Andrés Manuel López Obrador

In 1979, López Obrador married Rocío Beltrán Medina, a former teacher and a writer. He had three children with her, Jose Ramon López Beltrán, Andres Manuel López Beltrán and Gonzalo Alfonso López Beltrán, with her. Rocío Beltrán Medina died in 2003.

In 2006, he married Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller. Together they have son named Jesús Ernesto López Gutiérrez.

Andres Manuel López Obrador was born on November 13, 1953 in the town of Tepetitán, located under the municipality of Macuspana in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco. His father, Andrés López Ramón, was a trader. His mother’s name was Manuela Obrador González.

He was born second of his parents’ seven children. His elder brother, José Ramón López Obrador, died young while playing with a gun. Among his younger siblings are four brothers named Arturo, Pío Lorenzo, José Ramiro, Martín and a sister named Candelaria.

His childhood friends remember him as friendly, smiling and calm. He had a very free and happy childhood. Boating in the lagoons lying around the town was his favorite pastime. He also played baseball in centre field position. At one time, he also thought of becoming a professional baseball player.

In 1973, he entered National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), He gradiated in 1976 in Political Science and Public Administration. Also in 1976, he joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and supported Carlos Pellicer Cámara el Poeta de América’s campaign.

In 1977, López Obrador began his career as the director of the Instituto Indigenista in Tabasco. During his tenure, he promoted the literature of the indigenous people, concurrently launching several social programs for the betterment of the Chontal Maya community in the state.

Through Sandino housing program, he built 1906 houses and 267 latrines in the municipalities of Centla, Center, Jalpa de Méndez, Jonuta, Macuspana, Nacajuca, Tacotalpa and Tenosique, benefitting the indigenous population. He also launched Livestock Credit Program for the marginalized population in his area.

In the Municipality of Nacajuca, he had ridges built in order to retrieve agricultural land. This he distributed among the landless indigenous people so that they could now grow crops for self consumption or cash. He also built schools and health centers for them.

López Obrador remained with Instituto Indigenista until 1982. In the same year, he successfully coordinated the election campaign of Enrique González Pedrero, who became the governor of Tabasco.

Towards the beginning of 1983, López Obrador was elected president of the state executive committee of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He resigned from his post in November, 1983 when his endeavor to democratize the proceedings within the party met with objection from the party members.

FDN, which was a coalition of small leftist parties like Mexican Socialist Party (PMS), the Popular Socialist Party (PPS) and the Cardenista Front National Reconstruction Party (PFCRN), nominated López Obrador as a candidate for the post of the governor of Tabasco. He lost miserably, getting only 20.9% of the vote.

After the 1988 election, FDN demanded its annulment, accusing the ruling party of electoral malpractices including forcibly expulsion of its representatives from the polling booths. When their plea was ignored, López Obrador went on a tour, making his countrymen aware of “the climate of authoritarianism and repression”.

The government reacted to the allegations violently, illegally arresting many of their activists. Some of whom never returned. They also used the state police to evict the front’s elected representatives from municipal bodies.

In 1989, FDN consolidated to form the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) with López Obrador becoming the party president in the state of Tabasco. In the following year, he published his third book, ‘Tabasco, Victim of a Fraud’, describing the 1988 Tabasco elections as a scam.

In 1991, when PDR lost the election even in seats it had expected to win, López Obrador joined a march, ‘Exodus for Democracy’, which started on November 25, 1991 from Villahermosa, capital of Tabasco. Leading from the front, walking all the way, he reached Mexico City on January 11, 1992.