Samuel García (politician)

Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda was born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, on December 28, 1987. Since he was a child he has had an interest in public life, as he used to broadcast a children's newscast on channel 28 of the Nuevo León government, and as a high school and undergraduate student at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), where he frequently participated as a speaker. When he was the host of his newscast, he conducted interviews and closed the program with a reading on religious topics, taken from his mother's books.[4]

His father Samuel Orlando García Mascorro in his youth was a farmer from Guardados de Abajo, Tamaulipas, but at the age of 14, he left his community to study at Preparatoria No. 8 of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) and later entered the same university to train as a lawyer and prosecutor, while working to pay for his studies. His mother Bertha Silvia Sepúlveda Andrade was the daughter of Héctor Leopoldo Sepúlveda, owner of several appliance stores. He studied elementary education at the Catholic-inspired Colegio Excélsior. She studied high school at Prepa Tec, and earned a degree in personnel administration at the ITESM, which allowed her to manage the family business and work at Aseguradora Serfín.[4]

He completed his high school education at Colegio San Patricio Monterrey between 1999 and 2002. He then attended Prepa Tec to complete his high school education between 2002 and 2005. Afterward, he enrolled at ITESM and obtained a B.A. Law with minor in Finance, between 2006 and 2010.[5] He continued his studies at ITESM and obtained a master's degree in public law between 2010 and 2012. Subsequently, he obtained a Ph.D. in public policy and public administration at ITESM between 2012 and 2014. Later, he obtained a second Ph.D. in tax law at ITAC University between 2017 and 2019.[6] Finally, he pursued his last Ph.D. in constitutional law and governance at UANL between 2020 and 2022.[7]

In the legal field, he is managing partner of the law firm García Mascorro Abogados, S.C. and founding partner of the law firms Firma Jurídica y Fiscal, S.C. and Firma Contable y Fiscal, S.C.

On March 27, 2020, Samuel García married social media influencer Mariana Rodríguez Cantú, with whom he already had 5 years of relationship. They met in Puerto Vallarta in 2015. Their wedding took place at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Monterrey, in Nuevo León, and photos and videos of the event were quickly disseminated and only a few people attended due to the National Healthy Distance Campaign implemented by the federal government. This caused controversy because it took place when restrictions on social events had begun to be implemented as a preventive measure due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico and were criticized on social media.[8]

On April 26, 2020, through Instagram, they announced that they were having a baby.[9] On May 29, 2020, they announced that since May 27, 2020, Mariana began to have bleeding that eventually led to a miscarriage. They reported that the doctor with whom they were following up on their pregnancy clarified that it occurred due to natural complications and was not due to some mistake by the couple.[10]

On Friday, March 10, 2023, their daughter Mariel was born.[11]

On May 7, 2019 in Milenio Noticias, interviewed by Fernando del Collado, he expressed not to be against the legalization of marijuana, in favor of equal marriage expressing that "the jurisprudence gives them the right" and in favor of abortion where he said: "it is an issue that has edges and I believe that the woman's right to decide should weigh more on the other". He also criticized the political right saying: "I believe that the right or centre-right wants to achieve merit but wearing down the most disadvantaged".[18]

In 2016 a video was shown where he asks for support for a citizen to carry out corruption investigations, but he disagrees with the phrase "I am not your gato (a derogatory term for 'servant')" when he is asked to fulfill his campaign promises.[19]

On February 12, 2018, during a press conference, García was challenged by the former candidate for local deputy, Alberto Abascal Uckles, for the proration made for his pre-campaign, to which García Sepúlveda argued disinformation from INE towards Abascal.[20]

On May 30, 2018, Mexican newspaper El Universal reported family ties of Garcia with Gilberto García Mena, alias "El June", one of the leaders of the Gulf Cartel.[21]

In June 2020, he was accused of falsifying the documentation accrediting the Doctorate in Tax Law he obtained at ITAC University, a private educational center in the city of Monterrey.[22][23] Samuel García had shared photographs of his postgraduate degree and a certificate of honorable mention on the social network Instagram, but several users later pointed out the inconsistency of the ITAC University rector's signatures on both documents and the similarity of one of these with the signature of the vice-rector of the same institution.[23] In his defense, Samuel García published a video in which he argued that the discrepancy was presented by an unofficial document, that he had completed his doctorate in due time and form, and that the person who had signed this document was, in fact, the vice-rector, since the rector was on sick leave.[23] Subsequently, local media Info7 reported that ITAC University had ceased to function and that its facilities were abandoned.[24][25][26]

On August 9, 2020, Samuel García, during an Instagram Live told his wife Mariana Rodríguez: "Turn up the camera, you're showing too much leg. I married you for me, not for you to go around showing".[27][28] Many women in protest uploaded photos showing their legs on Twitter using the hashtag #YoEnseñoLoQueQuiera.[29][30][31] García later apologized and affirmed that it was only a macho joke.[32]

On December 10, 2020, Samuel García, then pre-candidate for governor unleashed mockery on social media after an interview in the digital media Lo Esencial after mentioning that when he was 15 years old, his father made him work in his law office. Although on Fridays he went out for a walk with his friends and returned at two in the morning, his father forced him to get up on Saturday at five in the morning to accompany him to play golf and pay his salary after playing the 18 holes on the course. He said: "I would go to high school from eight to two, and dad would tell mom 'don't feed him, I will get him his food', I would go to the office and later to American football practice, but it was very hard because he would say to me: 'if you want me to pay you for the week, you have to go with me to golf on Saturday and finishing the 18 holes. Then I'll pay you for the week'."[33]

On December 15, 2020, the podcast of the YouTuber Roberto Mtz (Roberto Adrián Martínez Osuna), in which Samuel García participated, started to go viral. During the interview, he was questioned about the salary of high-ranking politicians and if their compensation was not excessive, and if they should be philanthropists. He answered, "I have come across very valuable people who live on a small salary of $40 (thousand), $50 (thousand), and they are happy; they have enough for their family, for school fees". This answer went viral when the fragment (without using the communicator's question) was used as part of an opposition campaign. The response sparked ridicule and even indignation, since in Mexico workers on average barely earn between $3,696 and $7,393 pesos per month for jobs performed in the formal economy.[34][35]

On January 13, 2021, Samuel García entered into controversy, after an interview that the senator conducted in 2015 went viral on social networks, where he states that "in Mexico, in the north, we work, in the center they administer, and in the south, they rest". He pointed out that Mexico's government returns little budget to Nuevo León compared to what the entity pays to the public treasury; unlike states such as Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Tlaxcala, whom he accused of receiving more income. According to García, Mexico distributes money based on "criteria of population, deprivation and poverty", while in the rest of the world, it is distributed according to efficiency, GDP, productivity, and foreign trade.[36]

Faced with the drought crisis in the state of Nuevo Leon at the beginning of 2022 and at the beginning of his administration, Samuel Garcia showed his dissatisfaction with the criticism in social media for an alleged misallocation of water. He pointed out that, as well as in electric energy issues, water supply issues in the state did not fall within his role as Governor.

What caused more controversy and discontent was his attempt to regain people's trust days later with videos through his social networks where he honored the word "explorer" by appearing in different parts of the state closing alleged clandestine dams. He added his controversial "bombardments" to the clouds with silver iodide to, as he said at the beginning, "create clouds" to increase the chances of rain in the state. To date, he has not clarified which supplier is providing the state with this compound, how much the purchase is costing per kilo (since it is a compound with a price in the range of thousands of dollars per kilo), or which panel of experts is advising the bombardments to avoid the damage to the environment that this practice can cause with its excessive use.

Different meteorologists in the state have expressed these doubts, evidencing the lack of knowledge of the Governor on the subject, without receiving a formal or official response from the President.[37][38]