are traditionally held separately.
The lakeside town of Valle de Bravo is a vacation playground for Mexico's rich and famous, but the presence of burly bodyguards and armored sport utility vehicles this weekend was much more obvious than usual.
Diplomatic staff were close-mouthed about who was at the event, and security was extremely tight.
The newlyweds and friends began the weekend party on Saturday with an early morning stroll through a pine forest and past a waterfall.
The celebrations, centered around an exclusive golf club, were also to include a barbecue with Texan and Mexican dishes, including spicy tacos.
The dark-haired Aramburuzabala, who often signs her name A14 for the number of letters in her name, is ranked by Forbes as one of the world's richest women. Along with her position in Modelo, which her grandfather helped found, she has big holdings in some of Mexico's other major companies.
In 2002, President Bush appointed Garza ambassador to Mexico, where this year he has raised hackles by complaining in a letter to the country's leaders about drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The marriage has raised some eyebrows among Mexicans who are concerned the United States already has too much influence over their politics and big business.
The new multimillionaire status could come in handy for someone with Garza's ambitions. He has made no secret of his desire to return to political office, and there is speculation he will return to Texas at some point to run for governor or senator.
http://images.forbes.com/media/lists/10/2003/7HVI.jpg
MS A14
Garza should be stationed elsewhere.
Darn Mexican mail service. My invite musta gotten lost. How bout yours?
Yes, I missed mine too.
Hmmm... less and less.
That money probably came from the citizens of the US and Mexico. Grrrr.....
ping
"Hey, baby, why settle for an Ambassador when you can have a Senator? Teresa? What about her? She's only worth $750 million.
At this point, Ambassador Garza, living in the lofty heights of Mexico City Billionaire social circles, may be the only person in the U.S. government more detached from reality regarding Mexico than George Bush.
I wonder if I'll be banned for mentioning that we have a ruling class---that we stupidly support.
No concern about conflict of interest when a longtime Bush family friend appointed as U.S. ambassador to Mexico, "the grandson of Mexican immigrants," marries into a Mexican fortune 500 company...?
I really believe the Bush family, particularly the sons, identify with Mexicans more than with Americans. There is no effort here to maintain a U.S. identity vis a vis Mexico.
Maybe our soldiers overseas should be wearing a mexican flag patch on their uniforms instead of the stars and stripes. O wait, Vicente Fox denounced our War on Terror, didn't he?
Did you read my post? What does "conflict of interest" mean to you? If you started this thread so you could slap down the respondents, then Good-bye. I'm outa here.
Boy, I bet there were some hot enchiladas at that party,
some good food too.
That's violent agreement. I think I understood your post.
The Bush boys were not ambassadors to Mexico when they married. I dont have issues with that. I have issues with a US Ambassador messing with the locals.
there you have it folks--why doesn't your opinion about illegal immigration get attention in washington?
answer: because the washington, texas, and mexican elites are wedded together financially and literally.
it's not only republicans, but democrats as well. robert rubin of the clinton administration was a former goldman sachs official. in december, 1994, when el presidente ernesto zedillo came into office he was immediately faced with a peso devaluation left to him by his predecessor carlos salinas gotari. goldman sachs assisted the mexican billionaires in getting their money OUT of mexico prior to the peso devaluation. mexicans were devastated by the devaluation.
carlos salinas went into exile in ireland. his brother raoul is in jail for ordering the murder of his brother in law who was found in bed with another man. raoul's wife showed up in switzerland, attempting to withdraw millions of dollars.
president bush 41 used to take his wife and kids to the estate of raoul salinas in mexico. the kids of both families used to play together--including president bush 43.
Agree completely.
that's a laugh.
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