 Salazar once served as President of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively.He resigned as Guadalajara's archbishop on May 15, 1987, and lost the right to participate in another conclave upon reaching age 80 on January 12, 1990.The Cardinal died from a heart attack in Guadalajara, at the age of 81.