Elections Bring New Faces to Mexico

2010 brought new elections and faces in the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Sinaloa.

Juarez has been the battleground in a war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels with 6,400 deaths since 2008 and 2,300 deaths in 2010. Duarte has set aside $8 million in US dollars to assist children orphaned by violence in the state and laid out his plan to impose mandatory life sentences for kidnappers, extortionists and multiple assassins.

Duarte also said he would work to "be the best friend of business" creating jobs throughout the state and building 1,200 additional miles of highways in the state.

Duarte is a native of Parral and has publicly expressed his support and commitment to the La Entrada al Pacifico Corridor.

On the local level, Marco Quezada (PRI) was elected as Mayor of Chihuahua City. He had a sizeable victory with a 40,000 vote margin.

In Sinaloa, Mario Lopez Valdez, more commonly known as Malova, was initially denied the PRI's candidacy for Governor. Malova switched to the PAN Party this spring and was subsequently elected Governor of Sinaloa.

Malova is a licensed accountant and is a native of the Ahome area of Northern Sinaloa. He served as Mayor of Ahome from 2002 to 2004, and then as the Secretary of Planning and Development for Governor Jesus Padilla from 2004 to 2005. In 2006, he began his term as a federal senator for Sinaloa, until his election as Governor in July 2010.

His "no-tolerance, no-negotiation" policy for dealing with criminal activity proved to be a power message in an election that saw over 50% voter turnout in Sinaloa, their highest in history.