Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano (born May 1, 1934) is a Mexican politician and civil engineer. He is the son of President Lázaro Cárdenas and has Purépecha ancestry from his father. He studied civil engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and attended Colegio Williams.
He began his political career in the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), serving as a senator for Michoacán from 1976 to 1980 and as governor of Michoacán from 1980 to 1986. In the late 1980s, he helped form a new leftist movement and became the first president of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), a position he held from 1989 to 1993.
Cárdenas ran for president in 1988 as part of a left-wing coalition. The election was highly controversial, and many blamed electoral fraud after a system crash during vote counting became a symbol of the dispute. He remained a leading PRD figure and ran again in 1994, finishing third with about 17% of the national vote.
In 1997, he was elected Head of Government of Mexico City (a role comparable to mayor) and served until 1999, when he resigned to pursue the presidency again. He ran in 2000 and finished third as Vicente Fox of the PAN won the election.
In 2014, Cárdenas left the PRD and has since been associated with independent politics. He has been affiliated with several parties over the years, including the Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution. He is married to Celeste Batel (the couple wed in 1963; she died in 2021) and has three children, including Lázaro Cárdenas Batel. In September 2020, he publicly stated he had tested positive for COVID-19.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:41 (CET).