HomeNewsAnalysisArrest of Tijuana Ex-Mayor: Putting Crime in the 'Freezer'?
ANALYSIS

Arrest of Tijuana Ex-Mayor: Putting Crime in the 'Freezer'?

MEXICO / 6 JUN 2011 BY NATHAN JONES EN

Depending on your perspective, the arrest of former Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon could be seen as a step forward for Mexico's battle against organized crime, or a step backwards for the country's political process.

Hank, a member of Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional - PRI), was arrested with ten of his bodyguards by the Mexican Army on June 4, and charged with the illegal possession of 88 guns and more than 9,000 rounds of ammunition, the army said in a statement. The suspect was taken in a Hercules transport plane to Mexico City.

For some, the former mayor's arrest comes two decades late. In 1988, two of Hank's bodyguards were linked to the killing of Zeta magazine reporter Hector Felix Miranda. Zeta continues to publish a weekly notice questioning Hank over the murder.

To be sure, Hank is as notorious as the city of Tijuana itself. He has long been accused of working closely with the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO), also known as the Tijuana Cartel, though no formal charges have ever successfully been leveled against him.

Still, his ostentatious lifestyle has made him a lightening rod for critics of Tijuana's narco-business-political nexus. Hank, for example, has expensive taste in exotic animals including white tigers, which he keeps in his own zoos and sometimes at his racetrack, as witnessed by this reporter.

Hank's father, Carlos Hank Gonzalez, was also wealthy and politically powerful throughout the country. He left much of this to Jorge, who runs a chain of successful and ubiquitous casinos in Mexico; partially owns Banorte, one of the only domestically owned banks in Mexico following the 1994 peso collapse; and has various other business interests throughout the country.

Hank's shady business interests and alleged connection to a murder made him a possible target for investigation for many different crimes including money laundering and murder, so the surprise arrest for the relatively petty crime of illegal possession of weapons has Tijuana wondering if there are political motivations for Hank's untimely detention.

Hank's soccer franchise, El Xolos, won Mexico's national championship last month. This caused speculation that Hank could have his pick of positions in Baja California, including returning for Tijuana's Municipal Presidency (Mexico's term for the mayor’s office) or going for the Baja state governor's office.

Hank's political record was mixed. He was elected municipal president of Tijuana in 2004, where, among other things, he increased the police budget and paid for improved police infrastructure in the city. But crime, in particular murder and kidnapping, soared at the end of his term, as the Arellano Felix family struggled to maintain control of their splintering organization and battled the violent incursion of a rival, the Sinaloa Cartel.

However, Hank has influence beyond Baja state, and analysts like Professor Lorena Perez-Floriano of the Colegio de La Frontera Norte (COLEF) of Tijuana speculate that Hank’s arrest may have had more to do with the upcoming elections in Mexico State than his ambitions in Baja.

Perez-Floriano points out that Hank’s father once led the politically powerful Grupo Atlacomulco in Mexico State. And Hank’s popularity and charisma, in addition to his ownership of the national championship Xolos, gave him the ability to campaign for PRI candidates in that important state, which will hold local elections in early July.

Enter the National Action Party (Partido de Accion Nacional - PAN), currently the country's ruling party led by Mexico's President Felipe Calderon. The PAN is facing a bleak political forecast, especially as pressure mounts against Calderon to slow the carnage that has left close to 40,000 dead since he began his frontal assault on large criminal organizations in December 2006.

Mexico State, one of the country's most populous and politically important states, may be the primer for presidential elections next year. The PAN tried and failed to establish a coalition there with the left-leaning Democratic Revolutionary Party (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica - PRD.

Desperate, the PAN moved to take Hank out of the equation by publicly humiliating him through arrest, says Perez-Floriano. This, in Mexico parlance, is known as “putting him in the freezer.”

The claim may have merit. Hank has had bodyguards and weapons for years. His wife said that none of the guns are illegal, as they were allowed for the security of the Caliente Race Track, which Hank owns.

There are precedents for this kind of alleged legal attack against a political rival. In 2009, authorities arrested ten Michoacan mayors of the opposition PRD; nine were later released for lack of evidence.

Jones is a PhD candidate at the University of California Irvine. He is currently doing field work in Tijuana, Mexico.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

FENTANYL / 6 JAN 2023

Mexico's Familia Michoacana are back in the headlines again. But is it the same cartel as the one that fell…

ARGENTINA / 23 DEC 2021

A spree of illegal fishing occurred across Latin America this past year, much of it driven by competition for diminishing…

CONTRABAND / 30 APR 2021

A series of operations carried out by the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office against networks dedicated to trafficking Mexican poultry, shed…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…