Mexico City, Mexico - Mexican first lady Angelica Rivera will chair the Citizen's Consultative Council of the National System for the Comprehensive Development of the Family, or DIF, President Enrique Peña Nieto's office said.

Laura Vargas Carrillo, the wife of Government Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, in turn, will be the general director of DIF.

These appointments depart from the tradition according to which the first lady has headed the DIF, a public institution for social assistance among the activities of which is promoting family planning, child care, assistance to the elderly, and the fight against drug abuse.

Laura Vargas is a lawyer who has served as the general director of the DIF-Hidalgo system and as president of the DIF Foundation.

Angelica Rivera is an actress with an extensive career who in November 2010 married Peña Nieto, then the governor of Mexico state.