Isaac José Woldenberg Karakowski (born 8 September 1952) is a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

political scientist and sociologist who served as the first president of the Federal Electoral Institute and currently works as director of '' Nexos'' magazine.

Early life

Woldenberg was born in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

into a jewish family that had immigrated from Eastern Europe. His father, originally from Poland, arrived to Veracruz at the age of two and lived a few years in

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

while his mother had been born in the northern state of

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

into a family originally from

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. He graduated from the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

(UNAM) with a bachelor's degree in Sociology (1975), a master's degree in Latin American Studies (1987) and began a doctorate in Political Science (1993-1995), but didn't complete it. During his college years he also studied film-making at the ''Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos'' (1972-1975), but dropped out after three years.

Career

He was drawn into politics in his twenties, spending five days in jail for his involvement in a university strike and becoming a founding member of the Unified Socialist Party of Mexico (PSUM, 1987), the Mexican Socialist Party (PMS, 1987) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, 1989) which he left in April 1991. He has worked as a Political Science professor at the National Autonomous University and has authored several books, including ''Antecedentes del sindicalismo'' (1981), ''Memoria de la izquierda'' (1998) and ''La construcción de la democracia'' (2002).

Personal life

He was previously married to

Julia Carabias Julia Carabias Lillo (born August 11, 1954, Mexico City) is a Mexican ecologist and Environmental Conservationist. She is a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and served as the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Reso ...

, former Secretary of the Environment in the cabinet of Ernesto Zedillo, with whom he had a daughter.

References

1952 births Living people Mexican sociologists Politicians from Monterrey National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Mexican people of Polish-Jewish descent Mexican people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Jewish Mexican politicians Unified Socialist Party of Mexico politicians Socialist Mexican Party politicians Party of the Democratic Revolution politicians {{North America-sociologist-stub