Here’s a look at the life of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Personal:
Birth date: July 20, 1966
Birth place: Atlacomulco, Mexico
Birth name: Enrique Peña Nieto
Father: Gilberto Enrique Peña del Mazo, an engineer
Mother: Maria del Perpetuo Socorro Ofelia Nieto Sanchez, a teacher
Marriages: Angelica Rivera, (2010-present); Monica Pretelini Saenz, (1994-2007, her death)
Children: with Monica Pretelini Saenz: Paulina, Nicole, Alejandro; while still married to Saenz: one son with Maritza Diaz Hernandez; one son, died as infant, with woman unknown to fast facts researchers.
Education: Universidad Panamericana, B.A., 1989; Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, M.A., 1991
Religion: Roman Catholic
Other Facts:
Peña Nieto’s election marks the return to power of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The PRI controlled the Mexican presidency for more than 70 years, until the 2000 election.
His wife, Angelica Rivera, is a soap opera star.
He is the fifth member of his extended family to serve as the governor of the State of Mexico. His second cousin directly preceded him as governor.
Timeline:
1978 – Attends school in the United States for a year to learn English.
1984 – Becomes a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
1999 – Begins working for his cousin, Arturo Montiel Rojas, governor of the State of Mexico.
2000-2002 – Secretary of administration for the State of Mexico.
2003-2004 – Representative of the 13th District of the State of Mexico.
2005-2011 – Governor of the State of Mexico.
January 2012 – Reveals that he fathered two children out of wedlock with two different women, while married to his first wife.
July 1, 2012 – Wins the presidential election, with 38% of the vote.
August 31, 2012 – The electoral tribunal validates election results and officially names Peña Nieto as president-elect.
November 27, 2012 – Travels to Washington and meets with President Barack Obama.
December 1, 2012 – Is sworn in as president of Mexico.
November 7, 2014 – Protesters march in Mexico City, in reaction to the disappearance of 43 students from a teacher’s college in Guerrero state in September. The students’ parents have been highly critical of Peña Nieto for his administration’s handling of the investigation. A cell phone video from a closed-door meeting with the President, taken on October 30 and released on YouTube, shows one family member saying Peña Nieto should resign if he can’t deliver answers.
November 27, 2014 – In response to the disappearance of 43 students, Peña Nieto proposes a series of reforms in order to help combat crime and corruption in Mexico.
November 2014 – Mexican news website Aristegui Noticias publishes an investigative report that alleges President Peña Nieto and his wife have been living in a lavish $7 million mansion owned by a contractor who’s won lucrative government projects. In response, the government says that first lady Angélica Rivera has been making payments on the house with money she’s made from her acting career.
June 26, 2015 – Has his gallbladder removed.
March 7, 2016 – Excélsior newspaper publishes an interview with Nieto, in which he says Mexico will not pay for presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposed wall and compares Trump to Adolf Hitler.
August 31, 2016 – Following a meeting with presidential candidate Donald Trump, Nieto tweets that the two had discussed the wall and who would pay for it — and he had “made it clear” to Trump it wouldn’t be Mexico. Trump told reporters they did not discuss payment for the wall.
January 26, 2017 – Cancels a meeting with US President Donald Trump that had been set for next week after renewed tensions erupt over Trump’s plan to build a wall on the border. They later speak on the phone.
June 19, 2017 – Signs a decree that legalizes medicinal marijuana in Mexico.