Ernesto Ruffo Appel (born 25 June 1952) is 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, ...

, who served as the 10th Governor of Baja California from 1989 to 1995. A member of the National Action Party (PAN), Ruffo was the first state governor not affiliated with the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) since 1929. Born in

San Diego, California 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 eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

, to Mexican parents, Ruffo attended elementary school in the coastal town of Ensenada in the state of

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. He attended college at the

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

campus of the

ITESM Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) ( en, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education), also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or just Tec, is a secular and coeducational private university based i ...

graduating with a bachelor's degree in business. He became a member of PAN in 1982 and was elected

municipal president A ''presidente municipal'' (English: "municipal president") is the chief of government of municipios in Mexico. This title was also used in the Philippines under the Spanish and American colonization; it is comparable to a mayor of the town or cit ...

of the municipality of Ensenada (the biggest municipality in Mexico with 51,952 km²) in 1986. In 1989 he was elected governor of the state of Baja California in a major upset. In the year 2000, he supported the candidacy of

Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a right-wing populist, Fox was elected president on the ...

, former President of Mexico, he was the Coordinator of Migration Affairs for the Northern Border until 2006, when Mexican President

's government ended. He was a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

supply in the LX legislature, and served one term as a Senator for Baja California in the LXII and LXIII legislatures from 2012 to 2018.

References

External links

Biography at the PAN's official website

Ruffo at the Mexico´s Senate official website.

Biographies of the governors of Baja California
1952 births Living people Municipal presidents of Ensenada Governors of Baja California History of Baja California Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education alumni National Action Party (Mexico) politicians Politicians from San Diego American emigrants to Mexico 21st-century Mexican politicians American people of Mexican descent 20th-century Mexican politicians Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) for Baja California Senators of the LXII and LXIII Legislatures of Mexico {{Mexico-politician-NationalAction-stub