Enrique Alfaro Ramírez

Enrique Alfaro Ramírez (born June 20, 1973) is a Mexican politician and the Governor of Jalisco. In 2009, he served as mayor of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga. He mounted his gubernatorial campaign in 2012 under the Movimiento Ciudadano (MC) party but lost to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Alfaro Ramírez decided to run for mayor of Guadalajara that year and won the elections. After serving for three years, he ran for governor again under the MC and was victorious. This victory marked the MC's first gubernatorial win in its history. Within a week of the election results, however, he resigned from the MC and decided to be an independent governor, claiming he was never an active member of the MC.

Enrique Alfaro Ramírez
58th Governor of Jalisco
In office
December 6, 2018 – December 5, 2024
Preceded byAristóteles Sandoval
Succeeded byPablo Lemus Navarro
Mayor of Guadalajara
In office
October 1, 2015 – December 17, 2017
Preceded byRamiro Hernández García[1]
Succeeded byEnrique Ibarra Pedroza
Personal details
Born (1973-06-20) June 20, 1973 (age 51)
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Political partyIndependent (2018 – present)
Movimiento Ciudadano (until 2018)
SpouseLorena Martínez (separated)
Alma materWestern Institute of Technology and Higher Education (BS)
El Colegio de Mexico (MUP)
Signature

Early life and education

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Alfaro Ramírez was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on June 20, 1973.[3] He obtained a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Western Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESO) in 1995 and a master's degree in urban studies from El Colegio de México in 1999.[4] He worked in various capacities in the federal government, focusing on urban development, between 1996 and 2003, and from 2003 to 2006, he was a town councilor in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga.[4]

Political career

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In 2007, Alfaro Ramírez won his first election, serving as a state legislator in Jalisco. Among the highlights of his tenure in the state congress were the creation of Jalisco's Metropolitan Matters Commission (Spanish: Comisión de Asuntos Metropolitanos) as well as laws reducing public funding for political parties and allowing for the removal of the governor.[4] He was elected mayor of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga in 2009 and served in that capacity for three years.

Alfaro Ramírez mounted his first gubernatorial campaign in 2012 as the Movimiento Ciudadano (MC) candidate.[5] He finished in a close second place, four percentage points behind Aristóteles Sandoval of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).[6] After losing the governor's race, Alfaro Ramírez ran for mayor of Guadalajara, again with MC, in 2015. His victory marked the first time that neither the National Action Party (PAN) or PRI had won the mayorship of Guadalajara.[5] He served as mayor from October 1, 2015, to December 17, 2017.[7][8] During his mayoral term in Guadalajara, he was questioned over a public art project and a pair of land sales. Alfaro Ramírez defended his administration by saying that his actions would lead to improvements in urbanization.[6]

Gubernatorial campaign

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In 2018, Alfaro Ramírez ran as the MC gubernatorial candidate for Governor of Jalisco. While MC was in national coalition with the PAN and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), it ran alone in state races.[9] He won the election with 37.7 percent of the vote on election night,[10] giving MC its first ever outright gubernatorial win.[6] Within a week of the election, he announced he was severing all ties with MC, a party of which he claims to never have been an active member, and that he would serve as an independent governor.[11] He also declared that 2018 was his last election.[12]

Governor

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Health

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Jalisco reported about 25% of the Dengue fever cases in the country in 2019 (11,727 cases and 49 deaths) and 2020 (5,362 cases and 20 deaths).[13]

Between March 2020 and December 19, 2020, Jalisco reported 130,192 cases of infection and 5,402 deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico.[14]

Crime

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Alfaro Ramírez reported a reduction of 18% in crime between January 2018 and January 2019 and a 22% decrease by January 2020.[15] However, murders increased in 2019 to 2,672, eleventh highest in the country, with 34 homicides for 100,000 people.[16] As of August, there were 1,528 murders in 2020, an average of 7.9 per day.[17] Two hundred sixty-six women were murdered in 2020; 54 cases were classified as femicides.[18]

Five police officers from Casimiro Castillo were arrested for the murder of a young man on August 26, 2020.[19] This was after four police in Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos arrested, tortured, and killed Giovanni López, 30, for not wearing a face mask on May 4 during the pandemic.[20] The release of a video of López′s arrest set off violent protests in Guadalajara.[21]

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the most dangerous drug cartels in Mexico, allegedly threatened the life of Governor Enrique Alfaro Ramírez in August and September 2020. CJNG is said to accuse the governor of breaking an agreement he had with them to control drug trafficking in the state, instead turning it over to the Sinaloa Cartel.[22]

Family

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Alfaro Ramírez was married to Lorena Martínez. When he was mayor of Guadalajara, Martínez was president of the National System for Integral Family Development (DIF). She has expressed interest in running for mayor as well. Alfaro Ramírez and Martínez are separated.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Sagredo, Juan Carlos (6 October 2015). "En quiebra, Municipio de GDL.- Alfaro". Mural (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Celebra Enrique Alfaro el cumpleaños número 2 de su hija Natalia". Debate (in Spanish). 26 October 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Presidencia Municipal". Municipio de Guadalajara (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c "SEMBLAZA ING. ENRIQUE ALFARO RAMIREZ" (PDF) (in Spanish). Government of Guadalajara. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  5. ^ a b Coppel, Eugenia (7 June 2015). "Enrique Alfaro y el giro de Jalisco hacia la izquierda". Milenio (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "Enrique Alfaro, el político que dio su primer triunfo a MC". Milenio (in Spanish). 2 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  7. ^ Villanueva, María José (24 September 2015). "INFOGRAFÍA: El gabinete de Enrique Alfaro para Guadalajara". El Informador (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  8. ^ Reza M., Gloria (17 December 2017). "Enrique Alfaro deja la alcaldía de Guadalajara para comenzar su precampaña". Proceso (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  9. ^ Hernández Fuentes, Martha (7 April 2018). "¿Por qué PAN, PRD y MC no formaron el Frente en Jalisco? Estas son las razones". Animal Político (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Enrique Alfaro rompe el bipartidismo: gana la gubernatura de Jalisco". Canal 44 (in Spanish). 2 July 2018. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  11. ^ Reza M., Gloria (6 July 2018). "Enrique Alfaro se desmarca de MC y busca encuentro con AMLO". Proceso (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  12. ^ Ornelas, Víctor Hugo (6 July 2018). "Alfaro: Paz y AMLOve; éste, su último cargo". Milenio (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  13. ^ Partida, Juan Carlos G. "Jalisco, primer lugar nacional en dengue por segundo año consecutivo". jornada.com.mx (in Spanish). La Jornada. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  14. ^ Ortiz, Elizabeth (December 19, 2020). "Jalisco cierra el 2020 con nivel alto de riesgo por covid-19". UDG-TV, channel 44. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  15. ^ De Hijar, Miguel (10 March 2020). "Jalisco vive niveles de seguridad que hace mucho no se veían: Alfaro". Partidero (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  16. ^ "Jalisco rompe su tasa histórica de homicidios". El Informador :: Noticias de Jalisco, México, Deportes & Entretenimiento (in European Spanish). January 22, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  17. ^ Martinez, Jorge (September 13, 2020). "Jalisco rebasa las mil 500 muertes en lo que va del 2020". milenio.com (in Mexican Spanish). Milenio. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  18. ^ Gutierrez, Elisa Martha (January 1, 2021). "Feminicidios en Jalisco: Cierra el 2020 con 266 mujeres asesinadas". milenio.com (in Mexican Spanish). Milenio. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  19. ^ "Detienen a 5 policías en Jalisco por asesinato de joven detenido". Animal Político (in Spanish). 28 August 2020. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  20. ^ "Los policías torturaron por horas a Giovanni porque él intentó grabarlos". Animal Político (in Spanish). 5 June 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  21. ^ "Queman patrullas en Jalisco por muerte de Giovanni López". El Universal (in Spanish). 4 June 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  22. ^ "El "Vaca", el operador del CJNG que atentó contra García Harfuch, reveló que el gobernador de Jalisco es el siguiente en la lista del Mencho". infobae (in European Spanish). Infobae. September 3, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  23. ^ Avila, Jonathan (November 27, 2017). "Lorena Martínez: intentos políticos" (in Spanish). Reporte Indigo.