Oral history interview with Victor L. Urquidi, 2000
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- Name
- Urquidi, Víctor L (Interviewee)
- Weiss, Thomas G. (Thomas George), 1946- (Interviewer)
- Title
- Oral history interview with Victor L. Urquidi, 2000
- Abstract
- Early years: Born in Paris in 1919; Lived in Mexico, Colombia, England, Uruguay, Spain, and US; political interest at early age; interest in economics and international studies; parents' involvement in Spanish Civil War; student at London School of Economics (LSE) and Cambridge; Career: researcher at Bank of Mexico; translator for Mexican journal, Fondo de Cultura Economica; involvement in confere nces on postwar prospects for Latin America and Mexico; assistant for Mexican delegation to conference by US Treasury and Inter-American Bank proposal; teacher for Basque Children's Refugee Committee in England; 1947-1949 head of Eastern Latin American Division loan department at World Bank; Special Assistant for Financial Studies, Mexican Ministry of Finance; 1951 office director at Economic Commission for Latin America, ECLA, Mexico City; 1964 professor at Colegio del México; Themes: correspondence with Harry White and the creation of IMF (International Monetary Fund); delegation at Bretton Woods conference; World Bank proposals; negotiating Mexico's debt; relationship with Isidro Fabela; El Colegio and Spanish Republican refugees fleeing to Mexico; independent study; conducting international silver trade for Mexico with Joseph Aboumrad; comparison of poverty in India and Mexico; early interest in League of Nations and international diplomacy; absence of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Far East; internationalist worldview; report on US-Mexican industrial trade relations during WWII; political control over power companies in Latin America; relationship with John J. McCloy, president of World Bank; contention over lending to Venezuela; overvalued currencies in Latin America; 1946 Bank of Mexico conference of central banks in western hemisphere; lack of focus on development at World Bank between 1947-1949; US government's power at World Bank; Latin American distrust of OAS (Organization of American States); involvement in The Marshall Plan; Central American integration proposal at conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; views of Raúl Prebisch; El Salvador-Honduras agreement; import substitution; ideological differences with CEPAL (United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean); involvement in first multilateral Central America treaty
- Collection Name
- United Nations intellectual history project (UNIHP)
- Subjects
- Spain History Civil War, 1936-1939; Mexico Emigration and immigration; Central America Economic integration; Mexico Foreign economic relations; Urquidi, Víctor L; United Nations Officials and employees; United Nations History; United Nations. Secretary-General; International Monetary Fund; World Bank; United Nations. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
- Format
- oral histories; sound recordings
- Genre
- Interviews
- Date
- 2000
- Note (Biographical)
- Personal Assistant to UN Secretary General
- Note
- Interviewed by Thomas G. Weiss on June 18 and June 19, 2000
- Note (Provenance)
- Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Gift, 2009
- Language
- English
- Library Location
- Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content - Catalog Record
- 13685544
- Also In
- Oral History Archives at Columbia
- Time-Based Media
- Time-Based Media
- Persistent URL
- https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-yqn2-2385
- Related URLs
- Available digital content for this interview.