Juan Francisco Molinar Horcasitas (18 December 1955 – 20 May 2015) was a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

politician and academic. A member of the National Action Party (''Partido Acción Nacional, PAN''), he served as a federal deputy and, between 2 December 2006 and 2 March 2009, director of the

Mexican Social Security Institute The Mexican Institute of Social Security ( es, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, IMSS) is a governmental organization that assists public health, pensions and social security in Mexico operating under the Secretariat of Health. It also forms ...

. President Felipe Calderón appointed Molinar Secretary of Communications and Transport on 3 March 2009. He replaced Luis Tellez in this post following the release of recordings of Téllez criticizing former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Academic career

Molinar completed his undergraduate studies in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

in the Acatlan National School of Professional Studies of the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

. He attained a master's degree in political science from

El Colegio de México El Colegio de México, A.C. (commonly known as Colmex, English: The College of Mexico) is a Mexican institute of higher education, specializing in teaching and research in social sciences and humanities. The college was founded in 1940 by the Mex ...

and became a PhD candidate in the same field at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1991 he published ''The time of Legitimacy: elections, authoritarianism and democracy in Mexico''. He was a member of the National System of Researchers. He has taught at El Colegio de México, the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences. Among his publications in academic journals are ''Counting the Number of Parties: An Alternative Index'', published in the

American Political Science Review The ''American Political Science Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all areas of political science. It is an official journal of the American Political Science Association and is published on their behalf by Cambridg ...

, as well as ''Schools of interpretation of the Mexican political system'', ''1988 Elections in Mexico: the crisis of authoritarianism'', written with Jeffrey Weldon, and ''Electoral Processes in Mexico'', written with Alvaro Arreola Ayala and published in the ''Revista Mexicana de Sociología''. In all he published 30 articles in books and magazines in Mexico, the United States and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. He worked in news media such as ''Multivision To Start'' and the newspapers

Reforma REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, more commonly known as REFORMA, is an affiliate of the American Library Association formed in 1971 to promote library services to Lati ...

and El Universal.

Civil Service and political career

Molinar began his career as a polling representative in the presidential elections of 1976, won by José López Portillo unopposed. In 1987 he published an article in

Nexus NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and Border control#Expedited border controls, expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members ...

magazine about

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

in elections in

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

. He was Director of Privileges for Political Parties at the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) for the 1994 general election, and on 29 October 1996 he was elected IFE's Director General of the Electoral Council, a post he held until the year 2000. He shared duties with other directors like

Alonso Lujambio Alonso José Ricardo Lujambio Irazábal (2 September 1962 – 25 September 2012) was a Mexican academic and politician who served as Secretary of Public Education in the cabinet of President Felipe Calderón. Lujambio served as member of the ...

, Maurice Murphy,

Jacqueline Peschard Jacqueline Peschard Mariscal is a Mexican sociologist who specializes in electoral integrity and democracy studies. She was President Commissioner of the Federal Institute for Access to Public Information from 2009 until 2013. She also served as ...

, Emilio Zebadua and the Executive President,

José Woldenberg Isaac José Woldenberg Karakowski (born 8 September 1952) is a Mexican political scientist and sociologist who served as the first president of the Federal Electoral Institute and currently works as director of ''Nexos'' magazine. Early life W ...

. Between December 2000 and May 2002 he served as Undersecretary of Political Development in the Interior Ministry, where the Secretary was Santiago Creel. He was spokesman for the in January and July 2003. Later, during the 59th Legislature he was a

Federal Deputy The Chamber of Deputies ( pt, Câmara dos Deputados) is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. The chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year t ...

and served as Co-ordinator for Economic Affairs of the Parliamentary Group of the National Action Party. He co-ordinated research and policy analysis during the presidential campaign of Felipe Calderón and, once the electoral process was completed, he joined the transition team of the president-elect. Calderón appointed Molinar director of the

(IMSS)), relieving Fernando Flores y Perez. In April 2007 he intervened in a dispute over

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

. Although the Federal District Legislative Assembly decriminalized abortion in

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 ...

in the first twelve weeks of gestation, Molinar declined to provide that service in the clinics of the institute he headed. This has raised criticism from some lawyers and constitutionalists. Molinar was also the director of IMSS on 5 June

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

at the time of the 2009 Hermosillo daycare center fire in which 44 toddlers and infants were killed.

Death

Molinar died in Mexico City on May 20, 2015, from

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

References

External links

Semblanza de Juan Molinar Horcasitas en la página oficial de la Presidencia de México
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molinar Horcasitas, Juan 2015 deaths Mexican Secretaries of Communications and Transportation Mexican economists Neurological disease deaths in Mexico Deaths from motor neuron disease 1955 births