Isaac José Woldenberg Karakowski (born 8 September 1952) is a Mexican political scientist and sociologist who served as the first president of the

Federal Electoral Institute The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) (English for ''National Electoral Institute'') (formerly Federal Electoral Institute (, IFE)) is an autonomous, public agency responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico, that is, those relate ...

and currently works as director of ''

Nexos ''Nexos'' is a cultural and political magazine in based in Mexico City, Mexico. History and profile ''Nexos'' was founded in 1978. The founders were a group of Intellectuals headed by Héctor Aguilar Camín. The magazine modeled on the ''New Yo ...

'' magazine.

Early life

Woldenberg was born in Monterrey into a jewish family that had immigrated from

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

. His father, originally from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, arrived to

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

at the age of two and lived a few years in San Luis Potosí while his mother had been born in the northern state of Chihuahua into a family originally from Lithuania. He graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) with a bachelor's degree in Sociology (1975), a master's degree in

Latin American Studies Latin American studies (LAS) is an academic and research field associated with the study of Latin America. The interdisciplinary study is a subfield of area studies, and can be composed of numerous disciplines such as economics, sociology, history ...

(1987) and began a doctorate in Political Science (1993-1995), but didn't complete it. During his college years he also studied film-making at the ''Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos'' (1972-1975), but dropped out after three years.

Career

He was drawn into politics in his twenties, spending five days in jail for his involvement in a university strike and becoming a founding member of the

Unified Socialist Party of Mexico The Unified Socialist Party of Mexico ( es, Partido Socialista Unificado de México, PSUM) was a socialist political party in Mexico. It later became the Socialist Mexican Party () in 1988. History The PSUM was founded in November 1981 by the me ...

(PSUM, 1987), the

Mexican Socialist Party The Socialist Mexican Party (, PMS) was a left-wing Mexican political party, and one of the immediate antecedents of the present Party of the Democratic Revolution. It was the last effort to unify the different Mexican left-wing parties, as well ...

(PMS, 1987) and the

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, es, Partido de la Revolución Democrática, ) is a social democratic political party in Mexico. The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the Institut ...

(PRD, 1989) which he left in April 1991. He has worked as a Political Science professor at the National Autonomous University and has authored several books, including ''Antecedentes del sindicalismo'' (1981), ''Memoria de la izquierda'' (1998) and ''La construcción de la democracia'' (2002).

Personal life

He was previously married to Julia Carabias, former Secretary of the Environment in the cabinet of

Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was 61st president of Mexico from 1 December 1994 to 30 November 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from t ...

, with whom he had a daughter.

References

1952 births Living people Mexican sociologists Politicians from Monterrey National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Mexican people of Polish-Jewish descent Mexican people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Jewish Mexican politicians Unified Socialist Party of Mexico politicians Socialist Mexican Party politicians Party of the Democratic Revolution politicians {{North America-sociologist-stub