Don Fidel, Mexico's last revolutionary, dies at 97

He was as old as the century. Fidel Velazquez, who fought in Mexico's revolution and led the country's workers for the last 60 years, died at the weekend aged 97.

Revered by some and feared by others, Mr Velazquez, the head of the powerful Mexican Workers' Confederation was seen as perhaps the last of the "dinosaurs" that formed part of Mexico's virtual one-party system until the democratic opening of recent years.

"He was a symbol of the hunger for power," said writer Carlos Monsivais. "Don Fidel knew how to reconcile the special interests of workers with the greater interests of the nation," said Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo.