Ifigenia Martínez, president of the board of directors of the Chamber of Deputies and historic left-wing politician in Mexico, died this Saturday at the age of 94, as confirmed by the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, on her social networks. Martínez, founder of the Mexican left, was the one who placed the presidential sash on the now president at her inauguration on October 1st. To the investiture ceremony at the Legislative Palace, Martínez came in a wheelchair and with oxygenation equipment, visibly fragile and with limited strength. Martínez Hernández was the first Mexican woman to obtain a master’s degree in Economics at Harvard University. In addition, she left her mark as co-founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He was also an important part of the student movement of 1968, a time in which he fought against government repression at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
On June 2 I voted for Ifigenia Martinez, a woman of consistency and convictions. On October 1, I received the presidential sash from your hands. Today he left us. I send his family, colleagues and friends all my love and solidarity. Goodbye, dear teacher Iphigenia. pic.twitter.com/7EsDkT2S8s
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) October 6, 2024
Through his social networks, Sheinbaum published a farewell message for Martínez. “On June 2 I voted for Ifigenia Martínez, a woman of consistency and convictions. On October 1, I received the presidential sash from your hands. Today he left us. I send all my love and solidarity to his family, colleagues and friends. Goodbye, dear teacher Ifigenia,” she published on X, formerly Twitter. After the death, other legislators have expressed their condolences. Ricardo Monreal was one of the first to share a farewell message for the president of the Chamber of Deputies. “May such an extraordinary woman rest in peace and her loved ones find quick resignation,” Monreal wrote through her X account.
Just this Tuesday, the left-wing leader received the former president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Claudia Sheinbaum in the Congress gallery. Martínez had to rely on auxiliary oxygen during the investiture ceremony, while when he stood up to receive the outgoing president’s sash to hand it to Sheinbaum, he had to hold onto López Obrador’s arm to maintain his balance.
In the presidential elections on June 2, Sheinbaum symbolically voted for her for the presidency. Martínez was a pioneer at multiple moments in political history. Federal representative three times and senator twice. In 1988 she became the first woman elected from Mexico City—formerly the Federal District—to occupy a seat in the Senate representing the left. Before, he spent 20 years in the PRI: from the 1968 student movement that he led, until 1988, when he founded the PRD. She was director of the UNAM Faculty of Economics and is considered the first Mexican to graduate with a master’s degree and doctorate in Economics from Harvard University; as well as ambassador of Mexico to the United Nations Organization.
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