| José Francisco Ruiz Massieu | |
|---|---|
| Governor of Guerrero | |
| In office April 1, 1987 – March 31, 1993 |
|
| President | Carlos Salinas de Gortari |
| Preceded by | Alejandro Cervantes Delgado |
| Succeeded by | Rubén Figueroa Alcocer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 22, 1946 Acapulco, Guerrero |
| Died | September 28, 1994 Mexico City |
| Political party | Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) |
| Profession | Lawyer, politician |
José Francisco Ruiz Massieu (Acapulco, Guerrero, July 22, 1946 – Mexico City, September 28, 1994) was a Mexican political figure. He was governor of Guerrero from 1987 to 1993. He then served as the secretary-general of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1994. His term ended with his assassination.
José Francisco Ruiz Massieu was the brother-in-law of Carlos Salinas and was due to become the PRI majority leader in the Chamber of Deputies. All that changed on September 28, 1994 when he was murdered by a gunman in front of a party building one block from swank Paseo de la Reforma avenue in downtown Mexico City.
Within two weeks he turs , PRI Deputy Manuel Muñoz Rocha was linked to the assassination. Two weeks later, the assistant attorney general investigating the case, Mario Ruiz Massieu, the brother of the assassinated politician, resigned. He asserted that he had proof that high officials in the PRI were blocking his investigation.
On February 28, 1995, Raúl Salinas, the brother of former President Carlos Salinas, was arrested as the mastermind of the Ruiz Massieu assassination. Three days later Mario Ruiz Massieu was arrested in Newark, NJ, USA, boarding a plane to Madrid while carrying USD $46,000 in unreported cash. The government charged him with impeding the investigation of his brother's murder. The government also found seventeen million dollars in U.S. bank accounts linked to Mario Ruiz Massieu. He was not found deportable.[1] Mario Ruiz Massieu committed suicide in 1999.[2][3]
Raúl Salinas was found guilty on January 21, 1999.[4][5] On appeal, his sentence was cut to 27 1/2 years.[6]