Carlos Tello, an important critic of the neoliberal model, dies

Mexico City. Economist Carlos Tello Macías, who as a public official was a protagonist of events such as the nationalization of banking; academic, diplomat and author of texts critical of the neoliberal model, died yesterday Tuesday at the age of 85, reported today the Faculty of Economics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he was professor emeritus.

In 1977, Tello Macías, author of important books such as The revolution of the richwhere he analyses how since the 1970s a small group of business power advanced to impose its ideas, was the first head of the newly created Secretariat of Programming and Budget, during the six-year term of Jose López Portillo.

From that position, the professor also had the purpose, in light of the recent oil boom, of reorganizing the entire public sector, so that programming would become a form of government, with the State as the main actor in the modernization and development that the country needed.

However, he only held the post for one year, despite the fact that these tasks were essential due to the recent oil deposits that had been discovered. “The task was rejected by the president who had commissioned him, and Carlos resigned with dignity,” said emeritus professor Rolando Cordera Campos in June of last year in a tribute paid to him by the Faculty of Economics.

In that same recognition, according to the UNAM Gazette, Leonardo Lomelí Vanegas, now rector of the highest house of studies, but who at that time was the general secretary, highlighted Tello Macías’ contribution to the national economy with research and books such as Land tenure in Mexico, Economic policy in Mexico 1970-1976, The nationalization of banking in Mexico and the one already mentioned The revolution of the richthe latter co-authored with Jorge Ibarra.

In this latest book, Lomelí Vanegas pointed out, the researcher also put into perspective a process that he experienced firsthand and fought against: the establishment of neoliberalism. To date, he said, there are segments where these ideas, elevated to dogmas on the management of public finances and monetary policy, continue to predominate, “for this reason, the work of Carlos Tello Macías continues to be of the greatest relevance, and the best tribute we can pay him is to read it, reread it and republish it.”

During his time as a public official, Tello Macías also served as general director of the Bank of Mexico, while in a diplomatic capacity he was ambassador to Cuba, Portugal and the Soviet Union.

For more than 30 years, the economist dedicated himself to writing books on national economy, politics, economic development, economic inequality, among others, while building a career as a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), at El Colegio de México, giving courses at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. At the same time he was a researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

For his extensive career, Tello Macías was named Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Economics at UNAM in December 2016 by the University Council. “He has not limited himself to teaching, he has also directed undergraduate, master’s and doctoral theses, thus contributing to the training of economists, who are currently important professionals and researchers in the field,” says the opinion with which he was awarded the title.