Rubén Rocha Moya (born 15 June 1949) is a Mexican politician and educator who has served as the
Governor of Sinaloa
List of governors of the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Sinaloa:
References
External links
List of governors
of Sinaloa.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Governor Of Sinaloa
Lists of governors of States of Mexico, Sinaloa
Governors of Sinalo ...
since 2021. A member of the
National Regeneration Movement
The National Regeneration Movement (), commonly referred to by its syllabic abbreviation Morena (), is a major left-wing political party in Mexico, often described as oscillating between social democracy and populism. As of 2023, it is the la ...
(MORENA), Rocha previously served in the Senate of Mexico from 2018 to 2021.
Rocha was previously the rector of the
Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa
The Autonomous University of Sinaloa (''Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa'' or UAS) is a public university, public university with its central campus located in the state capital of Culiacán, Sinaloa and with campuses in multiple locations within ...
(UAS) in the 1990s and a former state deputy and gubernatorial candidate.
Early life
Rocha Moya was born in Batequitas, a locality in
Badiraguato
Badiraguato is a small city and seat of the Badiraguato Municipality in the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Sinaloa. It stands at .
According to 2010 census, the city reported 3,725 inhabitants. The hamlet of ''La Tuna'', located 110 kilometr ...
, as one of six children and obtained his degree as a mathematics teacher from the Escuela Normal Superior de Oaxaca.
However, it was his time at a rural teacher's school in Sonora that would introduce him to left-wing thought; he rose through the ranks and served as the secretary general of the Federation of Rural Socialist Students from 1968 to 1969.
In his first job, as a teacher in
Ciudad Obregón
Ciudad Obregón is a city in southern Sonora. It is the state's second largest city after Hermosillo and serves as the municipal seat of Cajeme. As of 2020, the city has a population of 436,484. Ciudad Obregón is south of the country's U.S.� ...
, Sonora, Rocha joined the
Mexican Communist Party
The Mexican Communist Party (, PCM) was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1917 as the Socialist Workers' Party (, PSO) by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian revolutionary. The PSO changed its name to the ''Mexican Communist ...
.
In 1972, Rocha returned to his home state and became a physics and mathematics teacher at the preparatory school in
Guamúchil
Guamúchil (, , ) is a city located in the state of Sinaloa in Northwestern Mexico. It is located 100 km north of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa. The city serves as the seat of the municipality of Salvador Alvarado and is the economic ...
, where he became the head of the campus. The next year, Rocha was successful in affiliating the institution with the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa. He would remain in Guamúchil until 1980, when he was offered a position as press secretary for the university's teachers' union; during this time, he successfully helped fight attempts by Governor
Antonio Toledo Corro
Antonio Toledo Corro (1 April 1919 – 6 July 2018) was a Mexican politician and a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Born in Escuinapa de Hidalgo, he served as municipal president of Mazatlán from 1959 to 1962. Toledo ran a ...
to remove the preparatory schools from the UAS system. In 1983, Rocha was named the union's secretary general.
Political career
First legislative position and UAS rectorship
As a result of his ascendancy in the UAS union, Rocha was named to the party list of deputies to the state legislature for the
Unified Socialist Party of Mexico
The Unified Socialist Party of Mexico (, PSUM) was a socialist political party in Mexico. It later became the Mexican Socialist Party () in 1988.
History
The PSUM was founded in November 1981 by the merger of four socialist parties:
*The Mexican ...
, becoming part of the state's first group of leftist legislators. After the three-year term ended in 1986, Rocha Moya was a gubernatorial candidate for the leftist Movimiento Popular Sinaloense party and then took a break to pursue his master's degree at the
Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro
Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to:
Places
* Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico
* Universidad (Madrid)
Football clubs
* Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
...
.
Rocha returned to Sinaloa in 1989 at the invitation of David Moreno Lizárraga, the newly elected UAS rector, to serve as his secretary general, the second-highest leadership position. This set Rocha up to be elected four years later as rector, serving until 1997. During his tenure, the university began offering its first doctorate degree, constructed new sports facilities and connected its campuses in
Culiacán
Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531 by the Spanish conquistadors Lázaro de ...
,
Los Mochis
Los Mochis () is a coastal city in northern Sinaloa, Mexico. It serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of Ahome. As of the 2010 census, the population was 362,613, which was 61 percent of the municipality's population.
Los Mochis is th ...
and
Mazatlán
Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding , known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast across from th ...
by fiber-optic link.
After the UAS: second gubernatorial bid
A year after the end of his rectorship, Rocha made a second bid for governor of Sinaloa in 1998, this time as the candidate of the
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 ...
(PRD). Rocha finished third, while the PRD obtained its best result in the state to date, winning one mayoral race and five seats in the legislature. After the election, Rocha became a PRD member, and one internal faction proposed him as the head of the state party; other officials, seeing Rocha as a threat to their careers, blocked him from running, which led the national party organization to sanction the state committee and to his resignation from the PRD in 2002.
From 2005 to 2010, Rocha served as the coordinator of advisors to
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 ...
governor
Jesús Vizcarra Calderón
Jesus ( AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet.
Jesus may also refer to:
People
Religious figures
* Elymas Bar-Jesus, a Jew in the ''Act ...
. Despite the connection to a PRI official, Rocha noted that he never stopped supporting leftist candidates and never became a PRI member.
In 2013, due to his PRI connections, Rocha was named the deputy director of training at the
Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers
The Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers or Civil Service Social Security and Services Institute (, ISSSTE) is a federal agency in Mexico that administers part of Mexico's health care and social security systems for fe ...
(ISSSTE). He served in that position until governor
Quirino Ordaz Coppel asked him to serve as an adviser again, even though Rocha had become a member of MORENA, having known
Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...
since his time in the PRD.
Senate
In 2018, Rocha Moya ran for elected office for the first time in two decades. The Senate ticket of Rocha and
Imelda Castro Castro, for the
Juntos Haremos Historia
Juntos Haremos Historia () was a Mexican political coalition encompassing the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), Labor Party (Mexico), Labor Party (PT), and Social Encounter Party (PES), the latter of which was consequently absorbed into th ...
alliance, received more than 604,000 votes—nearly twice the second-place finishers—and both candidates won election.
In the
LXIV Legislature, Rocha served on five commissions and was president of the Education Commission. During his presidency, the Senate approved a new General Law of Higher Education, requiring the Mexican state to ensure free access to the higher education system beginning in 2022.
In 2020, while a senator, he obtained a law degree from the
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...
.
2021 gubernatorial campaign
In March 2021, MORENA named Rocha Moya as its gubernatorial candidate for Sinaloa; he had been tabbed as a potential candidate for months, though rumors circulated that he would be offered the position of
Secretary of Public Education
In Mexico, the Secretariat of Public Education (Spanish language, in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with Cabinet (government), cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseein ...
. He took leave from the Senate, where his alternate,
Raúl de Jesús Elenes Angulo
Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French R ...
, was sworn in. He was also named the candidate of the state-level Sinaloa Party (PAS), even though even Rocha Moya and López Obrador had questioned the Morena-PAS alliance.
Polling before the election showed a close race with
Va por México
Va por México (VXM; or figuratively 'It’s for Mexico') was a Mexican electoral alliance formed by the National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) to compete in th ...
coalition candidate
Mario Zamora Gastélum. However,
quick count
Quick count is a method for verification of election results by projecting them from a sample of the polling stations.
The similar Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) is an election observation method that is typically based on a representative rando ...
results on election night showed the race to have been far less competitive, with Rocha Moya obtaining 55 percent of the vote.
Personal life
In 1973, Rocha married Socorro Ruiz Carrasco, with whom he had four children; Ruiz died in 2014.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocha Moya, Ruben
Living people
1949 births
Governors of Sinaloa
20th-century Mexican educators
Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) for Sinaloa
Morena (political party) politicians
Autonomous University of Querétaro alumni
Autonomous University of Sinaloa alumni
Heads of universities and colleges in Mexico
Members of the Congress of Sinaloa
20th-century Mexican politicians
Senators of the LXIV and LXV Legislatures of Mexico