Leonel Efraín Cota Montaño (born 23 April 1958, in
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
) is a
Mexican politician. He is a former governor of
Baja California Sur and former president of the
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He was the first non-PRI governor of
Baja California Sur.
Leonel Cota studied
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
at 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 ...
. He began his political career as 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 ...
(PRI), which he represented 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 Bourb ...
from 1994 to 1996 and as
municipal president of
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
, from 1997 to 1999.
In 1999 he lost the PRI candidacy for governor of Baja California Sur. He quit the PRI and instead ran for governor representing a coalition of the Party of the Democratic Revolution and the
Labor Party (PT). He won the election and served as governor from 1999 to 2005.
In 2005 Cota became president of the PRD with over 76% of the vote.
He would later shift to Nueva Alianza in a failed bid for the Municipal Presidency of Los Cabos. He would then revert to PRD, for the 2012 general elections, looking for a Senate seat. This makes PAN the only major Mexican political party to which he has not belonged.
External links
La Jornada: Leonel Cota, virtual presidente del PRD
1958 births
Living people
Governors of Baja California Sur
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) for Baja California Sur
Deputies of the LVI Legislature of Mexico
Presidents of the Party of the Democratic Revolution
National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni
People from Los Cabos Municipality
Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians
Municipal presidents in Baja California Sur
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