Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa (; born 16 January 1966) is a Mexican lawyer and politician who works with the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He served as the Mayor of Mexico City from 2012 to 2018. Mancera graduated from the Faculty of Law of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1989, and he was awarded the Gabino Barreda Medal two years later for being the best student of his class. He has a master's degree from the University of Barcelona and the Metropolitan Autonomous University and a Juris Doctor from the UNAM.
Mancera has been a professor at several universities, including the UNAM, Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico and University of the Valley of Mexico. In 2002, he began working as a bureaucrat when Marcelo Ebrard, the Secretary of Public Security of Mexico City, invited him to be his adviser. In 2006, Mancera became Assistant Attorney General, and from 2008 to 2012, he worked as Attorney General of the city. According to official reports, from 2010 to 2011, crime in Mexico City decreased by up to 12%. Mancera received several awards during his management as Attorney General.
In early 2012, Mancera became the candidate of the Progressive Movement coalition, formed by the PRD, the Labor Party, and the Citizens' Movement Party, for Head of Government of the Federal District in the 1 July 2012, elections. On 7 July 2012, Mancera became mayor-elect after he won with over 63% of the vote, and took office on 5 December 2012.
Miguel Ángel Mancera's administration as Mayor of Mexico City has been under scrutiny by his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum. During these investigations, different officials from his cabinet and from his close team as Head of Government of Federal District have been indicted, imprisoned or remain fugitives. In 2020 Mancera was disqualified from holding any public role in Mexico City for one year due to irregularities in 2018.
Early life and education
He was born on 16 January 1966, in the colonia (neighborhood) Anáhuac, located in the Miguel Hidalgo borough, in Mexico City. His father is the founder of the restaurant chain Bisquets Obregón. Mancera has four half-siblings: Ana, Miguel, Jaime and María del Carmen. When he was four, he lived in the Tacuba neighborhood, where he went to kindergarten. Mancera studied at Miguel Alemán Primary School and Secondary School 45, both located in Benito Juárez borough. He studied high school at Preparatoria 6, a high school that belongs to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). According to Mancera, when he was a teenager he had a car accident, where another car crashed into his, and Mancera was the passenger. The public prosecution service asked Mancera to sign a document that exempted the driver of the car that caused the accident from liability. Mancera asked Victoria Adato Green, then-Attorney General of the Federal District, to pursue the case, assisted by consultor Diego Ramudia, and managed to fine the responsible driver.
Mancera decided to change his career to law. He attended the Faculty of Law of the UNAM from 1985 to 1989. His thesis, "La libertad por desvanecimiento de datos en el Proceso Penal y la Absolución de la Instancia" ("The progressive release of public data on criminal prosecutions and acquittals") won the Diario de México Medal "Los Mejores Estudiantes de México" in November 1990. In November 1991, he was awarded the Gabino Barreda Medal by the UNAM Faculty of Law, for being the best of his class of 1989. Mancera earned his master's degree from the University of Barcelona and the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Azcapotzalco campus, and his Juris Doctor from UNAM, with honors, with his thesis "El injusto en la tentativa y la graduación de su pena en el derecho penal mexicano" ("Injustice and disparity in Mexican criminal sentencing"). His studies included a specialty in penal law at the University of Salamanca and the University of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, under the auspices of the Panamerican University, Mexico.