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
Incumbent
Assumed office December 6, 2018
Preceded by	Aristóteles Sandoval
Mayor of Guadalajara
In office October 1, 2015 – December 17, 2017
Preceded by	Ramiro Hernández García[1]
Succeeded by	Enrique Ibarra Pedroza[2]
Personal details
Born	(1973-06-20) June 20, 1973 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Political party	Independent (2018 – present) Movimiento Ciudadano (until 2018)
Spouse(s)	Lorena Martínez (separated)

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Alfaro and the second or maternal family name is Ramírez.

Early life and education

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

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][2] 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

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.[8] He won the election with 37.7 percent of the vote on election night,[9] 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.[10] He also declared that 2018 was his last election.[11]

Family

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.[12]

References

1. Sagredo, Juan Carlos (6 October 2015). "En quiebra, Municipio de GDL.- Alfaro". Mural (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2018.
2. 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.
3. "Presidencia Municipal". Municipio de Guadalajara (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
4. "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. 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. "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. 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.
9. "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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Avila, Jonathan (November 27, 2017). "Lorena Martínez: intentos políticos" (in Spanish). Reporte Indigo.