A
throughout his life, Enrique Calderón Alzati was a multifaceted and tireless man. Theoretical Physicist, Master of Electrical Engineering, Doctor of Computer Science, Educational Informatics Expert, Early pollstercolumnist for the day and militant cyclist, he actively participated in citizen politics for the democratization of the country since 1988.
His biography intersects, over and over again, with the history of computing in Mexico. He studied at the 3 Heroes de Chapultepec high school, the National Preparatory School, the Faculty of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the University of Pennsylvania.
General Director of Electronic Systems and Processes in the Programming and Budget Secretariat during the government of Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988), saw in the president an unacceptable example of mediocrity and submission to international interests and designs
.
On May 28, 1988, his life trajectory took a turn. That day he heard Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas speak for the first time before tens of thousands of students, professors and workers gathered in Ciudad Universitaria. Without shrillness and without being carried away, reading a clear and energetic speech, Cárdenas drew a hopeful comprehensive vision of the country. From that moment and until the closing of the campaign in the Zócalo, Dr. Calderón Alzati’s enthusiasm grew day by day.
Electoral fraud closed a door that I would never cross again. The fall of the system on election day and the narration of one of my sons, who that day had been in the mountains of Guerrero doing a topographical survey with several colleagues from the Faculty of Engineering
wrote, They gave me the indication that massive actions had been taken to modify the results of the elections in that region and surely in others.
.
He turned to document the scam. Thanks to the arrival in the country of the first personal computers, it had the technological capacity to carry out complex statistical processes and analyze the results of the elections. There was only one small inconvenience: he and his colleagues needed the information from the polls. His contacts and friends in different government offices allowed him to obtain a magnetic tape with the results counted box by box, in the same Ministry of the Interior. Thousands of alterations were immediately evident, in which the number of votes in favor of the Institutional Revolutionary Party was much greater than the voter lists.
Before the six-year term ended, the Arturo Rosenblueth Foundation, which he directed, printed a key book documenting the robbery at the polls: Geography of the 1988 presidential election. With the core information of the investigation, the day posted a Profile.
Those who acted as electoral authorities in 1988 committed a serious offense against Mexican democracy. From the results of this election, the only thing that is clear is that they were altered and that the people of Mexico will never know what really happened.
he warned.
He then began a close political relationship with Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, which did not lead him, however, to join the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He also initiated, along with other personalities, the construction of tools to prevent electoral fraud. That was how he participated in Alianza Cívica to monitor the 1994 presidential elections. Enthusiastic, he pointed out that, with the initiative, citizens will participate not only as voters, but also as observers. It is an irreversible step for democracy
. Despite the project, raccoon electoral did his thing. However, the disaster did not dampen his enthusiasm for civic politics.
Simultaneously, he continued with his professional work. He was the founder of the Galileo Computers for Education Project and director of the Ibero-American Educational Informatics Network (1987-1992), which he developed software High level education for children and young people.
Since 1991, it became a pioneer promoter of the massive use of the bicycle and the formation of a Bicycle Movement, which demanded bicycle lanes and facilities. One Sunday when the cyclists (including Enrique) took the Peripheral Ring for a few minutes, angry motorists who were going to the soccer game in the Azteca stadium were about to lynch them.
The doctor enthusiastically accompanied the first years of the Zapatista rebellion. At the National Consultation for Peace in August 1995, he saw a an unprecedented event, a learning exercise for society, which will allow us to find and develop new forms of struggle. A new form of social mobilization
. In March 1999, the foundation he directed organized a new consultation for the rebels. In 2006 he greeted the other campaign.
When Andrés Manuel López Obrador was the national leader of the PRD, Calderón Alzati collaborated with him as a consultant. In 2000, when AMLO won the government of Mexico City, he invited him to collaborate in his cabinet. The doctor did not accept because he wanted to remain independent. Thus ended a relationship of several years. For 10 long years, his closeness to Cárdenas and his disagreement with the Tabascan way of doing politics led him to criticize him publicly.
However, in 2010 he began to change his assessment of the future president. In May 2012, he addressed a letter to him and welcomed his speech in favor of non-violence and conciliation, as well as his rapprochement with Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas. In 2017 he noted that It is the only possible option to achieve the change that our country needs.
. And in 2018 she was in charge of citizen inquiries about the New Mexico International Airport and the Mayan Train. In her last years she directed the representation in Mexico of the Latin American Institute of Educational Communication (ILCE).
In his storm-fighting way, the indefatigable Enrique Calderón Alzati starred in important debates on educational evaluation, in which he always put forward his love and admiration for bench teachers. Rest in peace.
Twitter: @lhan55
