José Antonio Cruz Álvarez Lima (born May 3, 1942) is a Mexican politician and

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

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 ...

in the 64th Congress. A member of 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) political party, Álvarez Lima was also

Governor of Tlaxcala The governor of Tlaxcala is the position representing the complete executive power of the government of the Mexico, Mexican state of Tlaxcala, per the Political Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala. The governor is elected fo ...

from 1993 to 1999 and previously served as a federal deputy, senator, ambassador to Colombia, and head of multiple national public broadcasters.

Life

Early years

Álvarez Lima was born in Apizaco,

. As a child, he worked in a shoe store owned by friends of his father. A graduate from the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM) after a brief stint at the

Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM; ), also known as Technological Institute of Monterrey () or just Tec, is aresearch university based in Monterrey, Mexico, which has grown to include 35 campuses located across 25 cit ...

, he taught at several universities, including the

Universidad Iberoamericana The Ibero-American University (), also referred to by its acronym ''UIA'' but commonly known as ''Ibero'' or ''La Ibero'', is a private, Catholic, Mexican higher education institution, sponsored by the Mexican province of the Society of Jesus ( ...

Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla The Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP) is a private (Catholic), non-profit university located in the Mexican state of Puebla. Founded on 7 May 1973, it is currently a highly reputed university with an important national ...

, and the UNAM; he was the president of the National Political Science College, a professional organization, from 1979 to 1980. After several years as the deputy director of operations at Canal Once and a stint as the news director of Canal 13, in 1980, Álvarez Lima was tapped to run public radio station Radio Educación, leaving the station two years later in order to seek election 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 ...

. Under his management, the technical and production departments were reorganized, and the station broadened its mix of music. He then served three years in the LII Legislature of the Mexican Congress (1982–1985), representing 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 ...

(PRI), and a two-year term as ambassador to Colombia. Álvarez Lima became the director of

Imevisión The Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión (''Mexican Television Institute''), known commercially as Imevisión after 1985, was a state broadcaster and federal government agency of Mexico. At its height, Imevisión programmed two national networks ...

, which operated two national television networks, in 1988. He pioneered the model by which the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

was broadcast by both

Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...

and Imevisión, an innovation that continues to the present day.

First Senate term and governorship

After leaving the broadcaster in 1991, Álvarez Lima was elected to the Senate for the LV Legislature. He resigned the next year, however, and successfully sought election as

for a term from 1993 to 1999. During his term, United States president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

visited the state. After his term as governor expired, Álvarez Lima was invited by President

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

to become Mexico's ambassador to Portugal and to assist in the crafting of a free trade agreement with Europe, and he wrote columns for ''

Milenio ''Milenio'' is a major national newspaper in Mexico, owned by Grupo Multimedios. It is published in 11 cities across Mexico, including Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara, León, Pachuca, Puebla, Villahermosa, Tampico, Torreón, Toluca, an ...

'' and ''El Sol de Tlaxcala'' and appeared regularly on local radio station Radio Huamantla. He also became a station owner himself, taking control of XEQOO-XHQOO in

Cancún Cancún is the most populous city in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat of the municipality of Benito J ...

. In 2004, Radio Pirata—then the leading radio station in Cancún—was sold to

Grupo Imagen Grupo Imagen S.A.B. de C.V., commonly known as Imagen, is a Mexican media conglomerate owned by Grupo Empresarial Ángeles. As of 2016, it is the third-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa and TV Azteca. History Grupo Imagen t ...

for a reported 100 million pesos.

Return to the Senate and Canal Once

In August 2017, Álvarez Lima was named one of the two MORENA Senate candidates from Tlaxcala for the 2018 election. Elected on the winning

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 ...

coalition ticket alongside

Ana Lilia Rivera Rivera Ana Lilia Rivera Rivera (born 14 February 1973) is a Mexican politician who is serving as a senator from the state of Tlaxcala since 2018. A member of MORENA, she also served as the President of the Senate from 2023 to 2024. Career Rivera wa ...

, Álvarez Lima was appointed to head the Radio and Television Commission and sat on four others. On January 23, 2019, López Obrador nominated Álvarez Lima to serve as the head of Canal Once, marking his return to public media after a 28 years absence. After Álvarez was installed in that position in March, alternate senator

Joel Molina Ramírez Joel Molina Ramírez (1 November 194224 October 2020) was a Mexican politician and senator representing the state of Tlaxcala from the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party. He served in the LXIV Legislature of the Mexican Congress from ...

took his place in the Senate. As the channel's director, he proposed deemphasizing the word "Canal" in the channel's name to emphasize its multiplatform existence and increases in the production of programming and expanded news coverage. Molina died of

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 ...

in October 2020. This 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. If Álvarez Lima had opted to remain at Canal Once, the resulting vacancy in the Senate would have triggered a special election for the seat. Álvarez Lima won re-election as one of Tlaxcala's senators in the 2024 Senate election, occupying the first place on the

's two-name formula.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez Lima, Jose Antonio Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) for Tlaxcala Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) for Tlaxcala 1942 births Living people Governors of Tlaxcala Morena (political party) politicians Members of the Congress of Tlaxcala National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Academic staff of Universidad Iberoamericana Academic staff of Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico 20th-century Mexican politicians Ambassadors of Mexico to Colombia Ambassadors of Mexico to Portugal People from Apizaco Deputies of the LII Legislature of Mexico Senators of the LXIV and LXV Legislatures of Mexico