Carlos Hank González (1927–2001), nicknamed El Profesor ("the professor"), was a Mexican politician. He served as the mayor of Mexico City from 1975 to 1982 (at the time an unelected cabinet-level appointment made by the President), governor of his native State of México from 1969 to 1975, and, during the administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, as Secretary of Tourism from 1988 to 1990 and Secretary of Agriculture from 1990 to 1994. He was considered one of the leaders of the old guard wing of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). As mayor of Mexico City, he built the Eje Central and other projects designed to make the city more car-friendly, which had a negative effect on the liveability and physical fabric of Mexico City. Constitutionally barred from running for the Mexican presidency by a provision then in force which excluded those with a foreign-born parent from holding the office (his father was German) he played a major behind the scenes role in the PRI and in the workings of Mexico.
Quotation
- "A politician who is poor, is a poor politician."
