Francisco Epigmenio Luna Kan (3 December 1925 – 23 November 2023) was a Mexican politician who served as the

Governor of Yucatán The governor of the State of Yucatan is the head of the executive branch of the Mexican state of Yucatán, elected to a six-year-term and not eligible for reelection. The figure of the governor is established on the Constitution of the State of Y ...

from 1976 to 1982. Luna Kan was born on 3 December 1925 in the town of in the municipality of Mérida. He earned his medical degree from the

National Polytechnic Institute National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

's Higher School of Rural Medicine, writing his thesis on epidemiology and social characteristics of tubercular patients, before earning a master's degree in health sciences. Luna Kan was a practicing

doctor of medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

then taught as a Professor of Medicine before first obtaining political office, at first being overseer of the state's rural medical system. Luna Kan was the first person of pure

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

ancestry to govern the state since the

Spanish conquest of Yucatán The Spanish conquest of Yucatán was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish Empire, Spanish ''conquistadores'' against the Mesoamerican chronology, Late Postclassic Maya civilization, Maya states and polities in the Yucatán Peninsula, a vast ...

. (In the early 1920s,

Felipe Carrillo Puerto Felipe Santiago Carrillo Puerto (8 November 1874 – 3 January 1924) was a Mexican journalist, politician and revolutionary who served as the governor of Yucatán from 1922 until his assassination in 1924. He became known for his efforts at rec ...

, who was partly Maya, had been governor.) For centuries the political elite had been ''

Criollos In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of full Spanish descent born in the viceroyalties. In different Latin American countries, the word has come to have different meanings, mostly referring to the local ...

'' (Yucatecans of pure

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

ancestry). It was widely said that party officials of Mexico's ruling

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) took the unusual step of selecting a person of Maya descent as their candidate in 1975 because the opposition National Action Party (PAN) had been getting many votes in Yucatán, and PRI candidates had been getting a poor showing in the state's predominantly Maya towns and villages. It was said that PAN got the majority of votes in the previous governor's race, and the PRI managed to maintain control of the state only through fraud in counting votes. After his term as governor Luna Kan resigned from the PRI and joined 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 ...

(PRD).Camp, p. 567 He unsuccessfully ran as that party's candidate for

municipal president A ''presidente municipal'' ( English: "municipal president") is the chief of government of municipios in Mexico. This title was also used in the Philippines during the Spanish and American colonial periods; it is comparable to a mayor of the tow ...

of Mérida in 1998. Francisco Luna Kan held a seat in the federal

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 ...

as a PRD deputy for Yucatán. Francisco Luna Kan died on 23 November 2023, at the age of 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luna Kan, Francisco 1925 births 2023 deaths Governors of Yucatán (state) Presidents of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) Party of the Democratic Revolution politicians Instituto Politécnico Nacional alumni Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Mexican people of Maya descent Politicians from Mérida, Yucatán