Blackwell Reference Online

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Andrés Manuel López Obrador was born November 13, 1953 in Tepetitán, Tabasco, Mexico. He studied political science and public administration at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). In 1977 he assumed office as director of the Instituto Indigenista (Indigenous Institute). Relocating to Mexico City in 1984, he became director of social promotion at the government's Instituto Nacional del Consumidor (National Consumers' Institute). At the same time he published his first books: Los primeros pasos (The First Steps) and Del Esplendor a la Sombra (From Shine to Shadow). After participating in the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) since 1976, he decided to join the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in 1989. López Obrador gained fame in 1987 when he organized a social and political march to Mexico City known as el éxodo por la democracia (the March for Democracy) to protest election fraud when Salinas de Gotari (PRI) defeated the leading candidate, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (PRD), in an apparently fraudulent election. In 1995 López Obrador ran unsuccessfully for senator for the state of Tabasco. Between 1996 and 1998 he was president of the PRD. In 2000 he was elected head of government of the Federal District. The most important actions of his government were to promote neighborhood committees to strengthen citizens' self-administration, create a food program ... log in or subscribe to read full text