Arnoldo Martínez Verdugo (12 January 1925 – 24 May 2013) was a Mexican

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

politician and democracy activist. A long-standing leader of the

Mexican Communist Party The Mexican Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Mexicano, PCM) was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1917 as the Socialist Workers' Party (, PSO) by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian revolutionary. The PSO changed its name ...

and 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), Martínez promoted political self-criticism, refused to support regional guerrilla movements, condemned the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

invasion of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and promoted the unification of the political left.

Biography

Martínez was born in Pericos, a small town in

Mocorito, Sinaloa Mocorito (meaning "place of the dead") is a small city and its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city reported 5,426 inhabitants in the 2010 census. History In 1531, with the entry of the conquistador Nuño de ...

, into a family of farmers. His parents were Yssac Martínez Ortega and Silvina Verdugo Verdugo. He started working in his teens and in 1943 he decided to move to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

to take a job at the San Rafael Paper Co. and undertake studies in painting at National School of Painting and Sculpture (1944–46). In 1946 he joined Mexican Communist Party and soon started directing its Communist Youth's organizing committee (1948–50). After some years rising through its hierarchy, including spending some time in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

studying Communism, he joined a faction that succeeded in overthrowing the long-time leadership of

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

Dionisio Encina, who had led the party from 1940 to 1960. He was chosen as Secretary-General of the Mexican Communist Party's Central Committee in 1963 and remained in the post until 1981. He was one of the protagonists of the political negotiations that in 1978 resulted in the first electoral reform that permitted the PCM to obtain conditional registration, allowing the party to participate in the 1979 election, where it won 18 seats, and one of its deputies served as Parliamentary Coordinator. In 1981, he directed the dissolution of the Mexican Communist Party and its fusion with other leftist forces, resulting in the

, which advanced it to the presidency in the 1982 elections. Before this, Martinez had been abducted and freed after the payment of a ransom. He served twice in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

as a plurinominal legislator; first representing the Communist Party of Mexico (1979–82) and later representing the Unified Socialist Party of Mexico (1985–88). Subsequently, he joined with the forces of

Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler (''tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, making him the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle" ...

in his campaign for the Presidency in the 1988 elections. Martínez was a member of 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); a political institution he helped to found and finance in its early years. He was elected its emeritus advisor but his title was removed on 29 November 2009 on strategic grounds, as the result of political struggles inside the party. This maneuver was called "an act of moral amnesia, of disloyalty to its origins, of shabbiness" by Mexico's National Journalism Prize laureate Miguel Ángel Granados Chapa.cfr. Miguel Ángel Granados Chapa in , ''

Reforma REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, more commonly known as REFORMA, is an affiliate of the American Library Association formed in 1971 to promote library services to Lati ...

'', p. 19 (1 December 2008). Quoted in Unzueta, 2008.

Publications

* (in en, The Mexican Communist Party, Path and Perspectives) Mexico City: , 1971. * (The Mexican Communist Party and the Political Reform) Mexico City: , 1977. * (Political crisis and Communist alternative) Mexico City: , 1979. * (The Creation of the Unified Socialist Party of Mexico) Mexico City: , 1982. * (March for Democracy) Mexico City: , 1982. * (The Socialist Project) Mexico City: , 1982. * (History of Communism in Mexico), Mexico City: Grijalbo, 1985.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez Verdugo, Arnoldo 1925 births Party of the Democratic Revolution politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) People from Sinaloa Candidates in the 1982 Mexican presidential election Mexican democracy activists Mexican Communist Party politicians Unified Socialist Party of Mexico politicians Mexican communists 2013 deaths