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Carlos Hank González (August 27, 1927–August 11, 2001), nicknamed ''El Profesor'' ("The Professor"), was a Mexican
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and businessman. Originally a teacher, he was an entrepreneur who built political contacts along with businesses, leading to various government and political positions at the state (
State of Mexico
The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...
) and national level. He was prevented from seeking the presidency due to laws requiring both parents to be Mexicans by birth, whereas his father was German.
A leaked report from the
National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) noted that Hank González's alleged involvement in drug trafficking and
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
at one time posed "a significant criminal threat to the United States." The NDIC report also alleged Hank Gonzalez committed
political corruption
Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain.
Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...
, tax evasion, bribery and vote-buying.
The report was later denied by US authorities, as well as its source.
US Attorney General
Janet Reno clarified that the report was a draft "beyond the substantive expertise and area of responsibility of the NDIC", and that its release was unauthorized.
Biography
Carlos Hank González was born in
Santiago Tianguistenco
Santiago Tianguistenco (), often simply called Santiago by locals, is a city located in Mexico State about thirty km south of the state capital of Toluca. It is the municipal seat for the municipality of Tianguistenco. It is located in the southwe ...
in the
State of Mexico
The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...
. He graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Toluca as a primary education teacher and from the Normal Superior (Teacher's College) de México as a professor of history and biology. From 1947 to 1951 he was a teacher at the Secundaria Federal de
Atlacomulco
Atlacomulco is one of 125 municipalities in the State of Mexico located in the northwest of the State of Mexico in central Mexico, from the state capital of Toluca. The municipal seat is the city of Atlacomulco de Fabela. The name is derived fro ...
.
To supplement his income, he sold candy on the side. He grew and exchanged his small businesses into larger ones, along the way adding names of prominent politicians to his list of contacts. He founded a business empire of banking and transportation interests. In 1999, Forbes estimated his wealth at about US$1.3 billion.
He married Guadalupe Rhon, with whom he had five children, 3 boys and 2 girls. He is the father of
Carlos Hank Rhon
Carlos Hank Rhon (born 1947) is a Mexican billionaire. He made his fortune from selling his financial firm Grupo Financiero Interacciones to Banorte. He also owns the diversified Grupo Hermes.
In 2022, ''Forbes'' ranked him the #1014 fortune wor ...
, Cuauhtemoc Hank Rhon, and
Jorge Hank Rhon
Jorge Hank Rhon (born January 28, 1956) is a Mexican businessman and owner of Mexico's largest sports betting company, ''Grupo Caliente''. He served from December 2004 to February 2007 as the president of the municipality of Tijuana. He is th ...
and grandfather of Carlos Hank González who now heads the company called Grupo Financiero Interacciones.
Career
Hank González's political career began when he moved from Atlacomulco to
Toluca
Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...
to take charge of the State of Mexico's Departmento de Escuelas Secundarias y Profesionales (Department of Professional and Secondary Schools) as well as the Oficina de Juntas de Mejoramiento Moral, Cívico y Material (Office of Committees for Moral, Civic and Material Improvement) between 1952 and 1953. The following year he was in charge of the treasury for the municipality of Toluca. From 1955 to 1957 he was the president of the
ayuntamiento of Toluca.
His federal service began in 1961 when he became a
congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
(''diputado federal'') for the XLIV Legislature. However, at the height of his political career, he served as the governor of the State of Mexico from 1969 to 1975 and was appointed
regent of Mexico City in 1976. Federally, he served as
Secretary of Tourism from 1988 to 1990 when he was then named as
Secretary of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources.
He was considered one of the leaders of the old guard wing of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
He began as chief of the Delegación del Sector Popular at district, state and national conventions of the PRI, then was a delegate for the party for the states of
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
,
Tabasco,
Campeche
Campeche (; yua, Kaampech ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by ...
and
Quintana Roo. He worked his way up to be a member of the Comisión Pólitica del Comité Ejecutivo Nacional, advising presidents of the party.
His death not only left a vacant place in the party structure of the PRI but also signaled the end of a cycle in Mexican politics.
Constitutionally barred from running for the Mexican presidency by a provision then in force which excluded those with a foreign-born parent from holding the office. His father, Jorge Hank Weber, was
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
and a colonel in both the German and Mexican armies.
However, Hank González was influential on the PRI party, culminating in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the presidency of
Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
As mayor of
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, he built the ''
Eje vial
The system of Ejes viales (singular: ''eje vial'', lit. "road axis") in Mexico City is a large network of wide arterial roads with coordinated traffic signals. They are mainly directed in one-way with a single lane going in the opposite direction u ...
'' system of roads and other projects designed to make the city more car-friendly.
Death
In 1997, Carlos Hank González suffered an
embolism and died in 2001 of cancer, spending the last few years of his life in the United States for treatment.
Criminal allegations
Carlos Hank Gonzalez was accused of having ties to drug traffickers such as
Félix Gallardo, the
Arellano brothers, and
Mayo Zambada. He and his group were also accused of having control over American banks, investment companies, casinos for laundering money, drug trafficking with
cartels, and other illegal activities. According to a report by the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) nicknamed
Operation White Tiger
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
, Hank González's involvement in
drug trafficking
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...
and
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
posed "a significant criminal threat to the United States."
While U.S. law enforcement officials had spent years investigating Carlos Hank Gonzalez and his sons
Carlos Hank Rhon
Carlos Hank Rhon (born 1947) is a Mexican billionaire. He made his fortune from selling his financial firm Grupo Financiero Interacciones to Banorte. He also owns the diversified Grupo Hermes.
In 2022, ''Forbes'' ranked him the #1014 fortune wor ...
and
Jorge Hank Rhon
Jorge Hank Rhon (born January 28, 1956) is a Mexican businessman and owner of Mexico's largest sports betting company, ''Grupo Caliente''. He served from December 2004 to February 2007 as the president of the municipality of Tijuana. He is th ...
, the assessment by several agencies marked the first time that all three had been alleged direct links to the operations of major Mexican drug organizations.
The report drew on information from the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...
,
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
, U.S. Customs Service,
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
,
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
and others, that was later denied.
The report alleges that intelligence agencies had intercepted conversations of the Hank family coordinating drug shipments.
The document claims that the Hank family had laundered money on a massive scale, assisted drug trafficking organizations in transporting drug shipments, and engaged in large-scale public corruption,
while being closely associated with the late
Juárez Cartel leader
Amado Carrillo Fuentes
Amado Carrillo Fuentes (; December 17, 1956 – July 7, 1997) was a Mexican drug lord who seized control of the Juárez Cartel after assassinating his boss Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. Amado Carrillo became known as "''El Señor de Los Cielos''" ( ...
. Agents involved in the probe feared that Washington would conclude that Operation White Tiger was too controversial, and potentially too disruptive to Mexican-American relations for it to continue, and suspected it would eventually be blocked; as previous investigations of top Mexican politicians had been.
Former Mexican official and politician Eduardo Valle,
in an interview recovered by the World Policy Institute, described Carlos Hank as the "primary intermediary between the multinational drug trafficking enterprises and the Mexican political system".
[ Eduardo Valle, founder of the Mexican Worker's Party, was a political opponent of PRI.]
Following the media revelations about Operation White Tiger, the Hank family, which has denied its alleged links to top Mexican narcotraffickers and the alleged protection the White Tiger report claims they provided, hired former U.S. senator Warren Rudman
Warren Bruce Rudman (May 18, 1930November 19, 2012) was an American attorney and Republican politician who served as United States Senator from New Hampshire between 1980 and 1993. He was known as a moderate centrist, to such an extent that Pres ...
as their attorney to represent their interests in Washington.[ The lawsuit forced US authorities, particularly Attorney General Janet Reno, to publicly recognize the report was a leaked draft of an executive summary] and "beyond the substantive expertise and area of responsibility of the NDIC." The sources of the report also denied its content after the lawsuit was presented.
In popular culture
Hank González appears in a prominent role in Season 3 of the Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
serial drama '' Narcos: Mexico''. He is played by Manuel Uriza. According to experts in the field, the questionable mention of Hank in the show relies on the fact that he is not alive, therefore, Netflix is able to use his name without the risk of receiving a defamation lawsuit. This was confirmed by lead actor José María Yazpik
José María Yazpik (born November 13, 1970) is a Mexican actor.
Biography
Yazpik was born in Mexico City, the son of gynaecologist Jose Maria Meza and housewife Cristina Yazpik. He has two siblings, Carlos and Cristina. When Yazpik was a chi ...
who stated that "since Hank is already dead, his name can be used, while in other seasons, when faced with possible lawsuit, they opted to change the names".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hank Gonzalez, Carlos
1927 births
2001 deaths
Mexican people of German descent
Governors of the State of Mexico
Politicians from the State of Mexico
Heads of Government of Mexico City
Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians
Mexican Secretaries of Agriculture
Mexican Secretaries of Tourism
People from Santiago Tianguistenco