Posted on 11/19/2004 8:28:02 AM PST by JesseHousman
TIJUANA, Mexico -Long accused of crimes including murder, Tijuana Mayor-elect Jorge Hank Rhon is one of the most closely watched politicians in Mexico as he prepares to assume his new job Dec. 1.
Jorge Hank Rhon remembers the political advice his late father gave him. ''He taught me that if you're committed to a party and it calls on you and needs you, you answer,'' Hank said.
Now Hank, who became a millionaire by running a dog track in this city of 1.5 million people on the border with the Unites States, is about to answer that call. On Dec. 1, he'll take the reins of city government here on behalf of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI in its Spanish initials, in what may be the most closely watched political transition taking place in Mexico.
To gain the mayor's seat, Hank defeated the candidate of the National Action Party, or PAN, which had run Tijuana since 1989. The PAN accused him of campaign irregularities, but the federal electoral commission on Wednesday unanimously backed his victory.
There's payback there: Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, a PAN member, was the first non-PRI politician to become president in seven decades. PRI officials hope Hank's Tijuana win, as well as victories in several governor's races in the past year, foreshadows a PRI victory in the presidential election in 2006.
Hank is a controversial figure who has been accused of a range of wrongdoing, from smuggling wild animals to having ties to drug dealers to ordering the deaths of investigative journalists. People are watching to see whether the political novice can deliver on campaign promises to rid Tijuana of crime while staying clear of accusations of lawbreaking himself.
IN HIS FATHER`S SHADOW
Hank comes with a powerful political legacy. His father, Carlos Hank González, was mayor of Mexico City, governor of Mexico state and a dominant member of the PRI before he died in 2001. Hank was recruited to run in Tijuana by Roberto Madrazo, the PRI's national leader, who hopes to be the party's standard bearer in the next presidential race.
Hank also comes with a reputation for quirkiness that was on display during a recent interview in his racetrack office, which was filled with security guards, several of his 400 dogs, terrariums of snakes and lizards, and cages of hairless rats and exotic birds. He wore a bright-red vest. Photos of his 18 children plaster his office wall. Behind the racetrack, he keeps a private zoo with 20,000 animals.
In a city where there's a murder a day, Hank has a tough road ahead. Tijuana is the No. 1 jumping-off point for Mexicans who want to cross into the United States illegally.
An estimated 80,000 people arrive here every day. They get jobs, make money and cross the border. All those outsiders give the city a transient feel that hurts the community, Hank said. ``If I could, I would move the border to Canada.''
A CONTROVERSIAL PAST
Hank must live down allegations that his money comes from illicit sources. One California law-enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hank's being mayor of Tijuana ''is like John Gotti becoming mayor of New York City,'' though the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration expressed no concern.
In 1988, two of Hank's bodyguards were convicted of the murder of Héctor ''Gato'' Félix, a co-owner of the crusading weekly newspaper Zeta who wrote about Hank and his alleged ties to the Arellano family drug ring.
On June 22 this year, Francisco Ortiz, Zeta's editor, was shot to death on a street. One of his last columns criticized Hank's candidacy. Police suspect traffickers.
None of this fazes Hank's supporters, who know him largely as a philanthropist who donates to charities and hospitals, throws parties for children -- who get into his zoo for free -- and helps drug addicts and alcoholics.
''We don't care if Hank killed journalists, is a drug trafficker or a money launderer,'' said José Aguilar, 60, a transportation union member. ``If he's a good mayor, he will be governor. Poor people know this.''
Sounds like something Hillary would or will say.
What the USA needs is a mayor, just South of our border who is a drug kingpin and unconvicted murderer.
Tiajunna ping!
I'm stuned.
Wonder what he'll do with Tiajuna Customes.
All that, and no stuned beeber!
It's already been pushed as far as Southern Oregon. ;)
With 18 children, soundes like his beeber was stuning way too much!
I know, Dead, this may be hard to swallow, but it's worse than New Jersey.
This guy is going to anger the Tijuana business community. Especially the maquiladora folks will not like him. I hope they make his political life a nightmare.
It is precisely like electing John Gotti as mayor of New York City.
Except that there was an independent FBI prepared to bring him down, and in Hank Rhon's case there is no police force, not even national police, with the power to bring him down.
He will only be brought down by internal mafia strife; no other law can touch him.
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