Auguste Jean Baptiste Vinchon, Propertius and Cynthia at Tivoli

Sextus Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium and died shortly after 15 BC.^[1]

Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of Elegies. He was friends with the poets Gallus and Virgil, and with them had as his patron Maecenas, and through Maecenas the emperor Augustus.

Life[link]

Very little information is known about Propertius outside of his own writing. His praenomen "Sextus" is mentioned by Aelius Donatus,^[2] a few manuscripts list him as "Sextus Propertius", but the rest of his name is unknown. From numerous references in his poetry^[3] it is clear he was born and raised in Umbria; modern Assisi claims for itself the honor of his birthplace. As a boy his father died and the family lost land as part of a confiscation,^[4] probably the same one which reduced Virgil's estates when Octavian alloted lands to his veterans in 41 BC. Combining this with cryptic references in Ovid^[5] implying he was younger than his contemporary Tibullus, a birthdate in the early 40s seems appropriate.

After his father's death, Propertius' mother set him on course for a public career^[6]--indicating his family still had some wealth—while the abundance of obscure mythology present in his poetry indicates he received a good education. Frequent mention of friends like Tullus^[7]--the nephew of Lucius Volcatius Tullus, consul in 33 BCE—plus the fact that he lived on Rome's Esquiline hill^[8] indicate he moved among the children of the rich and politically connected during the early part of the 20's decade. It was during this time that he met Cynthia, the older woman^[9] who would inspire him to express his poetic genius.

Propertius published a first book of love elegies in 25 BCE, with Cynthia herself as the main theme; the book's complete devotion gave it the natural title Cynthia Monobiblos. The Monobiblos must have attracted the attention of Maecenas, a patron of the arts who took Propertius into his circle of court poets. A second, larger book of elegies was published perhaps a year later, one that includes poems addressed directly to his patron and (as expected) praises for Augustus. The 19th century classics scholar Karl Lachmann argued—based on the unusually large number of poems in this book and Propertius' mention of tres libelli^[10]--that the single book II actually comprises two separate books of poetry mashed together in the manuscript tradition. Though some editors have previously numbered the poems accordingly, the idea has fallen out of favor in more recent times.

The publication of a third book came sometime after 23 BC.^[11] Its content shows the poet beginning to move beyond simple love themes, as some poems (e.g. III.5) use Amor merely as a starting point for other topics. The book also shows the poet growing tired of the demanding yet fickle Cynthia,^[12] and implies a bitter end to their torrid love affair. Book IV, published sometime after 16 BC, displays more of the poet's ambitious agenda, and includes several aetiological poems explaining the origin of various Roman rites and landmarks.

Book IV—the last Propertius wrote—has only half the number of poems as Book I. Given the change in direction apparent in his poetry, scholars assume only his death a short time after publication prevented him from further exploration; the collection may in fact have been published posthumously. It is also possible that Propertius had children, either with Cynthia or a later liaison.^[13] An elegy of Ovid dated to 2 BCE makes it clear that Propertius was dead by this time.

Poetry[link]

Propertius' fame rests on his four books of elegies, totaling around 92 poems (the exact number cannot be known as over the intervening years, scholars have divided and regrouped the poems creating doubt as to the precise number). All his poems are written using the elegiac couplet, a form in vogue among the Roman social set during the late 1st century BC.

Like nearly all the elegists, Propertius' work is dominated by the figure of a single woman, one he refers to throughout his poetry by the pseudonym Cynthia. She is named in over half the elegies of the first book and appears indirectly in several others, right from the first word of the first poem in the Monobiblos:

Apuleius^[14] identifies her as a woman named Hostia, and Propertius suggests^[15] she is a descendent of the Roman poet Hostius. Scholars guess that she was probably a courtesan. Propertius frequently compliments her as docta puella 'learned girl',^[16] and, like Sulpicia, she herself was a writer of verse.^[17] Their affair veers wildly between emotional extremes, and as a lover she clearly dominates his life at least through the publication of the third book:

It is difficult to precisely date many of Propertius' poems, but they chronicle the kind of declarations, passions, jealousies, quarrels, and lamentations that were commonplace subjects among the Latin elegists. The last two poems in book III seem to indicate a final break with her (versibus insignem te pudet esse meis - "It is a shame that my verses have made you famous"^[18]), and Cynthia died some time before the publication of the final book IV. In this last book Cynthia is the subject of only two poems, best regarded as a postscript. The bi-polar complexity of the relationship is amply demonstrated in a poignant (if amusing) poem from the final book IV. Cynthia's ghost addresses Propertius from beyond the grave with criticism (among other things) that her funeral was not lavish enough, yet the longing of the poet remains in the final line inter complexus excidit umbra meos. - "Her shade then slipped away from my embrace.".^[19]

Book IV strongly indicates Propertius was planning a new direction for his poetry. The book includes several aetiological poems which, in reviewing the mythological origins of Rome and its landmarks, can also be read as critical—even vaguely subversive—of Augustus and his agenda for the new Rome. The position is currently a subject of debate among modern classics scholars.^[20] The final poem^[21] is a touching address by the recently deceased Cornelia consoling her husband Paullus and their three children. Although the poem (given Cornelia's connection to Augustus' family) was most likely an imperial commission, its dignity, nobility, and pathos have led critics to call it the "queen of the elegies", and it is commonly considered the best in the collection.

Propertius' style is marked by seemingly abrupt transitions (in the manner of Latin neoteric poetry) and a high and imaginative allusion, often to the more obscure passages of Greek and Roman myth and legend. His idiosyncratic use of language, together with the corrupted state of the text, have made his elegies a challenge to edit; among the more famous names who have offered criticism of and emendations to the text have been the classicist John Percival Postgate and the English poet A. E. Housman.

Textual Problems[link]

The text contains many syntactic, organizational and logical problems as it has survived. Some of these are no doubt exacerbated by Propertius' bold and occasionally unconventional use of Latin. Others have led scholars to alter and sometimes rearrange the text as preserved in the manuscripts.

A total of 146 Propertius manuscripts survive, the oldest of which dates from the 12th century. However, some of the poems in these manuscripts appear disjointed, such as I.8, which begins as a plea for Cynthia to abandon a planned sea voyage, then closes with sudden joy that the voyage has been called off. This poem has therefore been split by most scholars into a I.8a (comprising the first 26 lines) and I.8b (lines 27-46). More complicated organizational problems are presented by poems like II.26, a confusing piece in which Propertius first (1) dreams of Cynthia being shipwrecked, and then (2) praises Cynthia's faithfulness. Following this, he (3) declares that she plans to sail and he will come along, (4) shifts to the couple together on the shore, and then (5) quickly has them back on-board ship, ready to face the potential dangers of the sea. The images seem to conflict logically and chronologically, and have led different commentators to rearrange the lines or assume some lacuna in the text.

More modern critics^[22] have pointed out that all the proposed rearrangements assume Propertius' original poetry adhered strictly to the classical literary principles as set down by Aristotle, and so the apparent jumble is a result of manuscript corruptions. Another possibility is that Propertius was deliberately presenting disjointed images in violation of principles such as the Classical Unities, a theory which argues for different unifying structures in Propertius' elegies. This interpretation also implies that Propertius' style represented a mild reaction against the orthodoxy of classical literary theory.

Influence[link]

Propertius himself says he was popular and even scandalous in his own day.^[23] Horace, however, says that he would have to "endure much" and "stop up his ears" if he had to listen to "Callimachus...to please the sensitive stock of poets";^[24] Postgate and others see this as a veiled attack on Propertius, who considered himself the Roman heir to Callimachus.^[25] This judgement also seems to be upheld by Quintilian, who ranks the elegies of Tibullus higher and is somewhat dismissive of the poet, but Propertius' popularity is attested by the presence of his verses in the graffiti preserved at Pompeii.

Propertius fell into obscurity in the Middle Ages, but was rediscovered during the Italian Renaissance along with the other elegists. Petrarch's love sonnets certainly show the influence of his writing, and Aeneas Silvius (the future Pope Pius II) titled a collection of his youthful elegies "Cinthia". There are also a set of "Propertian Elegies" attributed to the English writer Ben Jonson, though the authorship of these is disputed. Goethe's 1795 collection of "Elegies" also shows some familiarity with Propertius' poetry.

Propertius is the lyrical protagonist of Joseph Brodsky's poem "Anno Domini" (1968), originally written in Russian.

Modern assessment[link]

In the 20th century Ezra Pound's poem "Homage to Sextus Propertius" cast Propertius as something of a satirist and political dissident,^[26] and his translation/interpretation of the elegies presented them as ancient examples of Pound's own Imagist theory of art. Pound identified in Propertius an example of what he called (in "How to Read") 'logopoeia', "the dance of the intellect among words." Gilbert Highet, in Poets in a Landscape, attributed this to Propertius' use of mythic allusions and circumlocution, which Pound mimics to more comic effect in his Homage. The imagist interpretation, the poet's tendency to sustain an interior monologue, and the deeply personal nature of his poetry have made Propertius a favorite in the modern age. Two modern English translations of his work have appeared since 2000,^[27] and the playwright Tom Stoppard in his masterwork The Invention of Love suggests the poet was responsible for much of what the West regards today as "romantic love".

Latin editions[link]

• Emil Baehrens, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, 1880
• John Percival Postgate, Cambridge, 1894
• E.A. Barber, Oxford Classical Text, 1953 (2nd ed., 1960)
• W.A. Camps, Book 1, Cambridge, 1961
• L. Richardson, Jr., Lawrence, Okla., 1977
• Rudolf Hanslik, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, 1979
• Paolo Fedeli, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, 1984
• Paolo Fedeli, Book 3, Bari, 1985
• G.P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library, 1990
• Robert J. Baker, Book 1, Warminster, 2000
• Paolo Fedeli, Book 2, Cambridge, 2005
• Giancarlo Giardina, Rome, 2005
• Simone Viarre, Collection Budé, 2005
• Gregory Hutchinson, Book 4, Cambridge, 2006
• S. J. Heyworth, Oxford Classical Text, 2007

References[link]

• Propertius, The Poems (Oxford World's Classics) - see especially Lyne's introduction
• David Slavitt, Propertius in Love: The Elegies Univ. of Cal. Press (2002)
• Vincent Katz, The Complete Elegies of Sextus Propertius Princeton University Press (2004)
• D.Feeney, Literature and Religion at Rome: Cultures, Contexts, and Beliefs
• M.Beard, J. North & S.Price, Religions of Rome
• J.North, 'Religion and Politics: from Republic to Principate' in Journal of Roman Studies 76
• J.Hallett, 'Queens, princeps and women of the Augustan elite: Propertius' Cornelia elegy and the Res Gestae Divi Augusti' in R. Winkes (ed.) 'The Age of Augustus'
• Max Turiel, " Propertivs: Algunas Elegías y Variaciones ", Spanish edition, ( Ediciones RIE, 2008 ), ISBN 978-84-96785-56-4.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

See also...
Quotations at Wikiquote
Works at Project Gutenberg
Works at Domínio Público
Works at Dominio Público

• The Elegies of Propertius at The Latin Library
• English translations of Propertius with introductory essay and notes by Jon Corelis
• Complete English translation of the Elegies by A. S. Kline
• Propertius at the Perseus Project
• Propertius and cacozelia latens

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010)

Antonio Alatorre Chávez (July 25, 1922 – October 21, 2010^[1]) was a Mexican writer, philologist and translator, famous due to his influential academic essays about Spanish literature, and because of his book Los 1001 años de la lengua española (The 1001 Years of the Spanish Language)^[2]

Early years[link]

Antonio Alatorre was born in Autlán de la Grana, Jalisco. He studied Latin, Greek, French and English during his youth. He would study Law at the beginning, but switched instead to Literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Philology at El Colegio de México (Colmex). He studied in France and Spain with professors such as Raymond Lebergue and Marcel Bataillon.^[3]

Works[link]

He was the director of El Colegio de México from 1953 to 1972, when he edited and directed the Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica.^[3] He taught since 1943 and participated at conferences and courses in several countries. He won Mexico's National Price of Linguistics and Literature in 1998.^[4] He was appointed as a member of El Colegio Nacional on September 13, 2001 and as an honorary member of Academia Mexicana de la Lengua in September 2001.^[5] He died in Mexico City.

Journals[link]

In addition to the Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica (NRFH), Alatorre edited Pan^{[disambiguation needed ]} (Guadalajara, 1945), Historia Mexicana (El Colegio de México, 1952–1959), was the co-director of the Revista Mexicana de Literatura (1958–1960) and participated in Diálogos and Nexos.

Books[link]

• El apogeo del castellano. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México.
• Enigmas ofrecidos a la casa del placer de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (edición comentada). El Colegio de México.
• Ensayos sobre crítica literaria. Centro Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CNCA).
• Juana de Asbaje de Amado Nervo (Introducción y edición). CNCA.
• Los 1001 años de la lengua española. 3a. ed. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. 2002.
• El sueño erótico en la poesía española de los siglos de oro. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2003.
• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Obras completas, t. I, 2a ed. (Introducción, edición y notas). México: FCE, 2009.

Translations[link]

• Bataillon, Marcel. Erasmo y España. Estudios sobre la historia espiritual del siglo XVI, translation from French corrected by Antonio Alatorre. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1950. (The second edition was published in Madrid in 1964.)
• Curtius, E. R. Literatura europea y Edad Media Latina (two volumes), translated from German by Antonio Alatorre and Margit Frenk. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1975.
• Chevalier, Francois. La formación de los latifundios en México, translated from French by Antonio Alatorre. Problemas Agrícolas e Industriales de México. México, 1956. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1976.
• Freire, Paulo. Cartas a Guinea-Bissau. Apuntes de una experiencia pedagógica en proceso, translated from Portuguese by Antonio Alatorre. Siglo XXI. Madrid, 1977.
• Gerbi, Antonello. La disputa del Nuevo Mundo 1750-1900, second edition, corrected, prologue and translated by Antonio Alatorre, Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1983.
• ————————. La naturaleza de las Indias Nuevas (de Cristóbal Colón a Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo), translated by Antonio Alatorre. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1978.
• Highet, G. La tradición clásica. Influencias griegas y romanas en la literatura occidental (two volumes), translated from English by Margit Frenk and Antonio Alatorre. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1954.
• Humphreys, Robert Arthur. William Robertson y su historia de América, translated by Antonio Alatorre. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 1958.
• King, Willard F. Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, letrado y dramaturgo. Su mundo mexicano y español, translated and edited by Antonio Alatorre. El Colegio de México. 1989.
• Lacan, Jacques. De la psicosis paranoica en su relación con la personalidad, translated from French by Antonio Alatorre, Siglo XXI, 1976.
• Las "Heroidas" de Ovidio y su huella en las letras españolas, translated into Spanish and notes by Antonio Alatorre. UNAM. México, 1950. (A new editions, with "lots of corrections" was published by Mexico's Secretariat of Public Education in 1987).
• Machado de Asís, J. M. Memorias póstumas de Blas Cubas, translated from Portuguese by Antonio Alatorre. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1951.
• Pereida Graáa Aranha, José. Canáan, translation and notes by Antonio Alatorre. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1954.
• Rodríguez, José Honorio. Historiografía del Brasil, siglo XVI, translation from Portuguese by Antonio Alatorre. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 1957.
• ————————. Historiografía del Brasil, siglo XVIII, translation from Portuguese by Antonio Alatorre. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 1963.
• Sapir, Edward. El lenguaje. Introducción al estudio del habla, translated from English by Margit Frenk and Antonio Alatorre. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1954. (Later, eight editions of this book were published.)
• Sarrailh, Jean. La España ilustrada de la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII, translated from French by Antonio Alatorre. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1957.
• Varios autores. Portugal en revolución, translated from Portuguese by Antonio Alatorre. Siglo XXI, 1977.
• Warren, Howard Crosley, Diccionario de psicología, translated by Antonio Alatorre, E. Imaz and L. Alaminos, 3rd. ed. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1948.
• Wedgwood, Cicely Verónica. Guillermo el taciturno. Guillermo de Nassau, Príncipe de Orange, 1533-1584, translation by Antonio Alatorre and J. Díez-Canedo. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1947.
• Williams, George H. La Reforma radical, translated from English by Antonio Alatorre. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1983.
• Zavala, Silvio. Programa de historia de América en la Época colonial, translated by Antonio Alatorre. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 1961.

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Solana, Fernando (2006). Educación: visiones y revisiones México, Siglo XXI, ISBN 968-23-2647-8. Web page search made on December 6, 2009.

External links[link]

• Academic resume^{[dead link]}
• El Colegio Nacional. "Filología. Alatorre Chávez, Antonio". http://www.colegionacional.org.mx/SACSCMS/XStatic/colegionacional/template/content.aspx?se=vida&te=detallemiembro&mi=110. Retrieved 22 October 2010. 

Fernando Eimbcke

Fernando Eimbcke (born in 1970 in Mexico City) is a Mexican film director and screenwriter.

Fernando Eimbcke studied film direction at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos of the UNAM (1992–1996). He started his career directing music videoclips and short films. His feature debut in Mexican cinema was the 2004 Temporada de patos (Duck Season), which won several Film Festival awards including the Ariel Award for Best Film. His latest film, Lake Tahoe was received positively at the Berlin International Film Festival, winning two awards.

Filmography[link]

• Temporada de patos (2004)
• Perro que ladra (2005)
• Lake Tahoe (2008)

Short films[link]

• The Look of Love (2003)
• No sea malito (2003)
• La suerte de la fea... a la bonita no le importa (2002)
• No todo es permanente (1996)
• Disculpe las molestias (1994)
• Alcanzar una estrella (1993)

Awards[link]

[edit] Primer Concurso Nacional De Proyectos De Cortometraje

• The First National Contest of Short Film Project
  • La suerte de la fea… a la bonita no le importa

[edit] MTV Movie Awards Mexico

Nominations[link]

2001

• Favorite Video ("Video de la gente", or The people's video) for his video for Genitallica

• Favorite Video for his videos for Jumbo

• Favorite Video for his video for Plastilina Mosh (1998)

[edit] AFI Fest - 2004

• Won Grand Jury Prize
  • For Temporada de patos

[edit] Ariel Award - 2005

Silver Ariel[link]

• Best Director (Mejor Dirección)
  • For Temporada de patos

• Best First Work - Fiction (Mejor Ópera Prima Ficcón)
  • For Temporada de patos

• Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Mejor Guión Cinematográfico Original)
  • For Temporada de patos

Nominations[link]

• Best short film
  • For No todo es permanente

[edit] Guadalajara Film Festival

FIPRESCI Prize[link]

• For Temporada de patos

Mayahuel Award[link]

• Best Director
  • For Temporada de patos

• Best Screenplay
  • For Temporada de patos

[edit] Paris Film Festival 2005

• Special Jury Prize
  • For Temporada de patos

Nominated[link]

• Grand Prix
  • For Temporada de patos

[edit] Thessaloniki Film Festival 2004

• Best Director
  • For Temporada de patos

Nominated[link]

• Golden Alexander
  • For Temporada de patos

[edit] Valladolid International Film Festival 2004

• Nominated Golden Spike
  • For Temporada de patos

[edit] Berlin International Film Festival 2008

Nominated[link]

• Golden Berlin Bear
  • For Lake Tahoe

Won[link]

• Alfred Bauer Award
  • For Lake Tahoe
• FIPRESCI Prize
  • For Lake Tahoe

External links[link]

• Profile at the International Film Festival Rotterdam site
• Profile (Spanish) at the Temporada de patos site
• Fernando Eimbcke at the Internet Movie Database

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Enrique Peña Nieto
Peña Nieto at the World Economic Forum on Latin America (2010)
Governor of the State of Mexico
In office September 16, 2005 – September 15, 2011
Preceded by	Arturo Montiel
Succeeded by	Eruviel Ávila Villegas
Personal details
Born	(1966-07-20) July 20, 1966 (age 45) Atlacomulco, Mexico
Political party	Institutional Revolutionary Party
Spouse(s)	Mónica Pretelini Sáenz (1993–2007; her death) Angélica Rivera (2010–present)
Children	Paulina Alejandro Nicole
Alma mater	Panamerican University Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Enrique Peña Nieto (born July 20, 1966) is a Mexican politician. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI), he served as governor of the State of Mexico from 2005 to 2011. On September 19, 2011, he announced his candidacy in the 2012 Mexican presidential election to succeed Felipe Calderón,^[1] and formally registered his candidacy on November 27, 2011.^[2]

Family[link]

Peña Nieto was born at Atlacomulco in Mexico State.^[3] His father, Gilberto Enrique Peña del Mazo, worked for the Comisión Federal de Electricidad and his mother, María del Perpetuo Socorro Ofelia Nieto Sánchez, was a school teacher. Peña is related to several politicians: Severiano Peña, mayor of Acambay in 1914, 1916, 1921 and 1923; Alfredo del Mazo González, former governor; and Arturo Montiel Rojas, also former governor. In 1993, Peña married his first wife Mónica Pretelini with whom he had three children: Paulina, Alejandro and Nicole. Pretelini died on January 11, 2007 due to an epileptic episode.^[4][5][6] In 2008, Peña Nieto announced publicly in a TV show ^[7] his romantic relationship with Televisa soap opera actress Angélica Rivera. Rivera and Peña Nieto married on November 27, 2010 in Toluca.

On 5 April 2012, Yahoo! News published an article which mentions that Peña Nieto's alleged ex-partner had released a picture on her Twitter account (@MaritzaDiazHdz) of herself, Peña Nieto, and their supposed son.^[8] They had reportedly procreated this son while Peña Nieto was still married to his first wife.^[8]

Education[link]

During an interview published in Mexican Leaders magazine, Peña Nieto relates how he participated in his first political exercises as a junior in high school when he served as representative for his class during public ceremonies. However, his formal training and first incursions in state politics would wait until the end of his studies.^[9]

Peña Nieto has a Bachelor's degree from the Universidad Panamericana and a Master's in Business at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM).

Political beginnings[link]

In May 1990 he became secretary of the Citizen Movement of Zone I of the State Directive Committee of the National Confederation of Popular Organizations (CNOP). A year later he participated as delegate to the Organization and Citizen Front in different municipalities of the Estado de México. He also served as instructor at the Electoral Training Center of the PRI. During this time Peña Nieto also held administrative positions in the state government. Between 1993 and 1998, during Emilio Chuayfett’s term as governor, he was chief of staff for the Secretary of economic development of the State of Mexico. At the end of this period he worked as deputy secretary of government for the State of Mexico (1999–2000).^[10]

During the period between 2000 and 2002 Peña Nieto exercised different tasks for the state's administration: government administration secretary, president of the directive council for the Social Security Institute of the State of Mexico and its municipalities, president of the internal council of the Health Institute of the State of Mexico and vice-president for the State of Mexico’s government board for the Integral Family Development System (DIF). In the meantime he was individual member of the National Institute of Public Administration and member of the administrative council for different decentralized public agencies.

Local council and his run for Mexico State’s governorship[link]

His work as a state functionary and within his party helped Peña Nieto built his political career and his subsequent move into electoral positions. As a member of the PRI's National and State Political Council and delegate to the PRI's XVIII General Assembly in 2001, Peña Nieto was nominated for the local representative spot for the XIII District in the LV Legislature and he won the election.

Between September 2003 and September 2004 he was named coordinator of the PRI's parliamentary group in the LV Legislature and as Chairman of the Board of Political Coordination of the local congress. According to the book Enrique Peña Nieto, Memory of a campaign,^[11] Peña Nieto was able to get 92% of his initiatives approved unanimously.

On October 17, 2004, he officially began his participation in the PRI's internal nomination process for the governorship of the State of Mexico. The other candidates considered for the governorship were: Guillermo González Martínez, Gustavo Cárdenas Monroy, Jaime Vázquez Castillo, Eduardo Bernal Martínez, Fernando Alberto García Cuevas, Cuauhtémoc García Ortega, Isidro Pastor Medrano, Enrique Jacob Rocha, Héctor Luna de la Vega and Carlos Hank Rhon. These pre-candidates took part in conferences, seminars, round tables, and tours, whittling the original list to only six candidates participating in the official nomination process. On January 14, 2005, Peña Nieto was the last man standing. On February 12, 2005, with 15,000 sympathizers in attendance, he was sworn in as candidate for the PRI.^[12]

The PRI and the Green Party (Partido Verde Ecologista de México, PVEM) established an alliance which they claimed was to defend mutual policies of sustainable development, ecology, employment and support for youth. This alliance would nominate just one candidate. This coalition, dubbed “Alliance for Mexico” (PRI-PVEM), was approved by the Electoral Institute of the State of Mexico in March. On April 2, in Cuautitlán Izcalli, Peña Nieto was sworn in as candidate for the PVEM. On the 15th the general council of the Electoral Institute of the State of Mexico (IFE) approved his registration as candidate.^[11]

During this time other political parties announced the names of their respective candidates. National Action Party and Convergence for democracy (Convergencia Democrática, CD) (PAN) -Convergencia united behind candidate Rubén Mendoza Ayala. The Democratic Revolution Party PRD and the Labor Party PT formed their own coalition “United to win” (Unidos para ganar) and nominated Yeidckol Polevnsky.

The 2005 campaign and elections[link]

During the first months of 2005 Peña Nieto offered a list of 617 actions in the regional (118), municipal (474) and state fields (16). Peña Nieto affirmed his absolute commitment to accomplish these actions through a notarized oath signed in Toluca on June 28, 2005. This ceremony took place during his campaign's closing event which took place in Ecatepec.^[11] The election was set on Sunday July 3 of 2005, two weeks later, on August 12, Peña Nieto received the certificate which accredited him as the elected governor of the State of Mexico. He got 49% of the votes.

Governor of The State of Mexico[link]

On September 15, 2005, Peña Nieto was sworn in as constitutional governor of the State of Mexico at the Morelos theater in Toluca in front of a 5000 people, which included all the members of Parliament of the LV local Legislature.^[13]

The activities of his first year as a governor are reviewed in his First Government Inform presented on September 6, 2006.^[14] In the context of the questioned federal elections which lead the candidate of the PAN, Felipe Calderón to the victory, he invited to a national dialogue. He reported positive advances on the economic indicators of the state and the achievement of the acquired agreements during his campaign regarding education, housing and agricultural support.

Over all, there were 608 commitments signed before a public notary, all of which were supposedly achieved during Peña Nieto’s 6 year term, through more than 790 public works and 63 actions. The most important ones are those of highway infrastructure, which tripled under Peña’s government.^[15] The major projects in public transportation were the Suburban Train and the “Mexibus”, both meant to communicate Mexico City with the State of Mexico; providing service to more than 200 thousand people every day. Regarding public health services, 196 hospitals and medical centers were built throughout the state and the number of mobile units to attend remote and vulnerable areas doubled it's number. The funds for these and all the other commitments were obtained through the restructure of the state’s public debt, strategy designed by his first Secretary of Finance, Luis Videgaray Caso; managing to keep the debt from increasing during Peña Nieto's term, also because the tax base was broadened up to the point were it doubled in six years.^[16] During the course of the 2012 campaign, the National Action Party has questioned the completion of at least 100 of the commitments previously mentioned,^[17] and responding to this, the PRI presented a web page with the description of each commitment and when, where they were achieved.^[18] Peña Nieto claimed that he halved the murder rate in the State of Mexico, but retracted from this claim after The Economist showed that the murder rate did not diminish but that murders were now being measured in a different way.^[19]

On May 3, 2006, the public forces intervened in San Salvador Atenco to stop a group of flower traders from being installed in one of the main streets. After a few hours a clash between the federal, state, municipal police and the inhabitants of the region was produced, an altercation later known as the 2006 civil unrest in San Salvador Atenco. As a result, a 14 year-old boy died. The following day the state police got in to take over the situation and arrested 211 persons.^[20] Facts around this event have been contested and Amnesty International has asserted that during this event people were arrested without explanation and that several claims of sexual, physical and psychological abuse were made.^[21][22] This NGO also claims that investigations ordered by the government regarding these acts lacked objectivity and that people who still remain in custody have not yet met fair trials.^[23]

During his second year of government his wife Mónica Pretelini died on the evening of January 11, 2007. Her neurologist affirms that her patient suffered an epileptic crisis which produced arrhythmia. This led her to have a respiratory arrest and to her death at the ABC hospital after treating her at the emergency room of the Centro Médico de Toluca.^[24][25]