Francisco Castillo Nájera

Francisco Castillo Nájera trained as a physician before entering diplomacy. Born in Durango in 1886, he qualified in medicine in 1913 and continued his studies in Europe and the United States. He directed military medical institutions, taught pathology and forensic medicine, and became president of Mexico's National Academy of Medicine in 1927. His overseas appointments included China and Belgium before he became ambassador in Washington in 1935. ^{1, 2}

His decade in Washington included negotiations over compensation for agricultural land owned by Americans expropriated in Mexico. In November 1938, Secretary of State Cordell Hull acknowledged Castillo Nájera's proposals and their conversations while outlining a settlement based on joint valuation and an initial Mexican payment of $1 million. The exchange addressed agrarian claims; it should be distinguished from the separate dispute over nationalized oil companies. ³

On 3 February 1944, Castillo Nájera and Mexican boundary commissioner Rafael Fernández MacGregor signed the bilateral water treaty with their American counterparts. It allocated the waters of the Colorado and Rio Grande and expanded the boundary commission's responsibilities to water management. Castillo Nájera also signed the November protocol clarifying responsibility for public works. After his Washington posting, he served as foreign secretary. ^{4, 2}

He maintained a literary career alongside medicine and diplomacy. His publications included a collection of Belgian poetry in Spanish translation and El Gavilán, a long poem drawing on the corrido. He also wrote about Mexican Spanish and the poet Manuel Acuña. He died in 1954. ^{2, 1}