[1] After graduating from teacher-training college and entering politics, he served as the mayor of his hometown and as a local deputy in the Congress of Colima.

He was selected as the PRI's candidate in the 2003 gubernatorial election and, after heated disputes and the annulment of the first round, he was declared the victor and began his term as Governor on January 1, 2004.

Vázquez Montes triumphed in the elections held on July 6, 2003, obtaining the majority of votes cast, compared to his opponent, the PAN candidate.

However, regular elections were nullified by the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power of the Federation stating illegal intervention in the same of Governor Fernando Moreno Peña.

The governor was killed, along with the pilot, Captain Mario Torres González, and copilot, Captain Germán Ascencio Fauvet; the Colima state secretaries of tourism and finance, Roberto Preciado Cuevas and Luis Ramón Barreda Cedillo; the state's tourism director, Guillermo Díaz Zamorano; and local Coparmex president Alejandro Dávila.