Mexicans Mourn the Death of Senator Alonso Lujambio · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

In the early morning of September 25, 2012, Senator Alonso Lujambio Irazábal passed away in Mexico. The political scientist and distinguished academic held many offices, including: Consultant for the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE); Advisor to the United Nations (UN) regarding the electoral system for the Iraq Constituent Assembly; Commissioner-President of the Federal Institute on Information Access and Data Protection [es] (IFAI); and Director of the Secretariat of Public Education [es] (SEP).
In the field of academics, Lujambio served as professor at his alma mater, the Mexican Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM), at the Ibero-American University, and at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The death of Lujambio due to cancer has caused some Mexicans to express their grief and mourning on Twitter.
The outgoing President Felipe Calderón (@FelipeCalderon) [es] mentioned:
@FelipeCalderon: Descansa en paz querido Alonso, te extrañaremos mucho. Seguiremos tu ejemplo de sensatez,alegría, honestidad,patriotismo y amor por la vida.
A few hours later, the chief executive then shared with his followers a photo of the late senator, along with the following message:
Senator Alonso Lujambio and President Felipe Calderón. Image shared on Twitter by @FelipeCalderon
@FelipeCalderon: México pierde a un verdadero Hombre de Estado, un gran académico, un político honesto, un buen padre, un hombre leal… pic.twitter.com/VZQEljXu
The President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) [es] also lamented the death and expressed it as follows:
@EPN: Lamento el triste fallecimiento del Senador Alonso Lujambio, hombre dedicado al servicio de México. Mis condolencias a sus seres queridos.
Reporting very early, the user Ayeye (@ayeshabo) [es] shared the news with his followers:
@ayeshabo: Pues dicen que falleció Alonso Lujambio. RIP
Osvaldo Suarez (@paul_suco) [es] referred to Lujambio's work in the following way:
@paul_suco: Descanse en paz Alonso Lujambio, quien dedicó parte de su vida a fortalecer las instituciones pilares de la democracia mexicana.
Jenaro Villamil (@jenarovillamil) [es] took advantage of the occasion to remember that Alonso Lujambio was a candidate for the presidential bid with the Partido Acción Nacional, which Josefina Vázquez Mota eventually won:
@jenarovillamil: Fallece Alonso Lujambio. Sus últimas batallas: el cáncer, el poder desmedido de Elba Esther, y una frustrada candidatura presidencial
The journalist Joaquín López-Dóriga (@lopezdoriga) [es] noted that less than a week ago, Lujambio was honored by President Calderón:
@lopezdoriga: Apenas el miércoles pasado el IFAI le rindió un homenaje a Alonso Lujambio encabezado por el presidente Calderón.
The tribute in question, as reported by the blogger Sopitas [es], happened within the framework of the IX National Transparency Week, an event followed by Mexicans with the hashtag #SNT2012 and reviewed by the aforementioned blogger in a thorough blog entry [es].
Another journalist, León Krauze (@Leon_Krauze) [es], mentioned other traits of the late Senator:
@Leon_Krauze: Historiador, biógrafo y hasta estudioso de la arquitectura, Lujambio era algo poco común: un hombre auténticamente culto en la política.
Patricia Jinich (@PatriciaJinich) [es] expressed her despair at finding out about the death of the Senator:
@PatriciaJinich Sad, sad, oh, such sad news. RIP, Alonso Lujambio, best ever professor & thesis advisor in the world. You will be missed…
The funeral services took place on September 25 (in the Mexican tradition these do not occur several days after death, but rather immediately) and at the time of writing this post it had been unofficially reported that the remains of Alonso Lujambio would be cremated on September 26, 2012.