Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca | |
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Governor of Tamaulipas | |
Assumed office October 1, 2016 |
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Preceded by | Egidio Torre Cantú |
Senator of the Senate of the Republic | |
In office September 1, 2012 – January 29, 2016 |
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Preceded by | José Julián Sacramento Garza |
Succeeded by | TBD |
Member of the Congress of Tamaulipas | |
In office 2008–2010 |
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Municipal President of Reynosa | |
In office 2005–2007 |
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Preceded by | Serapio Cantú Barragán |
Succeeded by | Miguel Ángel Villarreal Ongay |
Federal Deputy for Tamaulipas District II | |
In office September 1, 2000 – August 31, 2003 |
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Preceded by | Armando Garza Cantú |
Succeeded by | Maki Esther Ortíz |
Personal details | |
Born |
McAllen, Texas, United States |
September 17, 1967
Political party | PAN |
Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca (born 17 September 1967) is a Mexican politician affiliated with the PAN, and the current Governor of Tamaulipas. García Cabeza de Vaca has previously served as a local and federal legislator, having served one term in the Chamber of Deputies and three and a half years in the Senate.
García was born in McAllen, Texas and holds dual US and Mexican citizenship; he graduated from McAllen Memorial High School. His family owns Maquinados Industriales de Reynosa and Desarrolladora Cava, companies that have provided service to such clients as Pemex, Caminos y Puentes Federales (CAPUFE), and the National Water Commission (CONAGUA). At the age of 12, he competed as a track and field athlete, the 1979 Tamaulipas state champion. As a result, he was sent to the National Athletic Tournament in Monterrey representing his home state. He received undergraduate degrees in business administration and branding from Houston Baptist University; while at HBU, he played on the school's soccer team. García would also obtain a master's degree from the Universidad de Monterrey and a diploma in project management from a business school in Barcelona.
In the late 1990s, García joined the PAN and began his political career. He served as a regional coordinator for the 1998 Tamaulipas gubernatorial election, and in 2000, he coordinated the Organización Amigos de Fox A.C. Zona Norte de Tamaulipas and was a member of the Consejo Estatal Amigos de Fox, both organizations devoted to the presidential campaign of Vicente Fox. That same year, voters sent him to the LVIII Legislature, where he served as the secretary of the Commission on Population, Borders and Migratory Matters and sat on two work commissions. In 2004, García became a national councilor for the PAN, a position he would hold until 2013.