Fidel Kuri Grajales

Fidel Kuri Grajales (born 24 February 1962) is a Mexican businessman and politician from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He served as a deputy to the LXIII Legislature of the Mexican Congress, representing Veracruz's 15th electoral district, which includes the city of Orizaba. He also served as a deputy in the LXI Legislature. He was the incumbent chairman of the Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz football club.

Political and business career Kuri Grajales was born on 24 February 1962 in Orizaba, Veracruz, and pursued an undergraduate degree in business administration, which he abandoned in 1981. A reputation for incomplete projects has continued to dog Transmilenia; one 2015 report called it the company's "hallmark" .

In 2009, Kuri was elected to serve what would be the first of two terms in the federal Chamber of Deputies, representing Veracruz's 15th electoral district. During his first tour in San Lázaro, he sat on the Youth and Sports, Communications, Citizen Participation, Tourism and Gender Equality Commissions.

Sports Kuri Grajales has owned several soccer teams. In 2008, he bought his local team, the Albinegros de Orizaba, who played in the Liga de Ascenso. In 2011, he transferred the franchise to the state government, which moved it to Veracruz as the Tiburones Rojos.

Kuri then bought the Reboceros de La Piedad, which earned promotion to the Liga MX in 2013. The team was relocated from Michoacán to Veracruz to become the most recent incarnation of the Tiburones Rojos, effectively promoting the Veracruz team. When they won the Copa MX in April 2016, Kuri allowed Héctor Yunes Landa, the PRI's candidate for governor, to hoist the cup. In 2015, Proceso reported that the deal to move to Veracruz had occurred by way of an indefinite contract, in which Governor Javier Duarte sold Kuri's company, Promotora Deportiva del Valle de Orizaba, A.C., the rights to the name, logo, stadium and practice facilities at no cost. This contract was never signed by the state congress and legally expired in January 2014, though Kuri continues to profit from the club's intellectual property.

The Mexican Football Federation suspended Kuri Grajales from all soccer-related activities in January 2016 and imposed a fine of 146,000 pesos for being involved in an altercation with the head of the referees, Edgardo Codesal. He had previously been fined in 2014 for criticism of referees. In September 2016, after a match in Puebla, Kuri, still banned by the FMF, entered the press area and confronted a local reporter, earning him an 8-month extension to his suspension. Journalists who witnessed the confrontation noted that Kuri was drunk.

In May 2016, Kuri Grajales became the center of controversy when he threatened to move the Tiburones Rojos if the PRI did not win the impending gubernatorial elections; Tamaulipas, Sinaloa and Yucatán were floated as potential landing pads for the franchise. These statements ran contrary to Article 7 of the Code of Ethics of the Mexican Football Federation, which require team owners to "maintain a neutral position in political and religious matters". One week later, Kuri changed his mind and announced that, even though the PRI had lost the election, the Tiburones Rojos would remain in Veracruz.

Kuri was additionally criticized during his Veracruz mayoral campaign for using the team as part of his campaign, including a logo featuring a shark, mixing team and campaign messages on his personal account, and the campaign slogan Veracruz de primera, which also refers to the team remaining in Liga MX.