Emilio Sánchez Piedras

Emilio Sánchez Piedras (1 November 1927 – 13 June 1981) was a Mexican lawyer and politician from the state of Tlaxcala. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he served in the Congress of Tlaxcala and two terms in the federal Chamber of Deputies, and was governor of Tlaxcala from 1975 to 1981.

Political career Emilio Sánchez Piedras was born in Apizaco, Tlaxcala, on 1 November 1927. His basic education was in his home state, and he subsequently completed a law degree, with an honourable mention, at the law school of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1941. That same year, he secured employment as a public prosecutor for the Federal District and the federal territories.

From 1944 to 1951, he was director of public works in the Tlaxcala state government, and he later served as private secretary to governors (1944–1945) and (1945–1951). During his second congressional term, he caused Adolfo López Mateos's government diplomatic difficulties with the United States after making a speech in support of the Cuban Revolution: a U.S. delegation attending the session withdrew, and Sánchez Piedras was banished to the political wilderness for 15 years.

Sánchez Piedras served as governor of Tlaxcala from 15 January 1975 to 15 January 1981. His administration oversaw the construction of the Ciudad Industrial Xicohténcatl in Tetla de la Solidaridad and of two universities: the Autonomous University of Tlaxcala (UATx) and the .

Six months after leaving office, Sánchez Piedras was in an automobile accident that left him with broken ribs and a broken leg. On 13 June 1981, after a week's hospitalisation, he died of a heart attack while in intensive care, aged 53. He was buried in Mexico City's Panteón Francés.