Francisco Luna Kan

Francisco Luna Kan

Francisco Luna Kan in his home office in Mérida, 2010.
Governor of Yucatán
In office
February 1, 1976  January 31, 1982
Preceded by Carlos Loret de Mola Mediz
Succeeded by Graciliano Alpuche Pinzón
Personal details
Born (1925-12-03) December 3, 1925
Mérida, Yucatán
Political party Institutional Revolutionary Party,
Party of the Democratic Revolution
Spouse(s) Gloria Soria Vera

Dr. Francisco Epigmenio Luna Kan (born December 3, 1925) is a Mexican politician. Francisco Luna Kan was governor of the state of Yucatán from 1976 to 1982.[1]

Born in Mérida, Yucatán, he was a practicing doctor of medicine then taught as a Professor of Medicine before first obtaining political office, at first being overseer of the state's rural medical system.

Francisco Luna Kan was the first person of pure Maya ancestry to govern Yucatán since the Spanish conquest of Yucatán.[2] (In the early 1920s, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, who was partly Maya, had been governor.) For centuries the political elite had been Criollos (Yucatecans of pure Spanish ancestry). It was widely said that party officials of Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) took the unusual step of selecting a person of Maya descent as their candidate in 1975 because the opposition National Action Party had been getting many votes in Yucatán, and PRI candidates had been getting a poor showing in the state's predominantly Maya towns and villages. It was said that PAN got the majority of votes in the previous governor's race, and the PRI managed to maintain control of the state only through fraud in counting votes.

Shortly after his election Luna Kan was subjected to an unpleasant incident while taking a train to Mexico City for a governmental conference. Luna Kan was thrown off the train, as the railroad conductors thought it inconceivable that this short man of obvious Native American features was telling the truth when he claimed to be a state governor.

After his term as governor Luna Kan resigned from the PRI and joined the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He unsuccessfully ran as that party's candidate for mayor of Mérida in 1998. As of 2004 Francisco Luna Kan holds a seat in Mexico's Chamber of Deputies of Mexico as a PRD deputy for Yucatán.

References

  1. Camp, Roderic Ai (1995). Mexican political biographies, 1935-1993. University of Texas Press. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-292-71181-5. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  2. Standish, Peter (2009-03-20). The states of Mexico: a reference guide to history and culture. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 442. ISBN 978-0-313-34223-3. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
Preceded by
Carlos Loret de Mola Mediz
Governor of Yucatán
1976 1982
Succeeded by
Graciliano Alpuche Pinzón
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