Many personalities found their way on to the pages of the Guadalajara Reporter in 2015, for many different reasons. Some were celebrated, some vilified, others mourned. Here are ten men and women who featured in the local, regional or national headlines last year. What brought them to public attention?
1. Angelica Fuentes
LOVE & BUSINESS DON’T MIX. After a messy split with her businessman husband Jorge Vergara, she became embroiled in a very public legal battle for control of the Guadalajara Chivas soccer team and his nutrition supplements empire, Omnilife. They’ve filed more than 50 legal suits against each other.
2. Enrique Peña Nieto
REDEMPTION? The latter part of the year saw Mexico’s president redeem himself slightly after the 43 missing students scandal that dominated the news in 2014. An effective federal response to potentially lethal Hurricane Patricia and low annual inflation did him no harm, although his popularity rating is still precariously low.
3. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez
BOUNCING BACK. After his disappointing loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2014, Mexico’s most famous boxer and Guadalajara native dispatched the dangerous Miguel Cotto efficiently in Las Vegas. Is the 25-year-old now really on the road to becoming the world’s best fighter, as many pundits predicted at the outset of his career?
4. Carmen Arisetgui
JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY. After being fired from her job as the hard-hitting anchorwoman of a morning MVS radio news program, this celebrated journalist stood her ground as rumors abounded that her dismissal was ordered by the nation’s president when she ran a report on possible influence peddling in the purchase of a luxury residence by his wife. She was eventually reinstated with her reputation enhanced further.
5. Pedro Kumamoto Aguilar
NEW POLITICS. For first time, 25-year-old independent candidate ran for Jalisco Congress against heavyweight political parties and won an important district in Guadalajara. An advocate for more citizen participation in government, he is donating a large chunk of his salary to civic causes.
6. Enrique Alfaro
TAKE NO PRISONERS. New Guadalajara mayor from the fledgling Citizens Movement promised an administration of “total transparency” and got off to a lightning start by clearing out hundreds of illegal ambulant vendors from the city center. Current high popularity makes him a shoo-in for next state governor.
7. Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman
SLIPPERY NARCO. World’s most famous drug lord, head of the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped from maximum security prison in July, to the embarrassment of government. Incredibly, he bolted through a tunnel leading from the shower area of his cell to to a house construction site almost a mile away. It had taken a year to build.
8. Marco Parisotto
MUSICAL CHAIRS. Canadian director of the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra oversaw a huge shake up in personnel, angering some long-serving musicians when handed their notice. His aim is to make the state orchestra among the best in the world.
9. Donald Trump
MEXICO BASHING. Running for the Republican Party candidate for president of the United States, the real estate mogul fulminated against Mexican migrants, calling them “rapists” and “criminals,” while racing into double-digit leads in the polls. Vowed to get Mexico to pay for a border wall, howerver, claimed to be “a big friend of Mexico.”
10. Erica Cueto
SHAME OF THE DISAPPEARED. Another year went by with no new clues as to the whereabouts of this missing Puerto Vallarta resident. Her family, like many others in Jalisco, continued to press authorities for answers, demanding more vigorous efforts in the search for some 2,500 citizens reported missing in the state.