Luis H. Álvarez

Luis H. Álvarez
President of the National Action Party
In office 1987–1993
Preceded by	Pablo Emilio Madero
Succeeded by	Carlos Castillo Peraza
Personal details
Born	Luis Héctor Álvarez December 16, 1919 Camargo, Chihuahua
Political party	National Action Party
Spouse(s)	Blanca Magrassi Scagno (?-2015)
Alma mater	University of Texas at Austin
Profession	Businessman

Luis Héctor Álvarez (born October 25, 1919 in Camargo, Chihuahua) is a Mexican industrialist and politician. Álvarez is a member of the National Action Party. In 1958 he was a candidate for the Presidency of Mexico. He has also served as Mayor of Chihuahua, president of his party and to this date is the coordinator of the dialogues for peace in Chiapas.

Luis Héctor Álvarez dedicated most of his life to the textile industry. He first became involved in politics in Ciudad Juárez. In 1956 the PAN nominated him as candidate to Governor of Chihuahua. He lost the election to PRI candidate Teófilo Borunda. After the election an electoral fraud was claimed by Álvarez and his party. In an act of civil disobedience, Alvarez headed a caravan from Chihuahua to Mexico City. In 1958, he ran as the PAN candidate in the federal election against Adolfo López Mateos where he lost.

In the following years Álvarez dedicated himself mainly to his private enterprise, until 1983 when he was elected Municipal President of Chihuahua. Being an opposition figure, Álvarez constantly clashed with the state and federal governments. Álvarez claimed he was not given the proper legal resources and participation in his citys decisions. In protest, Álvarez started a hunger strike that lasted 40 days. The strike also contested the 1986 elections in Chihuahua in which opposition parties claimed an electoral fraud had taken place once again.

In 1987 he was elected 14th president of the PAN party and in 1990 he won the re-election. His tenure as president of the party is controversial. His supporters claim that during his administration the party became the strongest opposition force in Mexican politics. His detractors on the other hand claim that his party strayed away from its original doctrine and was now run by the “neo-panistas” (e.g. Manuel Clouthier, Vicente Fox, Francisco Barrio Terrazas and Ernesto Ruffo Appel). Prominent party members, including Pablo Emilio Madero, Jesus González Schmal, Jose González Torres and Bernardo Bátiz, left the PAN in protest arguing that Álvarez's policy of dialogue with Carlos Salinas de Gortari legitimized his government which was under intense national criticism of perpetrating an electoral fraud.

He was elected to the Senate for Chihuahua from 1994 to 2000, during which period he served as a member of the Commission of Concord and Pacification in Chiapas that was in charge of the peace negotiation between the Federal Government and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. In 2000, President Vicente Fox designated him Coordinator of the Dialogue for La Paz in Chiapas. During this time he never was able to contact the leadership of the EZLN.

On December 15, 2006, President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa designated him head of the Commission for the Development of the Indigenous People.^[1]

Álvarez's wife, Blanca Magrassi Scagno, an activist and important figure within PAN, died on October 9, 2015, at the age of 92.^[2]

References

1. Luis H. Alvarez, comisionado para pueblos indígenas by El Universal
2. "Muere Blanca Magrassi, promotora de la participación política de las mujeres". sdpnoticias. 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2015-11-07.

External links

• Biography of Luis H. Álvarez