Víctor Cervera Pacheco

In this Mexican name, the surname is Cervera and the second or maternal family name is Pacheco.

Víctor Manuel Cervera Pacheco (23 November 1936 – 18 August 2004) was a Mexican politician who served as the interim Governor of Yucatán from 1984 to 1988, and again in an elected capacity from 1995 to 2001. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Cervera also served as Secretary of Agrarian Reform under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari from 1988 to 1994.

Víctor Cervera
Cervera during his 1995 gubernatorial campaign
Governor of Yucatán
In office 1 August 1995 – 31 July 2001
Preceded by	Federico Granja Ricalde
Succeeded by	Patricio Patrón
In office 16 February 1984 – 31 January 1988
Preceded by	Graciliano Alpuche Pinzón
Succeeded by	Víctor Manzanilla Schaffer
Secretary of Agrarian Reform
In office 1 December 1988 – 30 November 1994
President	Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Preceded by	Rafael Rodríguez Barrera
Succeeded by	Miguel Limón Rojas
Personal details
Born	(1936-11-23)23 November 1936 Dzemul, Yucatán, Mexico
Died	18 August 2004(2004-08-18) (aged 67) Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
Party	PRI
Spouse	Amira Hernández Guerra
Children	4
Relatives	Ivonne Ortega Pacheco (niece)

Biography

Víctor Manuel Cervera Pacheco was born on Dzemul, Yucatán on 23 November 1936. He was the son of Juan Cervera Reyes and Francisca Pacheco Solís. The area was poverty-stricken due to the decline of the henequen industry, and to make money for his family, Cervera worked as a shoeshine boy in the markets of Dzemul and nearby Mérida. Cervera's elementary and secondary studies were at the Colegio Americano in Mérida, and had preparatory studies at the University of Yucatán, though he did not receive a degree. He became a student leader there, serving as secretary-general of the Society of Preparatory Students in 1953 and then as its president in 1954. He also served as secretary-general of the University Students Association of Yucatán and was a delegate for it at a national convention in Xalapa, Veracruz in 1956.

Cervera was an active member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) while an elected official. He served as mayor of Mérida from 1971 to 1973. During his mayorship, he oversaw the paving of Mérida's streets and the expansion of its public lighting network. He also remodeled the parque de Santa Ana in 1972.

He also served as a local deputy in the Congress of Yucatán, a federal deputy (for Yucatán's first district) in 1973–1976 and 1982–1984, and secretary of agrarian reform in the cabinet of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari from 1 December 1988 to 30 November 1994.

In 1981, Cervera attempted to secure the PRI's nomination for the governorship of Yucatán, but he was defeated by General Graciliano Alpuche Pinzón. Alpuche won the election in 1982, but on 16 April 1984, he announced his resignation to Congress. That afternoon, Cervera was announced as interim governor. His term ended on 31 January 1988, and he was succeeded by Víctor Manzanilla Schaffer.

In 1995, Cervera was the PRI candidate for the governor of Yucatán, with his main opponent being Luis Correa Mena of the National Action Party (PAN). The PAN heavily criticized Cervera, dubbing him the "Milošević of the Mayab", and distributed a pamphlet charging that the PRI packed the electoral commission, harassed PAN electoral monitors, and bought votes, as well as citing irregularities at 200 out of 1,527 polling places. Cervera won the election with 250,403 votes, or 48.7% of the vote, defeating Correa and other candidates. He served a second term as governor from 1 August 1995 to 31 July 2001.

Cervera was married to Amira Hernández Guerra, and they had four children. He was the uncle of Ivonne Ortega Pacheco, a future governor of Yucatán. Ortega Pacheco included Cervera's son Víctor Cervera Hernández in her cabinet. He died on August 18, 2004, from a heart attack in the city of Mérida.

References

Bibliography

• Ard, Michael J. (2003). An Eternal Struggle: How the National Action Party Transformed Mexican Politics. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-97831-1.
• Betancourt Cid, Carlos (2012). México contemporário: Cronología (1968-2000) (PDF) (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de las Revoluciones de México. ISBN 978-607-7916-73-4.
• Camp, Roderic Ai (2011). Mexican Political Biographies, 1935-2009 (Fourth ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72634-5.
• Covarrubias Dueñas, José de Jesús, ed. (August 2010). Enciclopedia Política de México: Tomo IV (PDF) (in Spanish). Senate of the Republic: Instituto Belisario Domínguez. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2019.
• Quijano Torres, Manuel (2012). 200 Años de Administración Pública en México, Tomo III: Los Gabinetes en México, 1824-2012 (PDF) (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública. ISBN 978-607-9026-20-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2024.