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Mexico foreign minister takes new post, may augur presidency bid


    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday shifted his foreign minister, Jose Antonio Meade, into a key welfare ministry, a move that could provide the experienced 46-year-old with a platform to mount a presidential bid in 2018.

    Meade also served as finance and energy minister in the previous government, and could be an alternative candidate to the man currently expected to front the ruling party's bid to replace Pena Nieto in 2018, Manlio Fabio Beltrones.

    Meade will front the Social Development Ministry, an arm of government that is viewed by political insiders as a useful springboard for presidential tilts. The ministry handles welfare spending across the still heavily impoverished country.

    He will be replaced by Claudia Ruiz Massieu in the foreign ministry, who had previously served as tourism minister.

    Pena Nieto kept faith with his two most powerful aides, Finance Minister Luis Videgaray and Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong even though both have been heavily criticized over the struggling economy and security lapses, respectively.

    National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido, however, was replaced by Renato Sales. Officials had said Rubido's job was at risk following the brazen escape from maximum security prison by drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in July.

    Pena Nieto also appointed new heads for other ministries including agriculture, environment, and urban development.

    The president also appointed his chief of staff, Aurelio Nuno, as education minister, which could prove another important staging post for the younger man in his political rise.

    (Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Simon Gardner and Matthew Lewis)