Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz (born September 9, 1972) is a Mexican politician affiliated with the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

(PRI). He served as

governor of Nuevo León The Mexican state of Nuevo León has been governed by more than a hundred individuals in its history, who have had various titles and degrees of responsibility depending on the prevailing political regime of the time. Under the current regime, ...

from 2009 to 2015. He was linked by ''Operation Tornado'' to legal proceedings against him for

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

property crime Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, ...

abuse of authority Abuse of power or abuse of authority, in the form of "malfeasance in office" or "official abuse of power", is the commission of an unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties. Malfeasance in ...

, and

unjust enrichment Restitution and unjust enrichment is the field of law relating to gains-based recovery. In contrast with damages (the law of compensation), restitution is a claim or remedy requiring a defendant to give up benefits wrongfully obtained. Liability ...

, along with 14 other public servants, deputies, former deputies, and fellow family members and associates. He was, therefore, held in preventive custody on January 26, 2017.

Political career

Medina earned his bachelor's degree from the Universidad Regiomontana and his master's from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

. His political career has been linked to José Natividad González Parás, whom he served in different positions. In 2006, Medina was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

for Nuevo León's 2nd district. In 2009, Medina ran for

; he won, defeating PAN candidate Fernando Elizondo Barragán. Medina took office as

on October 4, 2009. In Coahuila, Medina served as finance minister for the state's PRI administration. He wanted to be governor of the state, but he was involved in the theft of medical equipment from a hospital, so he was forced to quit the campaign and move to Nuevo León. In Nuevo León, Medina worked for the González Parás administration and later decided to campaign for the state's government, which he won in 2009. After five and a half years, he took the state's debt from MXN 25 billion to over MXN 100 billion. His successor as governor of the state,

Jaime Rodríguez Calderón Jaime Heliodoro Rodríguez Calderón (born 28 December 1957), sometimes referred to by his nickname "''El Bronco''", is a Mexican politician. He served as the Governor of Nuevo León from 2015 to 2021 and was a candidate in the 2018 presidentia ...

, said in an interview for ''El Norte'' that the state's finances were orphaned (without a mother) to express the state of the finances. During an interview with Héctor Benavides, a nightly news host for the Multimedios TV network, Medina said debt was good for the people. After the interview, he flew on a state helicopter to McAllen, Texas, where his children attended school. The FBI and DEA opened an investigation into the Medina family for their luxury properties, mainly in San Antonio, Texas. Medina denied the charges and declared that all his wealth was obtained through his hard work since it wasn't easy to plan how to get all the money from the state, and it required a lot of work and dedication during his six-year term. His administration ended on October 3, 2015. He was declared the governor with the highest debt in the history of the state of Nuevo Leon, as he took the debt from MXN 25 billion to an estimated MXN 120 billion, including short-term debt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medina De La Cruz, Rodrigo Living people Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) for Nuevo León Governors of Nuevo León Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Politicians from Monterrey 1972 births Mexican politicians convicted of crimes Universidad Regiomontana alumni University of Miami alumni Deputies of the LX Legislature of Mexico