MEXICO CITY -- Amalia Solorzano, widow of iconic Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas and a key figure in providing refuge to children displaced by Spain's 1936-1939 civil war, died here Friday, associates of the family told Efe. She was 97.

The mother of ex-presidential hopeful Cuauhtemoc Cardenas died at home around 11 a.m. surrounded by her family, Carlos Mandujano of the Foundation for Democracy told Efe.

Apparently in the last few weeks Solorzano was hospitalized for several days with breathing problems from which she never recovered.

Born in the western state of Michoacan, Doña Amalia, as she was known, wed Gen. Lazaro Cardenas (1895-1970) in 1932, two years before the man who would nationalize Mexico's oil industry became president.

Solorzano was a leading member of the Aid Committee for Children of the Spanish People.

Founded in 1936, the organization helped hundreds of children who were refugees in France as a consequence of the Spanish Civil War to reach Mexico in 1937.

Many of the youngsters began their lives anew in Mexican homes with new families that generously took them in.

In 2007 Solorzano was decorated by the Spanish government with the Great Cross of the Order of Charles III for his important role in receiving thousands of exiled Spaniards fleeing the Civil War.