Mexico’s Zedillo Again Shuffles Cabinet : Latin America: Minister quits after falsely claiming Harvard doctorate. Shake-up is the second in less than a month.

MEXICO CITY —  In a move that analysts Monday saw as a critical attempt to close ranks and bolster his government’s image, President Ernesto Zedillo shook up his administration for the second time in less than a month, accepting the resignation of a second Cabinet secretary under a cloud of controversy.

Just before midnight Sunday, Zedillo announced that Education Secretary Fausto Alzati had quit. Alzati had been embroiled in a deepening controversy over his educational background after reportedly misrepresenting himself on several occasions as having a Harvard University doctorate.

He was replaced by Miguel Limon Rojas, a respected career educator and bureaucrat with graduate degrees from France. He is a member of Zedillo’s inner circle and had been serving as secretary of agrarian reform.

The latest action follows closely the resignation of Jaime Serra Puche, Zedillo’s friend and Treasury secretary. He quit late last month amid Mexico’s worst financial crisis in more than a decade.

Alzati’s ouster was part of a clear effort by Zedillo to rid his government of yet another political liability in the face of a combined political and economic crisis not yet eight weeks into his presidency. But the latest Cabinet shuffle was accompanied by continuing political instability in Mexico’s southern state of Tabasco, where opposition leaders walked out after two days of negotiations to resolve an explosive post-election conflict with the ruling party.

News of the opposition’s continuing demand for the resignation of the state’s ruling-party governor, combined with growing concern about whether the U.S. Congress will approve a bailout plan for Mexico comprising loan guarantees worth $40 billion, helped drive Mexican financial markets down again Monday, though they later rebounded. The Bolsa stock index ended 2.64 points higher at 2,068.49.

As for Alzati’s resignation, analysts said it was unavoidable. It came amid increasing speculation that key opposition parties would press for criminal charges against him, after Reforma, Mexico City’s independent daily newspaper, published copies of government correspondence that Alzati had signed using the title “Doctor.”

When the controversy first surfaced last month, most Mexican media reported that Harvard records showed Alzati had fulfilled all doctoral requirements except his dissertation--reports that Alzati later confirmed.

But most analysts said the president’s latest Cabinet shuffle could well do more harm than good to his administration’s already sagging image in the days to come.

“I think basically it hurts his image and that of this country, because he appears to be too bumbling,” said columnist and political scientist Sergio Sarmiento. “Alzati became a political liability for the president, and the president . . . cannot afford to have any liabilities. But instead of just getting rid of one, he moves a lot of people around.”

Zedillo’s other moves were greeted with less enthusiasm. He reassigned Agriculture Secretary Arturo Warman to the secretariat of agrarian reform. Despite Warman’s strong background as former chief counsel in the agrarian reform secretariat, most analysts saw his new post as a demotion for one of the president’s most experienced and independent Cabinet members. Zedillo replaced Warman with Francisco Labastida Ochoa, a former governor of the state of Sinaloa and a close confidant of Zedillo’s trusted Interior secretary, Esteban Moctezuma Barragan.

Although analysts said most of the moves were meant for domestic consumption, they concluded that Zedillo missed a key opportunity to send more positive signals to both the nation and foreign investors. The latter have withdrawn billions of dollars from Mexico’s troubled economy.

“The removals may be adequate, but the replacements are not that good,” said Rogelio Ramirez de la O, an independent Mexico City economic analyst. “If you don’t capitalize on the changes, what’s the good of making them?”

Specifically, Ramirez and others said Zedillo should have taken advantage of the need to replace Alzati by naming another Cabinet outsider. That would have broadened the political base of his government at a time when clashes between the ruling party and the opposition in several states have threatened Zedillo’s attempts to forge sweeping political reform.

There was less speculation about why Zedillo made his final new appointment. He named Jose Antonio Gonzalez Fernandez, an elected member of the capital’s City Council, to be Mexico City’s chief prosecutor. He replaces Ruben Valdez Abascal, who the president said quit “for health reasons.”