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 News from Around Banderas Bay | March 2007 
Jalisco Swears in Emilio González
 El Universal
| | Emilio González Márquez |
The new governor of Jalisco, Emilio González Márquez, who was sworn in on Thursday, pledged his administration would be transparent and respectful of human rights.
In a ceremony before allies and his predecessor Francisco Ramírez Acuña, now the interior secretary, González Márquez said, "We didn´t come here to steal or relax or achieve human glories, or to abuse power. We came to transcend and put our lives at the service of the citizens of Jalisco."
González Márquez, of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), won Jalisco´s hotly contested gubernatorial race last July by a razor-thin margin.
The race was marred by controversy and bitterness.
Only days before the election, Ramírez Acuña´s administration leaked a report that federal prosecutors were investigating Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Arturo Zamora for ties to drug traffickers.
Formal charges have never been filed. State electoral authorities have also moved to fine the PAN for negative ads during the campaign.
Also present at the event were the PAN´s national leader, Manuel Espino, and former Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal.
In recent days, a dozen opposition lawmakers from the PRI and the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) had camped out in the square in front of Guadalajara´s Metropolitan Cathedral in protest of what they say is unfair representation in the state legislative assembly´s committees. On Thursday, however, they removed their tents.
Opponents and analysts have also questioned González Márquez´s Cabinet, accusing him of placing allies from the far right in all of the key posts.
He has also been criticized for giving the state´s top health position to his personal driver, Alfonso Gutiérrez Carranza.
Trained as a doctor, Gutiérrez Carranza has worked in the Guadalajara health system, but was accused of diverting funds and sexual harassment.
González Márquez will be the third consecutive PAN governor of Jalisco. |
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