Fernando Zárate Salgado

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Fernando Zárate Salgado (born 16 August 1979 in Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City) is a Mexican politician from the Morena party. He studied law at ITAM and Columbia University, and earned a PhD from UNAM.

He has held multiple legislative and government roles. As a federal deputy in the 62nd Congress (2012–2015), he represented the 17th district of the Federal District for the PRD. He later served in the Mexico City Congress (2015–2018) for the 25th district, where he was Secretary of the International and Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of the Constitutional Reforms and Justice Committee. As President of the Special Gaming Committee, he exposed corruption in casino licenses during the Calderón administration and pushed a reform package for gaming and casinos. He was also a pioneer in tax proposals, becoming the first to file a bill to tax sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food, a measure that Mexico became known for worldwide.

In March 2015 he left the PRD after denouncing corruption within the party, and in May 2015 he faced political attacks while seeking a local seat with PRI/PVEM while defending the rights of an indigenous community. He continued public service as a member and later Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (2015–2018), where he led the Metropolitan Area Committee. He spoke out against illegal land use by major construction firms, filed criminal and human rights cases against Mexico City’s Mayor and other officials, and contributed to the political shifts that helped Morena gain momentum in the 2018 elections. He served as Chairman of Mexico City’s Congress in 2018 and helped advance the reconstruction law after the 2017 earthquake.

From 2022 to 2023 he was Undersecretary of Welfare in Mexico City, handling homelessness programs, shelters, community kitchens, migration, and cooperation with NGOs. His team led the “winter campaign,” distributing more than 400,000 winter items to vulnerable people across hundreds of neighborhoods, and conducted the city’s first homeless census with major institutions.

In 2024 he ran for the 23rd district in Mexico City as a Morena candidate and was elected Deputy for the 2024–2027 period, finishing second in the race but with the highest total votes among Morena candidates in the district. The district includes areas such as San Ángel, Pedregal de San Ángel, and Las Águilas.