Enrique Peña Nieto OMRI CYC GCB (Spanish pronunciation: [enˈrike ˈpeɲa ˈnjeto] ; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican former politician who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he previously served as Governor of the State of Mexico from 2005 to 2011, local deputy from 2003 to 2004, and Secretary of Administration from 2000 to 2002.
Born in Atlacomulco and raised in Toluca, Peña Nieto attended Panamerican University, graduating with a B.A. in legal studies. After attaining an MBA from ITESM, he began his political career by joining the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1984. After serving as a public notary in Mexico City, he began an ascent through local political ranks in the late 1990s, culminating in his 2005 campaign for Governor of the State of Mexico. As governor, he pledged to deliver 608 compromisos (commitments) to his constituency to varying levels of success. His tenure was marked by low-to-moderate approval of his handling of a rising murder rate, the San Salvador Atenco civil unrest, and various public health issues. He launched his 2012 presidential campaign on a platform of economic competitiveness and open government. After performing well in polls and a series of high-profile candidate withdrawals, Peña Nieto was elected president with 38.14% of the vote.
As president, he instated the multilateral Pact for Mexico, which soothed inter-party fighting and led to increased legislation across the political spectrum. During his first four years, Peña Nieto led an expansive breakup of monopolies, liberalized Mexico's energy sector, reformed public education, and modernized the country's financial regulation.[1] However, political gridlock and allegations of media bias gradually worsened corruption, crime, and drug trade in Mexico. Global drops in oil prices limited the success of his economic reforms, which lowered political support for Peña Nieto. His handling of the Iguala mass kidnapping in 2014 and the escape of drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán from Altiplano prison in 2015 sparked international criticism. Guzmán himself claims to have bribed Peña Nieto during his trial.[2] As of 2022, he is additionally part of the Odebrecht controversy, with former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya Austin declaring that Peña Nieto's presidential campaign benefited from illegal campaign funds provided by Odebrecht in exchange for future favors.[3][4][5]
Historical evaluations and approval rates of his presidency have been mostly negative. Detractors highlight a series of failed policies and a strained public presence while supporters note increased economic competitiveness and loosening of gridlock. He began his term with an approval rate of 50%, hovered around 35% during his inter-years, and finally bottomed out at 12% in January 2017. He left office with an approval rating of only 18% and 77% of disapproval.[6][7] Peña Nieto is seen as one of the most controversial and least popular presidents in the history of Mexico.[8][9]
Enrique Peña Nieto was born on 20 July 1966 in Atlacomulco, State of Mexico, a city 55 miles (89 km) northwest of Mexico City.[10] He is the oldest of four siblings; his father, Gilberto Enrique Peña del Mazo, was an electrical engineer; his mother, María del Perpetuo Socorro Ofelia Nieto Sánchez, was a schoolteacher.[10] He is the nephew of two former governors of the State of México: on his mother's side, Arturo Montiel; on his father's, Alfredo del Mazo González.[11][12] He attended Denis Hall School in Alfred, Maine, during one year of junior high school in 1979 to learn English.[10] After living in Atlacomulco for the first 11 years of his life, Peña Nieto's family moved to the city of Toluca.[13]
In 1975, his father would often take him to the campaign rallies of the State of Mexico's governor, Jorge Jiménez Cantú, a close friend of Peña del Mazo. The successor of the governor was Alfredo del Mazo González, a cousin of Peña Nieto's father. During Del Mazo González's campaign in 1982, the fifteen-year-old Peña Nieto had his first direct contact with Mexican politics: he began delivering campaign literature in favor of his relative, a memory Peña Nieto recalls as the turning point and start of his deep interest in politics.
In 1985 at the age of 18, Peña Nieto traveled to Mexico City and enrolled in the Panamerican University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in legal studies.[14] Peña Nieto's academic thesis was found to contain some improper citations and plagiarism, which stirred controversy in May 2016.[15][16] Peña Nieto sought a master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM),[17][18] based in the State of Mexico.
.jpg/1280px-Toma_de_protesta_de_Enrique_Pe%C3%B1a_Nieto_como_Candidato_del_PRI_a_la_Presidencia_de_M%C3%A9xico._(6977614955).jpg)
Peña Nieto joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1984, and with a law degree nearly completed, he began earning his own money.[19] During his final years in college, Peña Nieto worked for a public notary in Mexico City, around the same time his relative Alfredo del Mazo González was mentioned as a firm candidate for the 1988 presidential elections.[19] In his twenties, he worked at the San Luis Industrial Corporation, an auto parts manufacturer, and at the law firm Laffan, Muse, and Kaye. While still a student at the Universidad Panamericana, he roomed with Eustaquio de Nicolás, the current president of Homex, a leading Mexican construction and real estate company. He also befriended and roomed with Luis Miranda, who occupied several offices during the 1999–2000 administration in the State of Mexico.[19]
Peña Nieto formally started his political career under the mentorship of Montiel Rojas, becoming the Secretary of the Citizen Movement of Zone I of the State Directive Committee of the National Confederation of Popular Organizations (CNOP), one of the three sectors of the PRI. For three consecutive years, Peña Nieto participated as a delegate to the Organization and Citizen Front in different municipalities of the State of Mexico. Then, between 1993 and 1998, during Emilio Chuayfett's term as governor, Peña Nieto was chief of staff and personal secretary to Montiel Rojas, the Secretary of Economic Development of the State of Mexico.[19]
After 1999, Peña Nieto went from having low-level secretary positions to higher and more qualified offices.[20] He served from 1999 to 2000 as the sub-secretary of government,[21] and as financial sub-coordinator of the political campaign of Montiel Rojas.[19] In 2001, Montiel Rojas named Peña Nieto Sub-secretary of Interior in the State of Mexico, a position that granted him the opportunity to meet and forge relationships with top PRI politicians and business leaders. After his term concluded, he served as the administrative secretary, as president of the Directive Council of Social Security, as president of the Internal Council of Health, and as vice president of the National System for Integral Family Development – all in the State of Mexico.[20] Under the wing of Montiel Rojas, Peña Nieto formed a group known as the "Golden Boys of Atlacomulco" with other members of the PRI.[22]
Peña Nieto was elected to a local deputy position in his hometown of Atlacomulco, State of Mexico, in 2003.[23][24] Two years later, the governorship of the State of Mexico was sought by Atlacomulco-natives Carlos Hank Rhon, Isidro Pastor, Héctor Luna de la Vega, Guillermo González Martínez, Óscar Gustavo Cárdenas Monroy, Eduardo Bernal Martínez, Cuauhtémoc García Ortega and Fernando Alberto García Cuevas.[24] Peña Nieto was among the crowd but was not poised as one of the favorites.[24] Nonetheless, in 2005, Peña Nieto was the last man standing, succeeding Montiel Rojas as governor of the State of Mexico.[25] On 12 February 2005, with 15,000 supporters in attendance, he was sworn in as a candidate for the PRI.[26]
On 15 September 2005, Peña Nieto was sworn in as governor of the State of Mexico at the Morelos Theater in Toluca. Among the attendees were the outgoing governor, Arturo Montiel; the president of the Superior Court of Justice, José Castillo Ambriz; former governors, members of Peña Nieto's cabinet and party, mayors, businessmen, and church figures.[27] The centerpiece of Peña Nieto's governorship was his claim that he was to deliver his compromisos – 608 promises he signed in front of a notary to convince voters that he would deliver results and be an effective leader.[28] According to El Universal, during Peña Nieto's first year as governor, his administration delivered 10 of the structural promises he had advocated in his campaign – marking the lowest figure in his six-year term.[29]
By 2006, his administration carried out 141 of the promised projects, making that year the most active in the governor's term. The 608 projects Peña Nieto proposed consisted of creating highways, building hospitals, and creating adequate water systems to provide fresh water throughout the state. The most important of these was highway infrastructure, which tripled under Peña's government. By mid-2011, the official page of the State of Mexico noted that only two projects were left.[29] The major projects in public transportation were the Suburban Railway of the Valley of Mexico Metropolitan Area and the "Mexibús", both of which served commuters between Mexico City and the State of Mexico, providing service to more than 300,000 people every day and 100 million a year. Regarding public health services, 196 hospitals and medical centers were built throughout the state and the number of mobile units to attend remote and vulnerable areas doubled.[30] Deaths caused by respiratory diseases were reduced by 55%, while deaths caused by dysentery and cervical cancer were reduced by 68% and 25% respectively. In addition, between 2005 and 2011, the State of Mexico was able to fulfill the requirement of the World Health Organization of having one doctor for every 1,000 inhabitants. The funds for these and all the other commitments were obtained through restructuring the state's public debt, a strategy designed by his first Secretary of Finance, Luis Videgaray Caso. The restructuring also managed to keep the debt from increasing during Peña Nieto's term because the tax base was broadened to the point that it doubled in six years.[30]
Peña Nieto also claimed that he halved the murder rate in the State of Mexico during his time as governor,[31] but retracted this claim after The Economist showed that the murder rate did not diminish and was being measured differently.[32]
The Yo Soy 132 student movement criticized Peña Nieto for his stance on the San Salvador Atenco unrest, which occurred during his term as governor.[33] A report from the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) stated protestors were subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, arbitrary arrests, and sexual assault, and remarked on the excessive use of force by state and federal police.[34][35] Peña Nieto stated in an interview that he does not justify the actions of the state and municipal forces, but also mentioned that they were not gladly received by the citizens of San Salvador Atenco upon their arrival.[33][36]
.jpg/1280px-Cierre_de_Campa%C3%B1a_de_Enrique_Pe%C3%B1a_Nieto,_Toluca,_Estado_de_M%C3%A9xico._(7517643250).jpg)
On 23 November 2011, Peña Nieto went to a book fair in Casa del Lago, Mexico City. There he presented his book México, la gran esperanza (Mexico, the great hope). He was accompanied by writer Héctor Aguilar Camín, the former governor of Mexico's Central Bank, Guillermo Ortiz Martínez, and the journalist Jaime Sánchez Susarrey. In the book, Peña Nieto argued that Mexico needed to expand its economy to create more jobs, insisting that in the past the country has only created jobs in the informal sector.[37] Additionally, he argued that promoting Pemex (Mexico's state-owned oil company) to compete in the private sector would create more jobs, elevate productivity, and balance wealth distribution across Mexico. Peña Nieto dedicated the book to his wife Angélica Rivera and to governor Eruviel Ávila Villegas and his family.[37] Peña Nieto said that the return of the PRI marks a new era in Mexico and that his book served as a starting point to take Mexico "to better horizons".[38]
On 27 November 2011, a few days after the book fair, Peña Nieto was the PRI's last standing nominee for the 2012 Mexican presidential elections. The former State of Mexico governor completed his nomination at an event that gathered sympathizers and politicians.[39] Six days earlier, the senator and preliminary candidate of the PRI, Manlio Fabio Beltrones, withdrew from the race and gave Peña Nieto a clear path toward the presidency.[40] During a book fair a month later, Peña Nieto's public image came into question after he struggled to answer a question that asked which three books had marked his life.[41] Later, Peña Nieto was interviewed by El País and admitted that he did not know the price of tortillas. When he was criticized as being out of touch, Peña Nieto insisted that he was not "the woman of the household" and thus would not know the price.[42]
His campaign was supported by the Commitment to Mexico alliance.[43]
.jpg/1280px-CEN_del_PRI,_1_julio_2012._(7552455406).jpg)
On 1 July 2012, Mexico's presidential election took place. In an initial, partial count issued that night, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) announced that based on a fast vote counting, Peña Nieto was leading the election with 38% of the votes.[44] His nearest competitor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was just 6 points behind him. The figures were meant to be a representative sample of the votes nationwide; but shortly after this announcement, Peña Nieto appeared on national television claiming victory. "This Sunday, Mexico won", he said. He then thanked his voters and promised to run a government "responsible and open to criticism." At the PRI headquarters in Mexico City, the victory party b