Camacho Solís joined the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1965, and in 1988 he became that party's general secretary. Camacho met
Carlos Salinas at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where they became close friends. Camacho followed
Salinas's trajectory in the Planning Ministry under the administration of
Miguel de la Madrid. In 1985 he was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies, and in 1986 he was appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Urban Development. When
Salinas took over the
presidency in 1988, Camacho was appointed
Head of Government of the Federal District (1988–1993), an important political post with jurisdiction over the nation's capital. In 1997, the post became elective. He was a contender within the PRI to be the presidential candidate, but Salinas chose Colosio instead. Salinas told Camacho that he would be appointed the
Head of Government of the Federal District, a powerful post, but Camacho sought to be Minister of the Interior. Before he accepted the appointment, he made demands: complete control of the district attorney's office and the police, the right to participate in political reforms, and complete authority over the city, which Salinas acceded to. According to political scientist
Jorge G. Castañeda, "Salinas ... perhaps did not realiz[e] the danger of being suddenly left without an effective minister of the interior and with an overqualified mayor in charge of the country's main city." He became famous because he delivered 9000 millions (old pesos ) to Andrés Manuel López Obrador in order to take away the protest on the zocalo in 1992 in Mexico City. This money never was clarified by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, he took the decision for the final destination for this money. === The
Zapatista uprising === On November 13, 1993, Camacho was designated
Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Due to the
Zapatista uprising,
Luis Donaldo Colosio's assassination in March 1994, and Camacho's failed attempt to clinch the party's presidential nomination, Camacho broke with the PRI. The complicated relationship between Camacho,
Salinas, Colosio and
Ernesto Zedillo (who was selected to replace Colosio as the PRI's presidential candidate) was the source of many rumors surrounding Colosio's assassination. Salinas appointed Camacho as the negotiator for the government in peace talks with the Zapatistas. He resigned as Chiapas Peace Commissioner on 16 June 1994 claiming that the PRI presidential candidate, Zedillo, sabotaged his efforts.
Later career During Zedillo's presidency, Camacho stayed away from politics until 1999 when he announced his candidacy for the presidency for the
Party of the Democratic Center, a party that he had co-founded with
Marcelo Ebrard. In 2003 he became a federal deputy in the Chamber of Deputies representing the
Party of the Democratic Revolution. He was selected to serve as a plurinominal deputy through an indirect election. In 2012 he was elected to the Senate. In 2004 he joined
Andrés Manuel López Obrador's political campaign. He wrote a column in the Mexico City daily
El Universal. He died in
Mexico City on 5 June 2015, after a long battle with
brain cancer. ==References==