Miguel Ángel Riquelme Solís
Miguel Ángel Riquelme | |
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Governor of Coahuila | |
Assumed office 1 December 2017 | |
Preceded by | Rubén Moreira Valdez |
Member of the Chamber of Deputies for Coahuila's 5th district | |
In office 1 September 2009 – 31 August 2012 | |
Preceded by | Carlos Augusto Bracho |
Succeeded by | Salomon Juan Marcos Issa |
Personal details | |
Born | Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico | 18 September 1970
Political party | Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) |
Miguel Ángel Riquelme Solís (born 18 September 1970) is a Mexican politician from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the current Governor of Coahuila.
Early life and career
Riquelme Solís was born in Torreón, Coahuila, on 18 September 1970. He attended the Instituto Tecnológico de La Laguna , where he studied computer engineering and was the president of the student body between 1991 and 1993.[1] He became a tax collector in the nearby town of Matamoros, Coahuila, in 1994, bouncing between the tax collection offices of Matamoros and Torreón. He also joined the PRI, working on the campaign staff of a candidate for state deputy in 1996 and coordinating political operatives for a federal deputy campaign in 1997. In 1999, he ran for state deputy from a district in Torreón.[1]
In 2000, Riquelme joined the state government, overseeing social welfare programs in the Laguna region for most of the government of Enrique Martínez y Martínez. After a brief stint in the Coahuila state legislature between 2005 and 2007, he headed up social welfare efforts in the state secretariat of regional development and then was named the head of the Laguna office of that agency.[1]
In 2009, voters in Coahuila's fifth federal electoral district elected Riquelme as their deputy to the LXI Legislature of the Mexican Congress.[1] He held four commission assignments, including a secretary post on the Metropolitan Development Commission.[1]
On February 10, 2011, Riquelme permanently took leave from the Chamber of Deputies. When Rubén Moreira Valdez's government came into power, Riquelme was named the state secretary of government.[2] Three years later, in 2014, Riquelme was elected the municipal president of Torreón; during this time, he was criticized for throwing a birthday party for nearly 1,500 people that cost one million pesos.[3] Among the large projects taken up by the municipal government during his term was a cable car to the Cristo de las Noas statue; the project cost 170 million pesos and was not finished until December 2017 due to numerous delays; Riquelme dedicated the project as the governor.[4]
2017 gubernatorial campaign
In December 2016, during the reading of his third government address as mayor, Riquelme announced he would step aside as mayor in order to compete for the PRI gubernatorial nomination.[5] In the internal PRI election, he earned 90 percent of the vote to secure the nomination.[6]
The gubernatorial campaign was closely contested and narrowly won by Riquelme by a margin of 2.5 percentage points over National Action Party candidate Guillermo Anaya Llamas.[7] Riquelme's win was challenged due to allegations that the campaign exceeded its spending limits; the case was not finally resolved by the Federal Electoral Tribunal in Riquelme's favor until November 24, just a week before the new governor was to take office.[8]
Personal life
In 1992, Riquelme married Blanca Marcela, with whom he has two daughters.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Perfil del legislador" (in Spanish). Legislative Information System. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ^ a b Olinda Morán, Claudia (7 November 2011). "Listo Gabinete estatal". Zócalo (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ Rodríguez, Francisco (12 October 2016). "Edil de Torreón ofrece fiestas de 1 millón de pesos". El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ "Inauguran por fin el Teleférico de Torreón". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). 7 December 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ Ramos, Leopoldo (6 December 2016). "Quiero ser gobernador de Coahuila: Riquelme". Zócalo (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ Fernández, Hilda; Rodríguez, Francisco (27 February 2017). "Riquelme gana candidatura del PRI para gobernador". El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ "Pese a irregularidades en elección, declaran al priista Miguel Ángel Riquelme gobernador electo". Proceso (in Spanish). 11 June 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ "Riquelme Gobernador, confirma Tribunal Electoral". Vanguardia (in Spanish). 24 November 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2018.