Newly sworn in acting mayor embodies this binational city

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Photo by DAVID MAUNG
February 20, 2007

TIJUANA – Kurt Honold Morales has never held public office, and never aspired to – he prefers business, he says. But yesterday, the 46-year-old telecommunications executive was sworn in as acting mayor of Tijuana, a city of about 1.5 million people.

Honold is stepping in as Jorge Hank Rhon steps down to run for governor of Baja California more than nine months before the end of his three-year term. Honold is a longtime business associate of Hank's; since the 2004 campaign he has been the mayoral suplente, or designated successor who would fill in if Hank did not complete his term.

If Honold's public profile has been low, he belongs to a family with deep roots in the region, and is part of a social and economic elite whose lifestyles and businesses often span the border. Honold owns houses in Tijuana and the Coronado Cays and sends his children to school in San Diego.

“We live here in a binational city, it's always been that way,” said Honold, who during the 1980s ran a maquiladora and served as president of the Tijuana Maquiladora Association.