Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, historic Mexican politician and former presidential candidate, dies at 92

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, a three-time presidential candidate and one of Mexico's most important modern political voices, died Wednesday at 92, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said.

An undisputed leader of the Mexican left, Cárdenas was the son of one of the country’s most popular presidents — Gen. Lázaro Cárdenas. He was respected by allies and critics alike.

Cárdenas played a pivotal role in Mexico’s democratization, beginning with his first presidential bid in 1988, which ended in a defeat widely regarded as the result of massive electoral fraud.

He became Mexico City’s first popularly elected mayor in 1997. Cárdenas was so steadfast in his principles that in 2014 he resigned from the party he had founded in the late 1980s, the Democratic Revolution Party, because it governed the state of Guerrero when 43 students disappeared.

Cárdenas also distanced himself from his longtime ally Andrés Manuel López Obrador when López Obrador became president in 2018.

Cárdenas was “a man of firm principles,” Sheinbaum said on X, who transformed Mexico’s political life by leading “a peaceful democratic movement that channeled millions of Mexicans’ yearning for change.”

“That historic election day, when he should have been recognized as president, marked the beginning of the democratic transformation. His dignity and republican convictions remain an essential reference point for our nation," she added.

Cárdenas, a civil engineer by training, was the son of President Lázaro Cárdenas, who nationalized the oil industry in 1938 and opened Mexico to refugees from the Spanish Civil War.

The younger Cárdenas began his political career with the Institutional Revolutionary Party, better known as the PRI, and served as a senator and later as governor of the western state of Michoacán. In the late 1980s, he began leading a democratic faction within that party, from which he eventually broke away completely following electoral fraud.

Together with other politicians, he founded the PRD in 1989 and ran as its presidential candidate in 1994 and 2000.

Cárdenas ran for president again in 1994 and lost. In 1997, however, he became the first elected mayor of Mexico City, and in 2000 he once again ran for president and failed for a third time.

The death was met by a swell of grief, including from former Mexican leaders across the political spectrum.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox (2000-2006) wrote that “we were political adversaries but something bigger united us: the conviction that Mexico deserved complete democracy.”

Sheinbaum’s predecessor and ally López Obrador (2018-2024) called him a “pioneer of the democratic movement.”

“Without him, the country’s political reality would be different. He was a transformative figure; he leaves us his teachings and ideals that never die,” López Obrador wrote on a post on X.

He had three children with his wife, Celeste Batel, who has since passed away. One of them, Lázaro Cárdenas Batel, is also a politician.

FILE - Mexican leftist opposition presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, right, greets supporters with leftist Mexico City mayoral candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during a campaign rally in Mexico City's Zocalo plaza, June 25, 2000. (AP Photo/John Moore, File)

FILE - Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, center, a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, PRD, leaves the Monument of the Revolution where he presented his party's energy reform proposal in Mexico City, Aug. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

FILE - Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, son of the politician who nationalized the Mexican oil industry and founder of the Democratic Revolution Party, speaks during an interview in Mexico City, July 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

FILE - Mexico's Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, National Democratic Front (FDN) candidate speaks during a press conference in Mexico City, July 6, 1988. (AP Photo/Valente Cotera, File)

FILE - Mexico's Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, National Democratic Front (FDN) candidate speaks during a press conference in Mexico City, July 6, 1988. (AP Photo/Valente Cotera, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — A potentially historic drop for Alphabet’s stock is dragging the U.S. market lower Thursday after the company behind Google and YouTube reported weaker growth for the summer than analysts expected. The report underscored worries about whether all its huge investments in artificial-intelligence technology will pay off.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% and was on track for its first loss in four days, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 1.2%. Most of the rest of the stocks on Wall Street were rising, though, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down a more modest 0.2%, or 104 points, as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern time.

Alphabet is one of the most influential stocks on Wall Street because it’s one of the largest, and its loss of 11.8% had it heading toward its worst day since it began trading more than 20 years ago. It was under pressure to at least meet analysts’ expectations for growth amid concerns about how much it’s spending to invest in AI.

Alphabet said late Wednesday that it burned through more cash during the latest quarter, according to a measure called free cash flow, after its purchases of property and equipment topped $51 billion.

Worries are weighing on the entire AI industry following a frenzy to build data centers and fill them with AI chips. Not only are concerns high that the AI revolution may not produce as much profit and productivity as hoped, future spending on data centers is also under pressure because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money to buy more chips.

If not for Alphabet’s drop, the S&P 500 would have been higher for the day.

Several companies rallied after reporting stronger profits for the summer than analysts expected, including KLA Corp. The company, whose equipment helps make semiconductors, rose 6.7%.

Eli Lilly climbed 6.4%, Mastercard rose 4.7% and Merck added 5.1%.

DoorDash rose 6.6% after saying it agreed to buy Instacart in a deal valuing it at $17 billion. DoorDash also reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings steamed 14.1% higher after likewise topping expectations for summertime profit and revenue. It benefited from cruisers spending more money once aboard ships than the company expected, among other things.

Expectations are high for profit growth broadly among U.S. companies. That's what allowed the S&P 500 to set its record earlier this month despite high interest rates and other worries weighing on the stock market.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased following several mixed reports on the U.S. economy.

The overall economy’s growth may have accelerated by more during the summer than economists expected thanks to spending by U.S. consumers and businesses investing in AI, according to a preliminary report. But Americans’ growth in incomes was weaker in September than economists expected, while a measure of inflation worsened.

Fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, meanwhile, which could indicate few layoffs across the country.

Following the jumble of reports, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.98% from 5.05% late Wednesday. It's been generally pulling back since topping 5.30% earlier this month and touching its highest level since 2002.

Helping to pull yields lower on Thursday was a drop in oil prices. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil sank 2% to $109.42.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe after the European Central Bank held interest rates steady on the continent. The bank's president, Christine Lagarde, also said she will resign in February, nine months before the end of her term.

In Asia, indexes were mixed. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.2% due to a drop for market heavyweight Samsung Electronics, which sank 4.1% even though it reported a jump in profit.

AP Business Writer Chan Ho-him contributed to this report.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that DoorDash's profit and revenue for the latest quarter missed analysts' expectations. They both topped forecasts.

FILE - Traders Drew Cohen, left, and Dylan Halvorsan work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

A screen displays a news conference by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Kevin Warsh on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A screen displays a news conference by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Kevin Warsh on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)