Joel Molina Ramírez (1 November 194224 October 2020) was a Mexican politician and senator representing the state of

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, is one of the 32 federal entities that comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tlaxcala, 60 municipalities and t ...

from 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) party. He served in the LXIV Legislature of the Mexican Congress from February 2019 until his death in office from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico The COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to hav ...

in October 2020, seven days short from his 78th birthday.

Life

Molina was born 1 November 1942, in Ixtacuixtla and graduated from the Evening Normal School. Previously the chief of finances, then the local leader, of the

Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación The National Educational Workers Union (, SNTE) is a trade union which represents teachers in Mexico. Its current Secretary-General and President is Alfonso Cepeda Salas. With over 1.4 million members, it is currently the largest teachers' uni ...

teachers' union in the late 1970s, Molina—then a member of 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 ...

—was elected to the Congress of Tlaxcala in 1980, serving a three-year term; he then became the municipal president of Ixtacuixtla between 1986 and 1988. He worked in several state government positions and served as the president of the Tlaxcala Electoral Institute between 1994 and 1996. Molina was named secretary of education in the Tlaxcala state government in 1997, during the administration of José Antonio Álvarez Lima. After decades in the PRI, he switched and became a founding member of MORENA; in 2016, he served as a coordinator for Martha Palafox Gutiérrez's gubernatorial campaign. By 2020, he was serving as the interim director of the MORENA party in Tlaxcala.

Senate

Molina was elected as the alternate senator to Álvarez Lima in 2018. However, Álvarez Lima was immediately appointed by President

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 ...

to head public television station Canal Once. On 28 February 2019, Molina was sworn in. He was a contender for the Morena nomination in the 2021 Tlaxcala gubernatorial election, despite his advanced age and having undergone previous surgeries. In October 2020, Molina contracted COVID-19 and was admitted to an ISSSTE hospital in Tlaxcala. He died on 24 October, making him the first senator to die of the disease. It was revealed before his death that he had been in the chamber as late as 20 October, for a 12-hour session to vote on the dissolution of various government trusts, during which senators passed around microphones. His death prompted Álvarez Lima to announce that he would resign from Canal Once and return to the Senate in the second half of November, after a new director for the television channel was appointed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molina Ramirez, Jose Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) for Tlaxcala Politicians from Tlaxcala People from Tlaxcala 1942 births 2020 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico Morena (political party) politicians Members of the Congress of Tlaxcala 20th-century Mexican politicians Senators of the LXIV and LXV Legislatures of Mexico