Diplomat’s typo on Mexico more than meets the eye

A column in Monday’s Financial Times by ex-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nancy Soderberg made a critical error. Her piece on the need for Argentina to repay its debts mistakenly named Vicente Fox as Mexico’s current president. (Obviously that title belongs to Felipe Calderon; Fox was Calderon’s predecessor).

(For the record, this blog has had its share of errors, too. Check out the comments to this recent post, for instance).

However, the Foreign Policy Passport blog noted yesterday that Sorderberg’s piece raised suspicion over her ties to a “lobbying group” functioning in Argentina- the American Task Force Argentina:

“The ATFA, in case you were wondering, is a lobbying group funded by creditors, some of them so-called "vulture funds" or investment firms who bought millions of dollars worth of Argentine bonds when the country defaulted on its debts in 2001-2002. Whatever you think of the debt issue and the swing toward economic populism in Latin America that Soderberg denounces, doesn't The Financial Times owe its readers more context when it turns over its editorial page to a lobbyist for debt collectors?”

Speaking of Fox, he expressed his frustration over the lack of U.S. immigration reform during a public appearance he gave on Monday.

Sources- Foreign Policy Passport, Financial Times, The Latin Americanist, Mexico-Presidency of the Republic, San Jose Mercury News

Image- MSNBC (2004 image of Vicente Fox)