Most El Pasoans are unaware of the dual citizen political class that has been quietly exerting political power in El Paso’s political system since at least 2019. The Juárez media has taken note of the people who live in El Paso but manage millions in social services and public works projects in Juárez from their luxurious homes in El Paso. The 2019 Who Rules El Paso book argued the case that Paul Foster and Woody Hunt dominate the city’s politics through campaign contributions. The book mentioned Foster’s wife in passing, Alejandra de la Vega Arizpe without fully developing how she uses her wealth to influence political agendas on both sides of the border.
The border marginalizes many, keeps others out and is supposed to keep the cities politics apart, but behind the scenes a dual-citizen political class has emerged.
The rising dual-citizen political class in El Paso is dominated by Alejandra de la Vega Arizpe, the wife of Paul Foster.
At the center of de la Vega’s political clout in Juárez is her close relationship with Chihuahua’s former governor, Javier Corral Jurado. Corral has an open arrest warrant stemming from public corruption charges, but enjoys arrest immunity after being appointed to the senate by Claudia Sheinbaum’s party.
So close is the relationship between the two that in 2016 when Proceso accused her of supporting Donald Trump, not only did she deny it, but Corral also said that she did not support Trump.
The allegation about de la Vega supporting Trump came from the 27 campaign contributions of $803,800 she made to candidates running for federal offices in the U.S. between 2007 and 2016. It appears that after the Proceso article, she stopped making campaign contributions in federal elections.
What is notable about de la Vega’s campaign contributions, besides that she is making them for American candidates running for office in the U.S., is that she was doing so while working closely with Mexican politicians. Not only did she make campaign contributions to candidates from El Paso, but she also made several contributions to Republican committees and candidates in Idaho, Oklahoma, and the Republican National Committee, as well as to Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat.
It is unclear if de la Vega has stopped making campaign contributions since the newspaper exposed them, or if she continues to support candidates through campaign contributions made through her husband, Paul Foster.
It was her appointment in 2016 to the Secretaría de Innovación y Desarrollo Ecónomico (Economic Innovation & Development) by then Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral Jurado that brought scrutiny to de la Vega’s political activities in the U.S.
To accommodate her, Corral moved the offices of the economic development agency to Cd. Juárez and also agreed to keep her wealth and that of her husband, Paul Foster, out of the public record.
Criticized for accommodating her, Corral retorted with “one should only thank Alejandra [de la Vega] for agreeing to work for Chihuahua,” adding that he was “very proud” that she agreed to work with him. [translated from Spanish by author, see below for original]
Facing an economic crisis in Chihuahua, Corral demanded that the federal government do more for the state. Alejandra de la Vega publicly announced that her family supported Corral’s call for federal funds and that the family was prepared to loan the state money if necessary. Shortly after that exchange, Corral appointed her to the economic development agency.
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Although some observers in Juárez were surprised by Corral’s appointment of de la Vega to the state’s economic development agency, this was not the first time de la Vega served on Mexican governmental entities.
In 2012 she served in the Fideicomiso para la Competitividad y Seguridad Ciudadana (FICOSEC) and also in the Mesa de Seguridad y Justicia de Ciudad Juárez (MSCJ). The FICOSEC was created by Chihuahua business owners to help fund justice initiatives, security and violence prevention. The MSCJ is also a public-private partnership that helps to reduce violence across the three governmental levels, local, state and federal.
Mexican politics is not new to Alejandra de la Vega. Her father, Federico de la Vega Mathews, was involved in Juárez local politics, state politics in Chihuahua and worked with presidential candidates for decades. A member of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) party, the father was a candidate for Juárez mayor in 1983.
When she married Paul Foster in 2008, one of the guests was former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994).
De la Vega and her family own the Juárez concession for Carta Blanca, Del Río and Superette convenience stores, as well as the Arco gas stations. She has an interest in the Bravos Juárez soccer team as well as the Chihuahuas baseball team.
Cover picture credit: Picture of Alejandra de la Vega Arispe, January 25, 2021, accepting the appointment of Subcoordinadora Ejecutiva de Gabinete en la frontera y representante
del gobierno en Ciudad Juárez. She was appointed by Javier Corral Jurado.
Corral’s original comments about Alejandra de la Vega Arizpe: “A Alejandra es para darle las gracias por haberse comprometido a trabajar en el gobierno de Chihuahua.”