 In 1987, after five years of study, Espino graduated from the Universidad del Noroeste with a degree in business administration; the next year, he began a short stint as a production supervisor at Honeywell Optoelectronics in Ciudad Juárez.Espino's political career continued to center around the PAN in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua.Between 1987 and 1989, he was the secretary of the Civil Resistance organization in the party; he served as a municipal-level general secretary from 1989–91 (which ended when he was tapped to be the interim president of the PAN in Ciudad Juárez), a state councilor between 1990 and 1993, ran for federal deputy in 1991, and served again in the Chihuahua PAN from 1991–92.