Cristóbal Arias Solís (born 10 August 1954) is a Mexican lawyer and politician, belonging to the

National Regeneration Movement The National Regeneration Movement (), commonly referred to by its syllabic abbreviation Morena (), is a major left-wing political party in Mexico, often described as oscillating between social democracy and populism. As of 2023, it is the la ...

(Morena). He has been a senator of the Republic three times: from 1988 to 1991, 1994 to 2000, and from 2018 to 2021. He also served as a federal deputy from 1982 to 1985 and from 1991 to 1994. He has been a candidate for governor of Michoacán on three occasions for the

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (, , PRD) is a state-level social democracy, social democratic political party in Mexico (previously national, until 2024). The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 198 ...

and the ''Fuerza por México'' alliance. Since 5 July 2021, he is a senator to the

Congress of the Union The Congress of the Union (, ), formally known as the General Congress of the United Mexican States (''Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos''), is the legislature of the federal government of Mexico. It consists of two chambers: t ...

for

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

Biography

Born in Churumuco,

, he studied law at the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences of the Michoacana University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo.

Political career

During

Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano (; born 1 May 1934) is a Mexicans, Mexican politician and civil engineer. A prominent Social democracy, social-democrat and the son of 51st president of Mexico Lázaro Cárdenas, he is a former List of heads of ...

's tenure as governor of Michoacán, Cristóbal Arias served as head of the state's Government Secretariat. In 1982 he was elected to 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 Bourb ...

for the Michoacán's 7th district during the 52nd session of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

until 1985. In 1988 together with the Democratic Current, he resigned from the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

and ran for the National Democratic Front to contend for a seat in the Senate of the Republic for the state of Michoacán in the 1988 federal elections; he was elected as one of the first opposition senators in the modern history of the country. He later he formally joined the newly founded

. In 1991 he was elected a PRD proportional representation federal deputy for the state of Jalisco. He participated as a candidate for governor in the 1992 Michoacán state elections, coming in second place behind the PRI candidate, Eduardo Villaseñor Peña. The PRD denounced fraud on the part of the PRI government and, in the midst of massive mobilizations, Governor Villaseñor resigned only 21 days after taking office. In the 1994 federal elections, he was elected to the Senate for the second time. Due to the death of the constitutional governor Eduardo Villaseñor, the electoral process was brought forward to the 1995 Michoacán state elections. Cristóbal Arias Solís was re-elected to represent the PRD for the government's candidacy after internal difficulties with the pre-candidate Roberto Robles Garnica who alleged fraud and challenged the process. Once again Arias got second place, beating PAN candidate Felipe Calderón Hinojosa but losing to PRI candidate Víctor Manuel Tinoco Rubí. In 2001 he supported the candidacy of PRD candidate Lázaro Cárdenas Batel who would become governor. Under the argument that the PRD was no longer an instrument for transformation and social justice, and also ceased to be the opposition, he resigned from the party in a letter dated April 2016. In March 2018, he became a candidate for senator for the

Juntos Haremos Historia Juntos Haremos Historia () was a Mexican political coalition encompassing the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), Labor Party (Mexico), Labor Party (PT), and Social Encounter Party (PES), the latter of which was consequently absorbed into th ...

alliance headed by Morena, a party founded by

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...

. In the 2018 federal elections in Michoacán, he was elected as a second-formula senator. In the 64th Congress, he chaired the Government Commission of the Senate of the Republic, structurally the most important in the Upper House.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arias Solis, Cristobal Living people 1954 births Politicians from Michoacán Deputies of the LII Legislature of Mexico Deputies of the LV Legislature of Mexico Senators of the LXIV and LXV Legislatures of Mexico Party of the Democratic Revolution politicians Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo alumni