Josefina Vázquez Mota | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of the Political Coordination Board of theChamber of Deputies | |
| In office 5 September 2010 – 31 August 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Francisco Rojas Gutiérrez |
| Succeeded by | Armando Ríos Piter |
| Coordinator of the Parliamentary Group of theNational Action Party | |
| In office 1 September 2009 – 6 September 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Héctor Larios Córdova |
| Succeeded by | Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña |
| Secretary of Public Education | |
| In office 1 December 2006 – 4 April 2009 | |
| President | Felipe Calderón |
| Preceded by | Reyes Tamez Guerra |
| Succeeded by | Alonso Lujambio |
| Secretary of Social Development | |
| In office 1 December 2000 – 6 January 2006 | |
| President | Vicente Fox |
| Preceded by | Carlos Jarque |
| Succeeded by | Ana Teresa Aranda |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Josefina Eugenia Vázquez Mota (1961-01-20)20 January 1961 (age 65) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Party | National Action Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Iberoamerican University Panamerican University Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology |
| Website | Official website |
Josefina Eugenia Vázquez Mota (pronunciationⓘ[xo̞.se̞'fi.na'βas.ke̞s'mo̞.ta]) (born 20 January 1961, inMexico City) is a businessperson and politician who was the presidential candidate of theNational Action Party (PAN) for the2012 elections. Vázquez Mota was trained as an economist and began her working career in family businesses and with various business organizations and conferences, also working as a journalist and writing books. She began her political career with the PAN by becoming involved in Mexico's federalChamber of Deputies and then in the administrations ofVicente Fox andFelipe Calderón. She was the PAN's first female candidate for president.
Vázquez Mota was born in Mexico City on 20 January 1961. Her parents, Arnulfo Vázquez and Josefina Mota, are from theSierra Norte de Puebla region of Mexico, and she has seven brothers and sisters.[1][2] She says she is closest to her sister Lupita. When they were children they use to sell chocolate shakes on the street with a blender Josefina received forDay of the Magi.[3]
Vázquez Mota spent the first five years of her childhood in a working-class neighborhood called Colonia 20 de Noviembre in Mexico City, began her education in public school, and started at La Patria es Primero School, in theAzcapotzalco borough.[1] Her father originally wanted her to attend an all-girls high school and even paid paying a full year’s tuition in advance. She began high school there, but she convinced her parents to let her take the entrance exam and enterCenter of Scientific and Technological StudiesCECyT 9 vocational school, affiliated with theInstituto Politécnico Nacional.[3][4] She was studious in school with an affinity for mathematics.[3]
Vázquez Mota studied at the privateUniversidad Iberoamericana and graduated with a degree ineconomics.[2][5] Other university studies included courses in management at theInstituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresas, as well as a program called "Ideas e Instituciones" ("Ideas and Institutions") at theInstituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México.[5]
Vázquez Mota met her husband, Sergio Ocampo Muñoz, a computer specialist, in high school. The couple married in 1984 after seven years of courtship.[3][5] The couple have three children: María José; Celia María; and Montserrat.[6]
Vázquez Mota maintains a very strict diet and exercise regimen, as evidenced by an unusually thin physique. She has consistently denied speculation that she suffers from either bulimia or anorexia.[3]
Vázquez Mota began to get involved in economic conferences due to a friend of her father’s with the Cámara de Comercio de la Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico City Chamber of Commerce) and has since been involved with various organizations and conferences in various parts of the world, especially Latin America.[3] She worked for business organizations such as theConfederación de Cámaras Nacionales de Comercio, Servicios y Turismo (Concanaco) and theConfederación Patronal de la República Méxicana (Coparmex).[5]
For a time in her career, she worked as a journalist on economic topics forNovedades de México,El Financiero andEl Economista.[2][5] In the 1980s, she and her family moved toChihuahua to attend some of the family businesses including a clothing store for children.[3]
She has published two books. The first was¡Dios Mío! Házme viuda por favor ("My God! Make me a widow!") It is a self-help book that she wrote while in Chihuahua and while traveling to various conferences. It was first published in Colombia then in Mexico, as there was some hesitation over the title. Despite her editors’ desire to change the title to something less controversial, Vázquez Mota insisted on keeping it. The book has sold over 400,000 copies.[3][6] Her second book is calledNuestra oportunidad. Un México para todos ("Our opportunity. A Mexico for everyone"), which is a dialogue with 22 international leaders.[5] She did a business show forTV Azteca.[3]
Vázquez Mota began her political career with theNational Action Party (PAN) with the Asociación Coordinadora Ciudadana and a member of the Secretaría de la Mujer.[2] In 1996, she was asked to return to Mexico City to become a representative in theChamber of Deputies because of her economics expertise. At this time, she met the PAN president,Felipe Calderón.[3]
She was elected to the2000–2003 federal legislature, leading the sub-coordination of economic policy.[2][5] She was then appointed as the first female secretary ofDesarrollo Social (Social Development) (SEDESOL).[2][5] While discrete, it was known that she did not get along with then First LadyMartha Sahagún .[3] She remained in that position until 2006, when she resigned to work for the Calderón campaign.[2][5]
In 2006, she was named campaign coordinator for Felipe Calderón. She was not part of Calderón’s inner circle which caused some disputes during the campaign.[3] When Calderón won, she was part of the transition team as the Coordinator of Political ties (Enlace Político).[2] After the election, she was namedSecretary of Public Education, the first woman in the job.[2][5] Josefina had vied for theSecretary of the Interior (SEGOB) position but she was offered to return to SEDESOL. She chose the latter as a new challenge.
Her time there was marked by confrontations with the powerful head of the national teachers' union,Elba Esther Gordillo. Some reports state that these confrontations caused problems with Calderon's advisors with Calderon ready to remove her from the position, but this has not been confirmed.[3] She won election to the Chamber of Deputies once again and became the co-ordinator of the PAN Parliamentary Group from 2009 to 2011.[2][5]
In 2011, she left the legislature when she won her party's nomination as candidate for president.[2][5] She won the nomination over Calderón’s choice ofErnesto J. Cordero, with 55% of the vote in the primary.[7] She was the first female candidate for PAN president[6] and the first female candidate for president from a major political party in Mexico's history.[7]
She ran as "different"[clarification needed] not only from the other contenders but also from her party, which had been in power for the previous twelve years. She was the least known of the candidates from the three main parties (PAN, PRI, and PRD).[7]
As a candidate, Vázquez Mota advocated for life sentences for politicians found guilty of corruption related to organized crime. She supported more scholarships for students, and labor-law reforms, which she said would incorporate 400,000 people each year into the formal economy. She also promised to fight discrimination against women.[5] She did not come out against the policies of her predecessors, Calderón and Fox.[1] She stated that military personnel should be withdrawn only when the area has a “trustworthy” police force.[5] She is also the National Political Advisor (Consejera Política Nacional) of the PAN.[4]
She came in third place in the election with 25.4% of the total vote.
Vázquez Mota ran forgovernor of the State of Mexico in the 2017 election but finished in fourth place in a closely fought race betweenDelfina Gómez ofMorena and the winner,Alfredo del Mazo of a PRI-led coalition.[8][9]
She was elected to theSenate from the PAN's national list in the2018 general election.[10]
In the2024 general election she stood for theChamber of Deputies in the State of Mexico's18th district (Huixquilucan) but was narrowly defeated byClaudia Sánchez Juárez of theEcologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM).[11]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Secretary of Social Development 2000–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of Education 2006–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | National Action Party nominee forPresident of Mexico 2012 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
