Professor to serve in Mexico

Dr. Jesus Martinez-Saldana

By Tom Uribes
University Communications

Dr. Jesus Martinez-Saldana, a Chicano Studies professor, was named a candidate for a position in the Michoacan, Mexico state legislature as the first ever representative in the local congress for that state’s Mexican migrants living abroad.

The historic nomination was announced in July by the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). The election is slated for Nov. 14.

Martinez-Saldana said his nomination is tantamount to a sure appointment because the position is a guaranteed seat given to the party as part of the system of proportional representation (the number of proportional seats depends on the percentage of votes each party gets).

Two other political parties in Mexico, the PRI and PAN, also have guaranteed positions but are not expected to name migrants living outside Mexico, although a PRI candidate from Texas may be given the opportunity to run in his own district with little chance of election because PRD controls the district.

Martinez-Saldana, who will take office in January, said PRD is the only one that promotes the rights of migrants to participate in Mexican political affairs while abroad and his appointment reflects that.

“The PRD is the only one of the three major parties in Michoacan to respond to the requests

of migrant organizations based in the U.S. to include migrants in the list of legislators with an assured seat,” he said. “Groups of Michoacan migrants from California, Illinois, Nevada, Texas,

Washington state, Alaska, among others, have been pressuring for years to have such representation.”

Martinez-Saldana has been active in that campaign the past few years with negotiations and lobbying intensifying this year, culminating in a press conference held by the migrant groups in Morelia Saturday. At the conference the migrants presented candidates to each of the three major parties, including Martinez-Saldana.

He said his nomination received not only the unanimous support of the principal organizations of Michoacan migrants in the U.S. but the PRD.

“It also received widespread, if not unanimous, support from the PRD in Michoacan, even though such seats are subject to intense competition within each party,” he said

Martinez-Saldana will continue teaching at Fresno State in the fall semester, combining his academic work with campaign work in both countries.

“As a proportional candidate I really do not have to do much campaigning but I will be invited to regions of the U.S. with migrant organizations and also to participate in some of the major events here in Michoacan,” he said.

The immigrant vote issue is Martinez-Saldana’s principal research topic. He has been studying the issue since he was in graduate school with several of his academic works and newspaper articles on the issue of the right to vote for Mexicans abroad published.

A native of Michoacan who came to the United States in 1969, Martinez-Saldana earned a

bachelor’s degree in political science from Santa Clara University in 1982. He earned a master’s in Latin American Studies in 1985 and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies in 1993, both from U.C. Berkeley.

He joined the Fresno State Chicano Studies faculty in 2000.