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Samuel Ocaña García

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ocaña and the second or maternal family name is García.
Samuel Ocaña García
Municipal president of Arivechi
In office
16 September 2018 – 15 September 2021
Preceded byJosé Guillermo Flores García
Succeeded byFrancisco Flores Roble
In office
1997–2000
Preceded byLuis Guillermo Cruz García
Succeeded byJesús Perez Lugo
Undersecretary of Agrarian Reform
In office
1988–1991
PresidentCarlos Salinas de Gortari
Governor of Sonora
In office
13 September 1979 – 12 September 1985
Preceded byAlejandro Carrillo Marcor
Succeeded byRodolfo Félix Valdés
Municipal president of Navojoa
In office
16 September 1973 – December 1975
Preceded byJulio Martínez Bracamontes
Succeeded byJosé Jesús Dow Almada
Personal details
BornSeptember 1931 (age 93)
Arivechi, Sonora, Mexico
Political partyPRI
SpouseAlba Zaragoza Otero
Alma materIPN
UNAM

Samuel Ocaña García (born September 1931) is a Mexican politician and doctor who served as the Governor of Sonora from 1979 to 1985 as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He was known for his contributions towards the advancement of Sonoran culture and education during his term.

Early life and education

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Ocaña was born in September 1931 in Arivechi, Sonora. He attended elementary school at the "J. Cruz Gálvez" boarding school in the state capital of Hermosillo before completing his secondary studies at the Boarding School for Children of Ejidatarios in Tepic, Nayarit.[1][2] At the latter, Ocaña was a classmate of future Governor of Nayarit Julián Gascón Mercado [es].[3]

Ocaña returned to Hermosillo in 1947, where he worked at a textile factory for two years and helped create a textile workers' union.[1][2] He earned his medical degree from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) Higher School of Rural Medicine before attending the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he specialized in pneumology and thoracic surgery at the National Institute of Pneumology.[4][5] During this time, he served as the personal secretary to former President Adolfo de la Huerta.[6]

Career

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During his time in Mexico City, Ocaña joined the Popular Socialist Party (PPS), inspired by the broader socialist movement.[2] He later joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1959.[1] Ocaña returned to Sonora once again in 1961, settling in Navojoa, where he founded and directed the Regional Hospital of Pulmonary and Thoracic Surgery.[2][4] He also taught biology at a preparatoria affiliated with the Universidad de Sonora.[2][7]

Ocaña entered politics in 1972 when he was named the director of the Center for Political, Economic and Social Studies (CEPES) of the municipal PRI in Navojoa.[1][8] The following year, he became the PRI's nominee for the position of municipal president of Navojoa, and was elected to the post to a three-year term.[7] One of the first projects he orchestrated was the planting of trees along Gral. Lázaro Cárdenas del Río Boulevard.[7] Ocaña was also able to receive approval from then-Governor Carlos Armando Biebrich for the construction of a new municipal palace in Navojoa in 1975, though the project was not completed until 1979.[7] Additionally, he reportedly dismissed his police force en masse when a prisoner died under torture.[1]

In December 1975, shortly before completing his term as municipal president, Ocaña accepted a position as the Sonora undersecretary of government for the administration of newly-elected Governor Alejandro Carrillo Marcor.[7][8] He was promoted to secretary of government in late 1977 following the resignation of Raúl Encinas Alcántar.[9] In March 1978, Ocaña replaced Jesús Enríquez Burgos as the president of the PRI's Sonora branch.[8][10]

Governor of Sonora (1979–1985)

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In early 1979, Ocaña unexpectedly won the internal election to become the PRI nominee in that year's gubernatorial election.[8][11] The National Action Party (PAN) candidate was Jorge Valdez Muñoz, former municipal president of Hermosillo.[12] Ocaña defeated Valdez Muñoz after receiving 201,658 votes, which accounted for 83.5 percent of the vote.[13]

During his term as Governor, Ocaña created institutions such as Radio Sonora, the State Commission for Human Rights (CEDH), the Sonora Sports Commission (CODESON), the Sonora Ecological Center [es] (CES), the Secretariat of Education and Culture (SEC), the Sonora Center for Higher Studies (CESUES), the Sonoran Institute of Educational Credits, the Sonoran Historical Society (SSH), the General Directorate of Radio and Television (DIRTE), the Sonora Center for Research and Development of Natural Resources (CIDESON) and the state library system, among others.[4][8][14]

Ocaña collaborated with noted writer Gerardo Cornejo Murrieta to create El Colegio de Sonora [es], an institution of higher education specializing in social sciences and humanities research, in 1982.[15][16] He was also remembered for his contributions to education and hydraulic infrastructure, as well as for negotiating with Ford Motor Company to bring a factory to Hermosillo.[8] Ocaña did not publicly support any candidates in the 1985 election to succeed him.[17]

Later career

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At the conclusion of his term as Governor, Ocaña served as president of the PRI's Sinaloa branch[18] and as a PRI general delegate before he was named the Undersecretary of Agrarian Reform, holding that post from 1988 to 1991.[1][8] He returned to Sonora and was named the director of the Sonora Ecological Center by Governor Manlio Fabio Beltrones.[19]

In 1997, Ocaña returned to local politics and announced his candidacy for municipal president of Arivechi, his hometown. The PRI already had an official nominee, but the candidate declined out of respect for Ocaña.[20] Ocaña won the election and served his full three-year term from 1997 to 2000. He retired from politics in 2000.[14] Shortly thereafter, he was named the first rector of the Universidad de la Sierra, a public university in Moctezuma created by Governor Armando López Nogales.[21]

In March 2018, Ocaña announced his candidacy for municipal president of Arivechi, after having previously held the position from 1997 to 2000.[5][14] He received praise from politicians such as Manlio Fabio Beltrones and Sylvana Beltrones Sánchez [es] for his commitment to Sonoran politics.[5] Ocaña was elected to the post at the age of 87,[22] earning 67.7 percent of the vote, and went on to serve his full three-year term.

Personal life

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Ocaña married his wife, Alba Zaragoza Otero, in Navojoa.[1][7] In November 2017, a measure to rename a street in Hermosillo after Ocaña was approved unanimously by the Congress of Sonora.[16][23] He released his first book, Postales de pequeñas historias, in January 2023.[24]

His brother, Gilberto, was arrested by federal officials and charged with drug trafficking in October 1986 after the Mexican Army discovered several acres of marijuana fields on properties he owned in southern Sonora.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Camp, Roderic Ai (2011). Mexican Political Biographies, 1935-2009: Fourth Edition. University of Texas Press. p. 688. ISBN 9780292726345.
  2. ^ a b c d e Tapia Calderón, Guillermo Ernesto; Puebla Gutiérrez, Manuel Ignacio (2011). Ford Hermosillo, el por qué y el cómo. Imágenes de Sonora. p. 22 – via Issuu.
  3. ^ González Bonilla, Oscar (23 March 2015). "Lo mejor del gobierno del Dr. Julián Gascón Mercado fue lo que no hizo: No asesinó ni reprimió". Nayarit Altivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Rodríguez Espinoza, Héctor (14 September 2021). "En vida, Gobernador, en vida". Crítica (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b c "Se postula ex gobernador Samuel Ocaña a alcaldía de Arivechi a sus 87 años". El Imparcial (in Spanish). 13 March 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  6. ^ Yescas, Enrique (August 2014). "El kiosko de Arivechi". Revista SonoraEs... (in Spanish). No. 125. Editorial Imágenes de Sonora. p. 21. Retrieved 8 April 2023 – via Issuu.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Presidentes municipales de Navojoa". Diario del Yaqui (in Spanish). 20 July 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Pachecho, Bulmaro (29 August 2021). "Los 90 años de Samuel Ocaña". Termometroenlinea.com.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  9. ^ López Nogales, Armando (2019). Mis raíces y mis años (PDF) (in Spanish). Servicios Gráficos. p. 78 – via Universidad Unilider.
  10. ^ Peña, Víctor S. (2017). La clase político-legislativa en Sonora: legisladoras y legisladores del Congreso del Estado de Sonora, 1939-2018. 85 biografías. El Colegio de Sonora. p. 105. ISBN 978-607-8480-83-8.
  11. ^ López Nogales, p. 85
  12. ^ Pacheco, Bulmaro (12 September 2021). "¿ Qué se espera de Antonio Astiazarán ?". Crítica (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Resultados de la Elección para Gobernador en el Estado, Sonora | Lunes, 01 de Enero de 1979, Elección Ordinaria" (in Spanish). Instituto de Mercadotecnia y Opinión. Archived from the original on 25 November 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  14. ^ a b c Retano, Brisa (13 March 2018). "PRI de Sonora revive carrera política del exgobernador Samuel Ocaña". El Financiero (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  15. ^ Estrella Acedo, Eduardo (8 July 2015). "La herencia de Samuel Ocaña". InfoCajeme (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  16. ^ a b "Exhortan a nombrar "Samuel Ocaña" al Solidaridad". elchiltepin.mx (in Spanish). 9 November 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  17. ^ "El destino de los ex-gobernadores". Termometroenlinea.com.mx (in Spanish). 10 October 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  18. ^ a b Stockton, William (31 October 1986). "Mexico Aide's Brother in Drug Arrest". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  19. ^ "Ocaña: Su gran visión de suma de los talentos políticos". Primera Plana Digital (in Spanish). 27 October 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  20. ^ López Nogales, p. 257
  21. ^ "Historia" (in Spanish). Universidad de la Sierra. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  22. ^ Olea, Hilario (18 September 2018). "Corren rumores | El primero de tres". El Sol de Hermosillo (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  23. ^ "El Soli se llamará Samuel Ocaña García". SonoraNews.tv (in Spanish). 10 November 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  24. ^ Moncada Ochoa, Carlos (6 February 2023). "El escritor Samuel Ocaña García". InfoCajeme (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 April 2023.
Political offices
Preceded by
Alejandro Carrillo Marcor
 Governor of Sonora
1979–1985 		Next:
Rodolfo Félix Valdés
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