Office: | Secretary of Citizen Security of Mexico City |
Predecessor: | Jesús Orta Martínez |
Successor: | Pablo Vázquez Camacho |
1Blankname: | Head of Government |
1Namedata: | Claudia Sheinbaum Martí Batres |
Birth Date: | 1982 2, df=y |
Birth Place: | Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico |
Party: | National Regeneration Movement (Morena) |
Alma Mater: | Universidad del Valle de México |
Omar Hamid García Harfuch (born 25 February 1982) is a Mexican politician, public official, and former police officer. A member of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), he served as Secretary of Citizen Security of Mexico City under Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum from 2019 to 2023.
García Harfuch was a candidate for Mayor of Mexico City in the 2024 election. Despite winning his party's nomination for the position, he was replaced by Clara Brugada as Morena's candidate owing to gender-parity rules.
García Harfuch was born in Cuernavaca, Morelos, to Javier García Paniagua, who served as president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Labour Secretary in 1981, and María Harfuch Hidalgo, an actress and singer. He completed a BA in law and public security at the Universidad del Valle de México.[1]
His career in public service began in 2008 when he joined the Federal Police. In 2012 he was promoted to state coordinator of the Federal Police in Guerrero and, in 2015, to the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Attorney-General's office (FGR).[1] On 4 October 2019, he was appointed Chief of Police in the Mexico City government's Secretariat of Citizen Security by Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.[2]
In that capacity he was wounded in his vehicle during an attempted assassination on 26 June 2020 while travelling down the Paseo de la Reforma; two members of his security detail and a passer-by were killed.[3] [4]
In September 2023, he announced his plans to seek his party's nomination for the position of Head of Government of Mexico City. His primary opponent for the nomination was Clara Brugada, mayor of the borough of Iztapalapa. Polling conducted in October 2023 found him to be the most popular candidate among voters, taking 33% to Brugada's 21%.[5] Despite winning the internal selection process, his candidacy was put aside in favor of Clara Brugada because of gender-parity rules.[6]
García Harfuch sought election to be one of Mexico City's two senators in the 2024 Senate election, occupying the first place on the Sigamos Haciendo Historia coalition's two-name formula alongside Ernestina Godoy.[7] The coalition won the election with 54.3% of the vote, assuring Senate seats for the formula's two members.[8] [9] On 5 July 2024, however, president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum announced that García Harfuch was to serve in her cabinet as Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection as of 1 October.[10] His Senate seat will be assumed by his substitute, .[11]