Eugenio Javier Hernández Flores (born October 17, 1959 in

Ciudad Victoria Ciudad Victoria () is the seat of the Municipality of Victoria, and the capital of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located in the northeast of Mexico at the foot of the Sierra Madre Oriental. It borders the municipality of Güémez to t ...

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

), 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 the mayor of

from 2001 to 2004 and Governor of the state of

from 2004 to 2010, and was also federal deputy in 2000 and coordinator of the Financial Committee of Tomas Yarrington during his campaign. On May 27, 2015, he was indicted on charges of money laundering alongside his brother-in-law Oscar Gomez Guerra by the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

(USDOJ).

Personal life

He is fourth child of Eugenio Hernández Balboa and Susana Flores Fernández. He studied civil engineering at the

Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education 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 Mixed-sex education, coeducational private ...

. He is married to Adriana González de Hernández with whom he has four children. In his earliest professional life he worked in the construction industry, where he became President of the Chamber of the Mexican Construction Industry and President of the municipal Commission the Water and Sewer System.

Political career

He was affiliated with Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1997. In 1999 during the presidential campaign of

Francisco Labastida Ochoa Francisco Labastida Ochoa (; born 14 August 1942) is a Mexican economist and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who became the first presidential candidate of his party to lose a presidential election, which h ...

, Eugenio Hernández was appointed as state's campaign coordinator in Tamaulipas. The same year, he was elected as general secretary of the Directive Committee of the PRI party. In year 2000 he was elected federal deputy of the V Electoral District, in this way he became part of LVIII Legislatura where he was member in the Housing Commission and in Water resources one, as such he introduced the bill of reformation of article 46 of the Housing Workers Fund Law. In that year he requested a permission of license as deputy to become a candidate in Ciudad Victoria's mayor election, which he won. He took the mayor's post in 2001.

Tamaulipas Governor

In PRI's internal election he was appointed as candidate of that party to participate in the Tamaulipas Governor election to be run on June 26, 2004. Thus, he took part in Governor's election against the opponent candidates: Gustavo Cárdenas of PAN, Álvaro Garza Cantú of the alliance formed by

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, es, Partido de la Revolución Democrática, ) is a social democratic political party in Mexico. The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the Institut ...

and

Convergencia Citizens' Movement ( es, Movimiento Ciudadano) is a political party in Mexico. Dante Delgado Rannauro was its first leader. It was initially known as Convergence for Democracy ( es, Convergencia por la Democracia), but the name was shortened to ...

, and Bruno Álvarez of the Labor Party. The elections were run on November 14 and Eugenio Hernández was elected governor with 58.26% of all votes. He began his government on February 5, 2005. In May of that year, he introduced his Plan of Development of the State for the period 2005–2010, which was the guide for the public policy throughout his period of government, his government was based in three strategic lines: I) Social Prosperity; II) Competitivity and Productivity; e III) Strong institutions and Government of results. His government was relevant for the constant fight against organized crime. He promoted an alliance with the rest of Mexican border states, the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

and federal government to avoid the traffic of arms and people between the United States and Mexico. As the results of this agreement, it was allowed to the Mexican army to settle down in Tamaulipas with thousands of troops to manage the fight against drug dealers and look after custom services in Tamaulipas. He expressed his agreement to make a public ballot question to put on people's consideration the possibility to impose the

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

as penalty for kidnapping and to stop the violence from crime. At the final stage of his government, Hernández Flores remarked that 42% of police members have been destituted as they were untrustworthy. With respect to relations with the US states bordering Tamaulipas, Hernández Flores was a principal critic of the immigration laws applied in Texas. He was against the

barrier A barrier or barricade is a physical structure which blocks or impedes something. Barrier may also refer to: Places * Barrier, Kentucky, a community in the United States * Barrier, Voerendaal, a place in the municipality of Voerendaal, Netherl ...

raised between the countries during his term in office. In economic matters, he promoted the internal oil investments in Tamaulipas and the creation of jobs coming from that industry. Thus, when PEMEX, PetroleosMexicanos company announced that another refinery was going to be built in Mexico, Hernández Flores proposed that it be sited at Tamaulipas. It was ultimately decided that the refinery be built in Hidalgo state. During his term as governor, Fitch Group, Fitch Ratings recognized excellent financial management in Tamaulipas. Nevertheless, after his government he was accused of generating an over-indebtedness.

Indictment

On May 27, 2015, Hernández Flores was indicted on charges of money laundering alongside his brother-in-law Oscar Gomez Guerra by the

(USDOJ), making him a "fugitive" wanted by the United States. The charges concern a US$30 million sum plus US$2 million invested in three properties in McAllen, Texas and a fourth property in Austin, Texas.

Notes

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