Mexican political figure Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas dies at 92

Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, a civil engineer and politician who ran for the presidency of Mexico three times, died on Wednesday at the age of 92.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the news, describing Cárdenas as a man of firm principles who helped transform the nation's political life.

Cárdenas first sought the presidency in 1988. That campaign ended in a defeat that many observers attributed to widespread electoral fraud.

The result of that race is often cited as the starting point for modern democratic change in Mexico.

In 1997, Cárdenas won a different election. He became the first mayor of Mexico City chosen by popular vote.

He served in that role before running for president again in 2000. He lost that race as well, marking his third attempt at the top office.

Cárdenas was the son of General Lázaro Cárdenas, a former president known for nationalizing the oil industry in 1938.

The younger Cárdenas began his career with the Institutional Revolutionary Party. He served as a senator and later as governor of Michoacán.

In the late 1980s, he led a democratic faction within that party. He eventually left the group and helped found the Democratic Revolution Party in 1989.

He remained with that party for decades. In 2014, he resigned from it after 43 students disappeared in the state of Guerrero while the party held power there.

He also distanced himself from Andrés Manuel López Obrador when López Obrador became president in 2018.

López Obrador, who served from 2018 to 2024, called Cárdenas a pioneer of the democratic movement on social media on Wednesday. He said the political reality of the country would be different without him. Former President Vicente Fox also paid tribute, noting that they were political adversaries but shared a belief that Mexico deserved complete democracy. Cárdenas is survived by his three children, including politician Lázaro Cárdenas Batel.