Marco Lopez Jr.: head of the Arizona-Mexico commission

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, April-May, 2004 by Thomas Whittingslow

Marco Lopez Jr. was elected mayor of Nogales when he was only 22 years old--the youngest in the country. He was reelected in 2002 with a 76 percent majority--quite a feat given the feisty nature of this border community, known for drug tunnels and draconian marijuana busts. His goal is to become governor of Arizona before he is 40 years old.

The Man Who Would Be Governor

Governor Janet Napolitano recently named 26. year-old Marco Lopez Jr. to head up the Arizona. Mexico Commission. She has given him a mandate to revitalize it, making it more accountable. The AMC advises the governors of Arizona and Sonora. The appointment came before Lopez had finished his second term as mayor of Nogales.

Just weeks before, Lopez barely missed taking a bullet at a popular Sonoran Steakhouse. The 9-mm slug hit businessman Manuel Padilla, one of his dinner companions. The police chiefs of Nogales, Arizona, and Sonora were both present at the mayor's table. Speculation continues over the gunman and his intended target.

Lopez is a "politician's politician." His epiphany cane when South African President Nelson Mandela was visiting and said, "When I go to my resting place, I will go smiling, knowing that young people like you will lead such a wonderful country." It occurred while Lopez was working as a page for Congressman Ed Pastore. Lopez was only 19 years old.

Today he is in a pivotal position to influence the agendas of Arizona and Mexico. What can we expect from this new Latino leader? According to the media, Lopez was chosen over border leaders twice his age based on his performance as mayor of Nogales. He was elected mayor of Nogales, Arizona, when he was only 22 years old, one of the youngest in the nation's history. In 2002 he was re-elected with an impressive 76 percent majority, making him the first mayor in the city's history to serve a four-year term.

Looking back, Lopez says leaving the border city with an open and transparent government was one of his main accomplishments.

Lopez looks like he was born in an Armani suit and moves with the confidence of someone twice his age. Together with Juan Pablo Guzman, his press secretary and college friend, they made an indelible impression: the blind press secretary, who resembles a lineman, following the mayor with a hand on his shoulder and wielding a white cane. They changed the image of Nogales in the local media and among politicians in Phoenix.

Guzman's family owns radio stations in Nogales where the young mayor often spoke out on local binational issues in his native language, reaching a big percentage of his constituents in Arizona, whose only source for news is in the Spanish language.

Unfortunately, Mayor Lopez was less successful in making a dent in Nogales's unemployment rate that hovers around 15 percent. The Nogales ports of entry continued to lose market share during iris administration, and economic development remained stagnant. In retrospect, perhaps the young mayor's greatest achievement was making Phoenix and Washington DC more aware of Nogales's importance to Arizona's economy and to Homeland Security. Lopez believes that Governor Napolitano chore him to head the Arizona-Mexico Commission because issues that are important to Arizona take place daily in Nogales.

Finding new ways to attract more business in line with the Napolitano administration's goal of increasing trade with Mexico and Latin America is a top priority. Lopez says that he will be working with other border cities to improve infrastructure, transportation, and security while coming up with ways to help them increase market sham. Ultimately, he hopes to demonstrate the importance of the Mexican market on the Arizona economy. An AMC-sponsored study says that Mexican business and shoppers annually contribute morn than a billion dollars to the state's economy.

If he is going to transform the organization's reputation of being an Old Boy Network into a viable economic factor, Lopez has his hands full. "The governor has stated very clearly that she expects results," he says. Follow-up meetings have been scheduled with the Sonora-Arizona Commission (Mexico's counterpart to the AMC) to make sure that every session has clear, definable goals. "Once these goals are endorsed, the governors of both states have committed to taking a hands-on approach to follow up," Lopez says.

It is a long way from being a University of Arizona political activist, from where he was hired to travel on the advance team of Vice President Gore's presidential campaign. "That's when I became aware of the shortage of young political leaders, particularly Hispanics," Lopez said.

His goal is to become Arizona's governor by the time he is 40, following in the footsteps of Mexican-born Raul Castro, elected in 1974. If Marco Lopez is successful in realizing his goal, he had better hope that Schwarzenegger is successful in changing the US Constitution that limits the presidency to native-born citizens.