Interview
What is your name and position?
My name is Roberto Andrés Fuentes Rascón, and my position is Secretary of the Chihuahua City Council.
where are you from?
I am the son of Roberto Fuentes and Marielena Rascón, two hardworking people who instilled in me the values that drive me today, my father is originally from this city and my mother was born in Ciudad Madera Chihuahua.
I have a sister named Sarah, who was also involved in politics for a while in Acción Nacional, and I am married to Karen Ramirez, with whom I have two children, María Fernanda and Leonardo.
where do i study
I have a special attachment to the city center as a large part of my life has been spent there. I was born at the La Luz Sanatorium and Maternity Hospital, which is on 6th Street. and Jimenez.
Later I studied my primary school in a Jesuit institute called Glandorf Institute, which was on 16th Street, then I did secondary school in Benito Juarez, State 3008, continuing high school in Colegio de Bachilleres Uno.
All located in the city center, until I decided to study a law degree and a master’s degree in Political Law and Public Administration at the Law School of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua.
I have very fond memories of university, it was where I learned that not only subjects and knowledge matter, but also relationships.
This is where I learned that thinking differently should not be a reason to hide and although at that time there were some of us who sympathized with the Accion Nacional, we began to come to the fore again, this is exactly where I Marco Bonilla, although he was two years younger, was the one who really started moving into the Faculty of Law with a different kind of thinking.
Obviously, there was a monolithic trend towards the PRI at the time and Marco was one of the first to open and break that gap, starting to form a team and managing to place himself in student positions such as the Technical Council and the University Council .
Where have you worked before?
I belong to the 2000-2005 generation and it was only after completing my degree that I had the opportunity to work at Notary No. 28, who was in charge of Felipe Colomo Castro, may he rest in peace, and from whom I took an informal history course Got it while teaching. Organized by Secretary of Youth Action of PAN, which is my second school.
In that notary’s office we made great friends and I learned many subjects of history, because history is the teacher of politics, later I started working for two years in the ISSSTE, the internal control body of the Chihuahua delegation.
Then I took a short break to study English in Toronto, Canada, and when I came back in 2008, Mr. Kolomo invited me to collaborate again, not only in the notary’s office, but also in Pan State. Also under the chairmanship of the Electoral Commission.
Originally I was in charge of partially organizing the internal electoral processes of the party until 2013, until engineer Mario Vazquez came to the leadership and asked me to be in charge of the legal secretariat of the CDE.
His management as head of the State Committee produced many good results for PAN in Chihuahua and in that place I met again with Marco Bonilla who was the Secretary of Internal Consolidation.
Mario Vazquez, the current Secretary of Communications and Public Works, was the President, Pepe Granillo, was the Treasurer, he is now the Secretary of the State Treasury, Raquel Bravo, who was the Director of Political Education for Women and is currently a Councillor.
The group was consolidated by the results that we were able to deliver and proof of this is that Gabriel Díaz, who was Secretary of Elections, is currently our Head of State.
At that time, César Jauregui was the coordinator of the PAN bench in the State Congress and our governor Maru Campos was the deputy coordinator.
To this day, those of us who serve on that State Committee are all members in various high-level responsibilities.
Do you support the re-election of Marco Bonilla in 2024?
I see Marco as a leader, not as a project, which since his student life has been portrayed as the basis that Trabajo Mata Grilla and translated the same basis into the practice of his government Yes, it has been changed to trabajo y resultados.
All human and economic efforts made are focused and directed to give results to Chihuahuas, as it will be Chihuahuas who vote for their re-election, knowing them for their achievements.
However for now the focus is on work and later results will come naturally…
In what position were you working before becoming Secretary?
After State Committee, I had to work in the government of the state of Chihuahua, where I first served as Director of State Government, where I was able to promote joint work with Deputy Victor Uribe, a deputy for the state of Chihuahua. The new alcohol law, this during the mandate of Javier Corral.
Later I had to work with consultants and coordinate special projects to complement my work as private secretary to the head of the state executive.
Did your proximity to the former governor affect you?
I think everyone in PAN knows my career, I have always been an institutional man, party man, man of values and work.
After all, this is what people deserve and to that extent my President had chosen me to shoulder this high responsibility, which I accepted with great honor.
Is the Town Clerk second in command?
I believe that the person holding this position is a key official who plays a fundamental role in the efficient management of municipal government, which guarantees that part of the work is done in accordance with the law, political governance, transparency, proper registration . of affairs at City Hall.
But to follow the agreements and actions that the municipal president decides and that has a double dimension, on the one hand the interrelationship with the residents of the municipality and its various manifestations that take place there, and on the other hand with the councilors and the municipal council. Interacting with directors.
If you asked me by way of an analogy, to whom would I compare a town hall secretary? Now that Formula One is in fashion, I’ll be a sort of race strategy engineer who begins to measure time, so as to assess the abilities of others if it is necessary to go to the pits, or change tyres, which as symbolism will be used in
I believe that the perception of the Secretary being number two is fundamentally due to the fact that some rules provide that the Secretary has to be present in the absence of the Chairman, although I believe that all Directorates for Administration has a fundamental role.
Did you have a good relationship with Santiago de la Peña?
He is certainly a great politician, a great person and an outstanding lawyer from whom I learned a lot during the time we worked together, although I aim to put my personal stamp on this post.
One always wishes that upon arriving at a new responsibility, personal style could be imprinted…
What is your main challenge?
Create conditions so that mayors and other administrative officials can explore the feasibility of their projects, and I’m referring to political conditions, dialogue and citizen participation, that allow results to come to fruition.
The secretary is an area with overtones of reciprocity for the whole administration, we are the facilitators in many cases of working groups, where we facilitate problem-solving planning, involving different departments, different politicians, different characters, Those who reach democratic agreements through dialogue. Allow us to transcend in the achievement of objectives.
Are there good relations with political forces?
Yes, the Chihuahua City Council is made up of seven different political parties, which are seven political parties that have factions or representations.
This is what makes the city council a congregational, plural body, which in turn represents different sections of society, and the basis of dialogue in the sense that we always seek to privilege our coincidences over differences.
Will you seek a popular election position in the future?
Although I have never ruled out that possibility, for the time being all my efforts are committed to participate in the plans and programs that the municipal president has told us as secretary, which is a priority since the end of January this year When I appoint
What is the job of the President?
He told me that one of his priorities is to provide better living conditions for the residents of Chihuahua, which is why I propose a timely follow-up to such important projects as public safety with the expansion of the Chihuahua Shield Platform .
enabling sports space like sports center or dealing with meaningful service as garbage collection and where we had to project the resolution of revocation of concession to the company which was not complying with that service, on the one hand and on the other, New Metropolitan The issue of sanitary landfill.
Of course, what concerns the New Spain Road Interchange and the Fuentes Maras, which are major works, all of which carry a legal responsibility in which we have been participating from this ditch.
It also maintains good relations with the other forces that make up the city council.
Morena is opposing everything?
Unfortunately, in the country I think the climate of political progress promoted by the presidency of the republic prevails, but also of polarization which comes early to predict election time and is the only thing that can carry good relations spoils the About the political agreements that we, as officials, are bound to make.
Management of public services should not be interrupted, such as the final management of solid waste, we will always be attentive to contribute to dialogue and consensus in order to deliver quality public services to Chihuahuas.
Was there any agreement with the Governor for his appointment?
Personally, I have always had a respectful and cordial relationship with her, she is a woman I respect and admire, I think she has already earned a place in history, our first woman mayor To be, to be re-elected, and to be our first female governor…
Not the approach as such, just the institutional one…
conclusion:
Mayor Marco Bonilla’s leadership is based on the fact that he is brave because he has decided to address issues that are essential to Chihuahua, such as the new sanitary landfill, the public lighting issue on which to strengthen an enlightened city Work is being done for the chihuahua which translates to a more secure environment.
But not only in terms of crime prevention, but also in terms of reduction in road or pedestrian accidents, these are two big issues that were addressed very intelligently and that came into the hands of our mayor.
