Carlos Rivera Aceves

Carlos Rivera Aceves was born on 29 June 1941 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He earned a law degree from the University of Guadalajara in 1962 and, in his early years, worked as a schoolteacher.^[1]

He was elected to his first term in Congress in the 1973 mid-term election, representing Jalisco's 13th district.^[2] Six years later, in the 1979 mid-terms, he returned to Congress for Jalisco's 16th district.^[3] He has also served two terms in the Congress of Jalisco and was the municipal president of Zapopan, Jalisco.^[4]

On 22 April 1992, a series of sewer explosions in Guadalajara's sector Reforma destroyed 20 city blocks and killed hundreds.^[5][6] In the aftermath, and under pressure from the federal government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Governor of Jalisco Guillermo Cosío Vidaurri resigned on 30 April.^[7] Rivera Aceves was appointed interim governor in Cosío's stead, where he coordinated the reconstruction effort and oversaw official compensation payments.^[7]

He continued to serve as governor until 1 March 1995, when he handed over the governorship to Alberto Cárdenas Jiménez.^[8] Cárdenas was the state's first governor from the opposition National Action Party (PAN)^[9] and, until Aristóteles Sandoval took office in 2013, Rivera Aceves was the last to come from the ranks of the PRI.^[10]