Raymond Caballero (born February 6, 1942) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th

mayor of El Paso In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

from 2001 to 2003. He was elected in May 2001, defeating former mayor Larry Francis in a runoff election with 62.5% of the vote. He was the fourth Latino mayor of El Paso, following

Raymond Telles Raymond L. Telles Jr. (September 5, 1915 – March 8, 2013) was the first Mexican-American Mayor of a major American city, El Paso, Texas. He was also the first Hispanic person appointed as a U.S. ambassador. Telles was born and raised in t ...

(first elected 1957),

Ray Salazar Reynaldo "Ray" Salazar (August 25, 1931 – April 28, 2016) was an American accountant, politician and veteran of the United States Navy, who served as the Mayor of El Paso, Texas, from 1977 until 1979. Salazar was El Paso's second Hispanic mayo ...

(1977) and Carlos Ramirez (1997).San Antonio News-Express, June 5, 2001
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Policies

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, Caballero ran for mayor on a progressive platform in favor of expanding

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

and

municipal park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorpora ...

lands and bringing renewal to long-neglected areas in the central city. Caballero became controversial for his criticism of local industries and home developers for alleged practices such as

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

and pollution. Initially, Caballero had wide support, however over time voters increasingly questioned his stand, as El Paso is a relatively poor and economically disadvantaged city, and many felt the industries that Caballero opposed brought needed jobs. In

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Caballero was defeated by

Joe Wardy Joseph D. Wardy (born 1953) is the former mayor of El Paso, Texas. He was elected mayor in 2003, when he unseated incumbent mayor Raymond Caballero. Wardy was defeated by John Cook in the 2005 mayoral election. Wardy, a businessman in the truc ...

, a businessman, after one term in office. Caballero's supporters continue to form a strong faction within city politics.

References

1942 births Living people Mayors of El Paso, Texas 21st-century mayors of places in Texas Hispanic and Latino American mayors in Texas {{Texas-mayor-stub