Alfredo del Mazo González

Alfredo Hilario Isidro del Mazo González (Toluca, State of Mexico; December 31, 1943 - January 10, 2019) was a Mexican politician, belonging to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, who served several positions in the government of their country. He was governor of the State of Mexico, secretary of Energy, Mines and Parastatal Industry and candidate for head of Government of the Federal District for the PRI in the first elections for that position.

Biography

Alfredo del Mazo González was born in the capital of the State of Mexico, son of also former governor Alfredo del Mazo Vélez, who later held the title of the Secretariat of Hydraulic Resources in the government of Adolfo López Mateos. He was the father of the Mexican politician Alfredo del Mazo Maza.

He had a degree in business administration from the National Autonomous University of Mexico with a specialization in Bankers Trust in the United States. He began his political career within the government as vice president of the National Banking and Insurance Commission, from where he went on to hold positions in the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit as director of Public Debt in 1977 and director of National Credit Institutions in 1978, and later general director of Banco Obrero. From that position he was nominated PRI candidate for governor of the State of Mexico in 1981 by decision of the then president José López Portillo and against the opinion of the then governor Jorge Jiménez Cantú and the capital regent Carlos Hank González, who preferred Leonardo's nomination. Rodríguez Alcaine.

Governor of the State of Mexico

He was elected and began his government term on September 16, 1981. During his government, the disaster of the explosions in San Juan Ixhuatepec, a town known as San Juanico, occurred on November 19, 1984, in which, due to the Due to negligence in safety at a PEMEX gas facility, an explosion occurred in the gas storage tanks that caused the death of more than 500 people.

Secretary of Energy, Mines and Parastatal Industry

Since the beginning of his career in the Ministry of Finance, Del Mazo had forged a strong friendship with the new president of the republic, Miguel de la Madrid, who even declared that the Mexican governor was "the younger brother who never had", which is why a promising future was expected for Del Mazo. At first, De la Madrid did not call Del Mazo to his cabinet, but in 1986 he appointed him secretary of Energy, Mines and Parastatal Industry, so he resigned from the governorship of the State — beginning a long series of governors who did not finish their terms for those who had been elected—and was immediately seen as one of the main candidates for the PRI candidacy for the presidency, along with the Secretary of Programming and Budget Carlos Salinas de Gortari and the Secretary of the Interior Manuel Bartlett Díaz. His father had also been a presidential candidate in the PRI succession ritual at the end of Miguel Alemán's six-year term.

Although the PRI finally officially named six aspirants—the official term used was distinguished PRI members—to the presidency, preferences were polarized between Salinas and Del Mazo for wait for the dedazo —personal selection— of President De la Madrid.

Then Alfredo del Mazo starred in one of the most particular episodes of Mexican politics: on October 4, 1987, the so-called destape would occur, that is, the PRI would announce the name of its unity candidate for president; very early that day Alfredo del Mazo somehow received the news that he was not the candidate chosen by Miguel de la Madrid, but neither would Carlos Salinas de Gortari, but rather another of the six candidates: the attorney Sergio García Ramírez, and publicly congratulated him; which caused an immediate reaction from the media and many politicians who ran to congratulate García Ramírez, even carrying propaganda and blankets of support; However, he was not the one chosen, at that same moment the PRI officially announced that its candidate was Carlos Salinas de Gortari, to which Alfredo del Mazo was made to look double ridiculous, by not obtaining the nomination and even more so by having publicly made a mistake. candidate, for which he refused to appear in public and congratulate Salinas; Although he did so later, his situation in the cabinet became increasingly unsustainable, finally in March 1988 he separated from the Ministry of Energy to be appointed Mexican ambassador to Belgium, which constituted a political exile.

Candidate for head of Government of Mexico City

In the government of Ernesto Zedillo he initially held the position of director of INFONAVIT, from this position in 1997 he surprisingly jumped to the forefront of politics, that year the elections for head of Government of the Federal District would be held for the first time. and the PRI announced that it would elect its candidate through an open and democratic convention before which it registered as a pre-candidate against the official pre-candidate and favorite of President Zedillo: the Attorney General of the Federal District José Antonio González Fernández, defeating him at the convention and becoming candidate for the government of the Federal District, it was soon learned that Del Mazo had received the support of prominent PRI members, among whom Carlos Hank González stood out, who had managed to defeat the president of the Republic and his pre-candidate, —later the same situation would occur when Hank would support for the PRI candidacy for the presidency of Roberto Madrazo Pintado—; In the constitutional elections Alfredo del Mazo faced the candidates of the PRD Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano and the PAN Carlos Castillo Peraza, the elections polarized public opinion and finally on July 6, 1997 the elections were held, in which he triumphed. Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano, leaving Del Mazo in second place, at the end of the elections.