born April 3, 1948, Mexico City, Mex.
President of Mexico (1988–94).
Son of a Mexican senator, Salinas earned a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University and held various governmental posts until he was elected president in 1988 by a slim margin; vote fraud was widely charged. He pursued a program of economic retrenchment and privatization, selling off hundreds of inefficient state-owned corporations and spending part of the proceeds on infrastructure and social services. In 1991–92 his government co-negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement . The economic collapse immediately following his term made him the target of bitter criticism. The assassination of his party's nominee as his successor was linked to Salinas's associates, and Salinas fled to the U.S. and eventually Ireland. His brother Raúl, widely suspected of extensive corruption, was convicted in 1999 of complicity in another assassination.