Lázaro Cárdenas Batel

Lázaro Cárdenas Batel (born April 2, 1964 in Jiquilpan, Michoacán) is a Mexican politician. He served as governor of Michoacán from 2002 to 2008), representing the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Prior to his election to that office in 2001, he had represented his home state in both the federal Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
Cárdenas Batel is a member of a distinguished political family: his grandfather, Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, served as President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940, and his father, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, has been a presidential candidate on three occasions and was the first democratically elected Head of Government of the Federal District (Mexico City). Both father and grandfather also served as governors of Michoacán.
Some PRD members criticized Cárdenas Batel for his lack of support for Andrés Manuel López Obrador during the 2006 presidential campaign; some even asked him to leave the party. On the night of election, according to the Wall Street Journal, Batel accepted a call from López Obrador's opponent and eventual winner, Felipe Calderón. He was succeeded in the position as Michoacán governor by Leonel Godoy in February 2008.
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Lázaro Cárdenas Batel is a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), and had previously served as a member of WOLA's Board of Directors. An expert in migration and electoral processes in Latin America, Mr. Cárdenas has also been a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a member of the Advisory Board for the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program, and the Chief of Mission for several electoral observation missions for the Organization of American States (OAS).
Areas of Expertise: Migration, Latin American Politics, Electoral Processes, Regional Development

Education:
Cárdenas Batel holds a degree in ethnohistory from the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH) in Mexico City from 1983 to 1987.