Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, a moral figurehead of Mexico's left and an icon of the nation's struggle for democratic transition, has died at the age of 92. He passed away on October 28 in Mexico City. Throughout his career, Cárdenas served as a senator, governor of the state of Michoacán, and the first elected mayor of Mexico City. He was also a presidential candidate on three occasions, playing a pivotal role in disrupting the authoritarian political system established by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which had held power for over 70 years. The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa described this PRI-dominated era as a "perfect dictatorship" in 1990.
A civil engineering graduate, Cárdenas broke away from the PRI in 1987 after failing to establish democratic reforms within the party alongside a group of dissident friends. His departure carried significant symbolic weight given his lineage; born in 1934, he was the son of General Lázaro Cárdenas, an illustrious PRI president who served from 1934 to 1940. His father remains honored today for nationalizing Mexico's oil industry in 1938 and implementing social policies focused on the poorest sectors of society.
In 1988, known as "the engineer," Cárdenas launched a presidential campaign that unified various leftist currents against the PRI and its candidate, Carlos Salinas, who advocated for neoliberal ideas popular at the time. Despite facing an uneven playing field where Salinas benefited from government resources and the PRI's electoral structure, Cárdenas managed to generate a massive popular movement. His campaign was driven by the slogan "For Democracy" and a promise to prioritize disadvantaged classes over excessive debt repayments. Following this election, which he claimed was marred by fraud, he went on to found the Party of the Democratic Revolution, bringing together the country's main leftist forces.
Sources: Le Monde International.