Enrique Peña Nieto

**Enrique Peña Nieto**  (; born 20 July 1966), better known as **EPN**, is a Mexican former politician and lawyer who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, he previously was Governor of the State of Mexico from 2005 to 2011, local deputy from 2003 to 2004, and Secretary of Administration from 2000 to 2002.

## Early life and education 
Enrique Peña Nieto was born on 20 July 1966 in Atlacomulco, State of Mexico, a city  northwest of Mexico City. 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. He attended Denis Hall School in Alfred, Maine, during one year of junior high school in 1979 to learn English.

In 1975, his father often took him to the campaign rallies of the State of Mexico's governor, Jorge Jiménez Cantú, a close friend of Peña del Mazo. The governor's successor 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. Peña Nieto's academic thesis was found to contain some improper citations and plagiarism, which stirred controversy in May 2016. Peña Nieto sought a master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), based in the State of Mexico.

## Political beginnings 
Peña Nieto joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1984, and with a law degree nearly completed, he began earning his own money. 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. He served from 1999 to 2000 as the sub-secretary of government, and as financial sub-coordinator of the political campaign of Montiel Rojas.

### Campaign for Governor 
Peña Nieto was elected to a local deputy position in his hometown of Atlacomulco, State of Mexico, in 2003. 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. On 12 February 2005, with 15,000 supporters in attendance, he was sworn in as a candidate for the PRI.

## Governor of the State of Mexico (2005–2011) 
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. 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. 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.

By 2006, his administration carried out 141 promised projects, making that year the most active in the governor's term. The 608 projects Peña Nieto proposed included creating highways, building hospitals, and creating adequate water systems to provide fresh water throughout the state. The most important 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. 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. but retracted this claim after *The Economist* showed that the murder rate did not diminish and was being measured differently.

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. 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. 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.

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