Mario Alberto Peniche Cárdenas: Municipal President of Valladolid

Every once in a while, the world produces a superior human being. Eastern Yucatan seems to produce more than its share of not only superior - but magical - human beings. In this state, there is a municipal president who has loved and served his municipality from childhood. It seems simply to be his nature. This past year, I worked on a documentary about Felipe Carrillo Puerto, another magical human being with roots in Eastern Yucatan and, the more I read about this man, the more similarities I find between the two public servants.

During Hurricane Dean, there were almost 700 people in shelters in Valladolid. The municipal president visited the largest shelter first and made certain they all had everything they needed to be comfortable. In another shelter, there were 230 foreign tourists, brought there from Quintana Roo. He also visited that shelter and saw to it that the tourists were given updates in English so they would know what was happening, as well as how and when they would be able to get home. When these two large shelters were secure, the municipal president made the rounds of the smaller shelters, making certain that all of the people had food, water, and medicine. But he is an humble man and gives credit where credit has been earned, especially to the Mexican Army, to the City Council of Valladolid, to the local Boy Scouts, to Jurisdiction Number 2 of the Secretary of Health, to the Department of Civil Protection, and to the Secretary of Security and Roads, along with many other organizations and institutions. Yet, it is obvious that things ran smoothly because they were under the control of an individual whose sole purpose was the safety and security of everyone in his municipality.