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Will New TJ Mayor Sweep Away Vice? You Could Bet on It
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/international/americas/03t...
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
December 3, 2004
TIJUANA, Mexico, Dec. 1 - Jorge Hank Rhon - gambling tycoon, racetrack operator, son of a legendary politician and collector of exotic animals - took
office this week as mayor, another sign of the resurgence of Mexico's once all-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Mr. Hank is carrying more baggage than most politicians. Over the past 15 years, his political enemies and United States law enforcement officials
have suspected him of links to the killings of journalists, laundering money for drug cartels and smuggling wild animals, among other deeds of
questionable virtue.
Yet most accusations have never been proved, and they did not seem to bother his supporters. After all, Tijuana has long been a bastion of vice, where
the underworld economy is fueled by gambling, drugs, prostitution and the smuggling of migrants across the border to San Diego.
A majority of the good citizens of Tijuana seemed so fed up with the previous mayor that they were willing to overlook Mr. Hank's apparent
shortcomings after he campaigned as the man who, of all things, would clean up the streets.
Tijuana's sordid side seems to many here to have grown unbearable. Thousands of small-time drug dealers have set up shop, creating legions of addicts
who commit petty crimes. Prostitutes in leather miniskirts line the streets even at midday around the north end of town, a stone's throw from a
rusting wall that separates Mexico from the promised land of the United States.
Dozens of strip clubs have sprung up alongside the curio shops and tequila bars that attract tourists. Killings have become more and more common, most
linked to drugs.
For some voters, Mr. Hank's vices were a virtue. The fortune he amassed as the owner of gambling parlors, some said, meant he was less apt to take
bribes than other politicians. Others said that even if he had done business with drug dealers, as some United States law enforcement officials
assert, it did not necessarily disqualify him from being a mayor for the people.
"You could say that about all Tijuana," said Jos? Per?z, a 58-year-old carpenter who said he voted for Mr. Hank. "He's going to be an exemplary mayor,
because he doesn't want money. He wants power."
Another supporter, Ra?l Per?z, a 31-year-old hawker of souvenirs, said, "I don't know if he's guilty or not, but I think he can do a better job than
the last mayor."
Mr. Hank, who declined a request to be interviewed, has denied any involvement in criminal deeds, maintaining he is the victim of vicious rumors.
Every investigation has cleared him of wrongdoing, he told reporters during the campaign. "They never, never had anything," he said. "Never. It was
pure, as the Americans say, gossip."
He has said it is true that two of his bodyguards shot and killed an investigative journalist back in 1988, but the authorities never proved he had
any knowledge of it. More recently, federal investigators identified him as a suspect in the killing of another journalist in June, but later dropped
that line of investigation.
Other scandals seem to swirl around Mr. Hank like mosquitoes. His chauffeur was arrested in November 1995 while trying to smuggle 126 pounds of
cocaine across the border, according to court records. United States law enforcement authorities have also implicated his family's shipping company,
Transportaci?n Mar?tima Mexicana, in several big drug smuggling cases, though Mr. Hank has never been charged.
"He has never been indicted because he insulates himself very much like a traditional mafia don," said one former United States law enforcement
official who is knowledgeable about drug investigations on the border over the last decade.
The Mexican Congress investigated Mr. Hank after he somehow managed to obtain from the government a 25-year extension on his franchise to operate the
Agua Caliente racetrack before the last franchise had expired. Lawmakers later found irregularities in the awarding of the extension and pronounced it
patently illegal. He still has the franchise.
Some of Mr. Hank's political enemies joke that his victory is analogous to having John Gotti, the former head of the Gambino crime family, become
mayor of New York.
Mr. Hank, who is 51 and the father of 18 children, is the second son of Carlos Hank Gonz?lez, a longtime stalwart in the Institutional Revolutionary
Party, the PRI, who was mayor of Mexico City and governor of the State of Mexico.
Mr. Hank has said his father taught him the importance of party loyalty. Nineteen years ago, Mr. Hank moved to Tijuana, where his proclivity for the
high life led him into the gambling business. In addition to the racetrack, where they run only dogs these days, he owns dozens of off-track betting
parlors.
Mr. Hank ran a bread and circuses campaign. He avoided taking part in many debates with his main opponent, Jorge Ramos, of the National Action Party.
Instead he offered lavish concerts for people at the racetrack, with free beer and well-known musicians. His opponents accused him of breaking
campaign spending limits, but a special electoral court certified the election in any case.
"There has been a resurgence of the old PRI, the party of cunning tricks and electoral traps," said Mr. Ramos, who lost the Aug. 1 election by two
percentage points. "What happened here in Tijuana could be a reflection of the kind of PRI, the old PRI, we are going to see in 2006. Far from
changing, they've gone backward."
The concerts were an extension of Mr. Hank's usual largess. He is known as a philanthropist who gives money to charities and hospitals. He also stages
parties at the racetrack for mothers on Mother's Day and lets children tour his private zoo, which includes bears, a snow leopard, camels and
gazelles.
Nor did Mr. Hank, who likes to present himself as a simple man of peasant values, spare any expense on his swearing-in this week, spending more than
$200,000. The event was more like a carnival than a solemn transfer of power. There were mariachi singers, amusement park rides, cotton candy and
vendors of all manner of food and drink.
"I want to see everyone happy," Mr. Hank told the cheering crowd of supporters after taking the oath. "I want to see everyone decent. I want to see
everyone with a conscience, like all Mexicans."
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With carnival, music and free food, Tijuana gets new mayor
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20041201-0...
By Mariana Martinez
December 1, 2004
TIJUANA, Mexico ? Jorge Hank Rhon, a flamboyant and controversial multimillionaire, on Wednesday began his first full day on the job as the new mayor
of this important Mexican border city.
Amid an inaugural celebration late Tuesday of carnival games, music and at least 70 food stands, Hank Rhon promised to clean up police corruption as
the city's new mayor.
"Tijuana is full of hardworking people, and I want to give them all a chance to work toward progress," he told The Associated Press shortly before his
speech. "I will give everyone a chance to be heard."
Hank Rhon's surprise victory on Aug. 1 returned the Institutional Revolutionary Party to power in Tijuana, a city the PRI lost to President Vicente
Fox's National Action party in 1989. The PRI lost the presidency to Fox in 2000 after 71 years in power.
Tens of thousands of people attended Hank Rhon's inauguration at Tijuana City Hall, which kicked off his three-year term. Before the late night
swearing-in ceremony, he attended a Mass at the nearby cathedral.
His victory in a city known both for its high crime rate and as the busiest land border crossing in the world is part of a significant electoral trend
that has returned PRI officials to power in many Mexican states.
Hank Rhon has vowed to tackle police corruption, as well as clean up Tijuana so that it rivals its northern neighbor, San Diego.
Some however, are worried about his past.
One of his bodyguards was convicted in the 1988 murder of Tijuana columnist Hector Felix. Felix's paper, the investigative weekly Zeta, routinely runs
a full-page ad demanding that Hank Rhon explain the killing.
Hank Rhon denies any ties to the killing, was never formally linked to it and says he believes the bodyguard, Antonio Vera, was unfairly convicted.
A 1999 report by the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center also singled out Hank Rhon as an associate of drug smugglers. Then-Attorney General Janet
Reno later dismissed the report, however, calling it an incomplete draft whose conclusions were "never adopted as official view."
"I'm all for Hank because he had better proposals about safety and urban development," 53-year-old lawyer Elizeo Ruiz said. "Besides, I stand beside
him because he was mainly my horse in the race."
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Tijuana?s new boss: Who is and why did Jorge Hank win the elections?
http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/current/hank.htm
By Luis Alonso Perez
December 3, 2004
There?s a new boss in Tijuana, and he wants everybody to know it.
Jorge Hank Rhon is the new Mayor, and the first one to receive the baton a day before the usual date, so he could throw a big party for everybody.
Over five thousand people gathered in city hall to welcome into office one of the most popular and controversial figures in the city of Tijuana.
On the night of November the 30th, food stands surrounded city hall. You could buy tacos, pizza and hot dogs for a standard price of only five pesos
(around 45 cents). The free carnival rides and live music made people feel they were in the county fair.
But the city council members gave a big surprise when they started arguing with each other in front of five thousand assistants, because of irregular
procedures in the election of a secretary of government. Discussions between members of opposite political parties went on until the crowd got angry
and demanded that their problems should be settled another time.
The new mayor remained quiet, sat still, and kept a straight face until the discussion came to an end. Then he stood up and gave his victory speech. A
discouraging beginning for the history of what?s going to be, according to Hank Rhon, the best mayor Tijuana has ever had.
Before everyone in town knew his name because of his intense political campaign, many people in Tijuana have already heard of Jorge Hank somewhere.
In spite of having no political career whatsoever, many people knew of Jorge Hank simply as the son of Carlos Hank Gonzales, one of the most rich and
powerful politicians in Mexico?s history. He was considered one of the cornerstones of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who governed
Mexico from 1929 to 2000, and when he died he left a 500 million dollar fortune to his son Jorge.
Many people in town have heard of Hank Rhon as a wealthy local businessman that moved almost twenty years ago from Mexico City to Tijuana, so he could
take control over the Agua Caliente racetrack, which was also inherited, along with all off track betting facilities, better known as sport books.
His company, known by most people as Caliente is the main gaming and gambling network in the country.
An incident that made Jorge Hank a household name was his alleged connection with the murder of local journalist Hector ?The Cat? Felix Miranda.
Co-founder of the weekly newspaper ZETA and one of the best investigative reporters in the country. Well known for his keen sense of humor and his
constant attacks on Hank Rhon.
Felix Miranda was assassinated on the morning of April 22, 1988, when he was intercepted by another car; the man in the passenger seat got out of the
car and fired his shotgun at him. The people responsible turned out to be employees of Caliente racetrack and good friends of Mr. Hank.
Sixteen years have passed now and the case still isn?t closed.
Another reason why Jorge Hank is well known in Tijuana is his unusual passion for animals, which has led him to create his own personal zoo, with
bears, siberian tigers and many other exotic animals. That same eccentricity has caused legal problems, when he was caught in a Mexican airport trying
to introduce ivory and fur from endangered species.
But not everything that?s known about the new mayor is bad. Many people know him as a generous man that organizes parties on D?a de Reyes for kids
from poor colonias, and throws a big party for all moms to celebrate mothers? day with free food and music.
The same way he earned the peoples affection, he won the mayor seat in Tijuana. It?s estimated that it took around six million dollars to get the
citizens to choose him as their leader. All that money was invested in television spots, posters, giant banners and even paying for street paving and
garbage recollection for underprivileged colonias, which have been long forgotten by past administrations.
His victory removed the National Action Party (PAN) from the mayor seat, the strongest party in Baja California, in the tightest election race in the
history of Tijuana. There was a difference of less than 5000 votes, which represents 1 or 2% of the total amount. Unfortunately, more than 60% of the
registered voters abstained from voting.
No PRI is in charge of Tijuana again, and they want to recover all five counties in the state, the governor seat and perhaps, take back the Mexican
presidency, said the new mayor in his ambitious speech.
The new boos in Tijuana is called Jorge Hank Rhon and he assures he will be the best mayor this town has ever had.
Only time will tell.
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