Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía (born 9 August 1954) is a Mexican politician. He served as

Governor of Chiapas The Governor of Chiapas is the chief executive of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The state constitution stipulates a term of 6 years, to which governors can only be elected once. It also specifies the qualifications for becoming governor: a Mexic ...

from 2000 to 2006.

Early life

Salazar was born in

Soyaló Soyaló is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 9,740, up from 7,767 as of 2005. It covers an area of 178.9 km2. As of 2010, the town of Soyal� ...

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

. He was the son of rural teachers. At age 17 he enrolled in the

Autonomous University of Puebla The Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla () (BUAP) is the oldest and largest university in Puebla, Mexico. Founded on 15 April 1578 as Colegio del Espíritu Santo, the school was sponsored by the Society of Jesus during most of the Spanis ...

where he obtained the title of Lawyer, Notary and Actuary. He returned to Chiapas in 1978. He is a lay member of the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Church of the Nazarene The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism during the late 19th century. The denomination has its headquarters in Lenexa, Kansas. and it ...

. In 1982, he married Martha López Camacho, with whom he has three children.

Career

In 1978 he became Deputy Attorney General of Justice. In 1983 he held the position of legal director in the Office of the Secretary of Education and Culture of the State of Chiapas, and established the system of applying exams for the assignment of plazas of master primary teachers. In 1993, he was appointed Executive Director of the

Federal Electoral Institute The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) (Spanish for ''National Electoral Institute'') (formerly Federal Electoral Institute) (, IFE) is an autonomous, public agency responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico, that is, those relat ...

(IFE) that was denounced for its disagreement with the appointment of acquaintances to defraud elections. From 1994 to 2000, he served as a

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

. He was a member of the Commission of Agreement and Pacification (COCOPA). He participated in the elaboration of the Law for the Dialogue, the Conciliation, and the Worthy Peace in

. He was involved in the editing of the Initiative on rights and native culture, emanating from the

San Andrés Accords The San Andrés Accords are agreements reached between the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and the Mexican government, at that time headed by President Ernesto Zedillo. The accords were signed on February 16, 1996, in San Andrés Larráinzar, ...

reached in

San Andrés Larráinzar San Andrés Larráinzar is a town in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of Larráinzar. As of 2010, the town of San Andrés Larráinzar had a population of 2,364. The San Andrés Acco ...

, between the federal government and the

Zapatista Army of National Liberation The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas (), is a far-left political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. Since 1994, t ...

(EZLN). In 2000, his candidacy was supported by a political alliance consisting of eight political parties of diverse ideologies. The National Action Party,

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (, , PRD) is a state-level social democracy, social democratic political party in Mexico (previously national, until 2024). The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 198 ...

, Labor Party,

Ecologist Green Party of Mexico The Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (, , PVEM or PVE) is a green political party in Mexico. Founded in 1986, the party is associated with Jorge González Torres and his son Jorge Emilio González Martínez. It has seldom gotten more than 10% of ...

, Convergence of the Democracy,

Party of the Nationalist Society The Party of the Nationalist Society (, PSN) is a former political party in Mexico that existed between 1998 and 2003. Founded and led by Gustavo Riojas Santana, it was a center-left party which advocated nationalist policies. The PSN was widely ...

, Party of the Democratic Centre, and

Social Alliance Party The Social Alliance Party (; abbr. PAS), was a radical-right humanist political party in Mexico that was founded in 1998 by José Antonio Calderón Cardoso and Guillermo Calderón Domínguez until its dissolution in 2003.https://library.ucsd.e ...

supported him. He won the election on August 20. In 2011, Juan Sabines, the governor of Chiapas, repeatedly accused Salazar of corruption and misuse of funds. These accusations came following the 2012 elections. Many suspect that Sabines' attacks were based on speculation that Salazar would again run for public office—which would of stealing 11 billion pesos that had been designated for rebuilding after

Hurricane Stan Hurricane Stan was the deadliest tropical cyclone of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. A relatively weak system that affected areas of Central America and Mexico in early October 2005, Stan was the eighteenth named storm and eleventh hurric ...

, an accusation that Salazar responded to by publishing a response, "The Truth About Stan." Salazar's office printed 50,000 copies of the document to be distributed throughout the state. At 3AM the morning of June2, Salazar's office in Tuxtla-Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico was violently broken into by armed men who restrained the security guards at Salazar's office. All 50,000 copies of the document were stolen. Salazar filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Police to investigate the breakin. On June 7, 2011, Pablo Salazar was arrested at the Cancún airport on charges of embezzlement and criminal association. On June 9,

Carlos Loret de Mola Carlos Loret de Mola Álvarez (born October 17, 1976 in Mérida, Yucatán) is a Mexican journalist. He currently hosts the radio program ''Así las cosas con Carlos Loret de Mola'' on W Radio and is a contributor to '' El Universal''. Most re ...

, a reporter for the newspaper El Universal, published an article about a “secret” document delivered by an official from the government of Chiapas to the residency of Mexican President

Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 and 2004. ...

. The document was entitled “Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia Is a Danger to the Governance of Chiapas.” The document listed various accusations against Salazar, and asked the federal government to either assist in arresting Salazar or have the Secretary of National Defense invite Salazar to exile the country for 18 months (the length of time of the next round of elections and until a new governor takes office in Chiapas). The document was unsigned. On June 14, 2011 Salazar was indicted for alleged acts of corruption. He was not eligible for bail since the charges included abuse of political office.

Release from prison

Salazar was released on November 16, 2012. Salazar was released a few days before his successor, the governor Juan Sabines Guerrero, left office on December 8. Therefore, it was speculated that the arrest may have been simple political rivalry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salazar Mendiguchia, Pablo 1954 births Living people Governors of Chiapas Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) Mexican evangelicals Mexican members of the Church of the Nazarene Mexican people of Basque descent Party of the Democratic Revolution politicians Politicians from Chiapas 20th-century Mexican politicians 21st-century Mexican politicians