Arturo Montiel Rojas (born October 15, 1943) is a Mexican politician affiliated with the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...

(PRI). He was a governor of the

State of México 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 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 ...

Early life and education

Montiel is the son of Gregorio Montiel Monroy and Delia Rojas García. He received bachelor's degrees in public administration and accountancy from 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 ...

(UNAM) in 1970. He married Maude Versini Lancry in 2002, a French journalist 31 years younger than he was. They divorced in September 2007.

Political career

As a politician, he was the mayor of

Naucalpan Naucalpan, officially Naucalpan de Juárez, is one of 125 municipalities located just northwest of Mexico City in the adjoining State of Mexico. The municipal seat is the city of Naucalpan de Juárez, which extends into the neighboring municipal ...

and director of civil protection at the federal Ministry of the Interior. At the state level he was secretary of economic development and presided twice over the local branch of the

(PRI). In 1999, during his gubernatorial campaign for the State of Mexico, he portrayed himself as a

tough-on-crime In modern politics, law and order is the approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws a ...

candidate, using a series of radio spots in which he implied that criminals did not deserve human rights protection, saying "human rights are for humans, not for rats" ("rat" being common

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

for "thief"). He won the election by simple majority and served from 1999 until 2005. On August 4, 2005, he was elected as candidate of ''Unidad Democrática'', a political group challenging former PRI leader

Roberto Madrazo The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

for the party's candidacy for the 2006 presidential election. However, in a press conference held on October 20, he announced that he would no longer seek his party's nomination because of accusations leveled against his family in the media, including his ownership of several luxury apartments and mansions in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Among other businesses he granted construction of more than 5,000 homes in an ecologically preserved community in the municipality of Atizapán de Zaragoza, the Zona Esmeralda. These new communities, shopping malls and schools were constructed on what used to be green areas and forests. In 2013, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine named Montiel as one of the 10 most corrupt Mexican politicians.

Family

Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican politician who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 1 December 2012 to 30 November 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ...

, the 57th president of Mexico, is Montiel's nephew.

References

External links

Official site of Arturo Montiel (unavailable)

Website created by ex-wife Maude Versini detailing Montiel's kidnapping of her three children
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montiel, Arturo 1943 births Living people Governors of the State of Mexico Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni People from Atlacomulco Politicians from the State of Mexico 20th-century Mexican politicians 21st-century Mexican politicians