By
PAULINA VILLEGAS
NYT,
MAY 24, 2016
MEXICO
CITY — Luis H. Álvarez, a leading figure in the conservative National Action
Party in Mexico who dedicated his
life to the fight for democracy there, died on May 18 at his home in León,
Mexico. He was 96.
The
cause was complications of pneumonia, his nephew Fernando Álvarez said.
Mr.
Álvarez, who was originally a textile executive, was steadfast in his efforts
to end the long rule of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as
the PRI.
In
1958, he ran unsuccessfully for president against that party’s candidate,
Adolfo López Mateos, in what seemed like a quixotic campaign.
Almost
three decades later, with the ruling party still immovable, he rallied
opposition in Chihuahua, his home state, to protest voting fraud, undertaking a
long hunger strike that helped focus international attention on the Mexican opposition’s
struggle for democracy.
But it
was not until 2000, when the National Action Party, or PAN, won the presidency,
that the PRI’s 71-year rule ended.
In a
statement after Mr. Álvarez’s death, the National Action Party’s leader,
Ricardo Anaya, called him “one of the greatest figures in our recent history.”
At the
pinnacle of the PRI’s grip on power, Mr. Álvarez ran for governor of Chihuahua
in 1956 and lost. He had not been an active party member before that, but was
widely known for his community involvement and civil rights work.
Two
years later, while running for president, Mr. Álvarez was arrested and briefly
jailed — because, he said, he was told that being an opposition presidential
candidate was illegal.
Mr.
Álvarez denounced the ruling party’s tactics — which included personal threats
during political rallies and raids on polling stations — and a political
structure that he said made it impossible to hold fair elections.
In
1956, he led a “caravan for democracy” from Chihuahua, in the north of Mexico,
to Mexico City to deliver to the attorney general’s office evidence of
electoral fraud in state elections.
Mr.
Álvarez was mayor of Chihuahua, the state capital, when he went on a hunger
strike in 1986 to call attention to accusations of vote-rigging in local
elections.
Lasting
41 days, the hunger strike brought him prominence in the party’s ranks and on
the national political scene. He lost 15 pounds and was hospitalized afterward.
The
next year, at 67, he was named party leader, a position he held through 1993.
During his tenure, the National Action Party won its first state elections,
first in Baja California and then in Chihuahua.
Mr.
Álvarez was criticized for negotiating with President Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, whose election in 1988 was tainted by allegations of fraud but who
adopted many of the market-oriented reforms that the National Action Party had
long promoted.
His
willingness to compromise helped to pave the way for the party’s acceptance as
a legitimate political force, and for its eventual success in claiming the
presidency.
“He
showed us all what to do and how to be, in order to make this country a better
place,” Cecilia Romero, a congresswoman who worked closely with Mr. Álvarez
when he was head of the party, said in an interview.
Friends
and family recalled Mr. Álvarez as a jovial yet feisty character, prone to long
political discussions over dinner.
Luis
Héctor Álvarez was born on Oct. 25, 1919, in Chihuahua and earned a degree in
business administration from the University of Texas, Austin.
He
worked in agriculture for a few years before entering the textile business. He
was also a member of a civil rights association in Ciudad Juárez.
Mr.
Álvarez’s wife, Blanca Magrassi, also a prominent party member, died last year.
He is survived by a son, Luis Jorge; a daughter, Blanca Estela; five
grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
In
2000, the National Action Party candidate, Vicente Fox, was
elected president, removing the PRI from power and signaling the end
of a regime that had influenced nearly all aspects of Mexican life in the 20th
century.
Soon
after taking office, Mr. Fox named Mr. Álvarez peace negotiator for talks with
the leftist rebels of the Zapatista revolutionary movement in the southern
state of Chiapas.
Mr.
Álvarez was later a senator for his home state. He was appointed commissioner
for indigenous affairs by President Felipe Calderón in 2006.
His
nephew Fernando remembered the moment Mr. Álvarez got the call announcing the
results of the 2000 presidential election: “His small eyes went wide open as he
grabbed my arm and asked, ‘Is this really possible?’ ”
His uncle,
Fernando recalled, then said: “I have accomplished my mission. I can now die in
peace.”
