From Mexico News Daily
[Edited slighted at beginning for clarification. Article originally published Sept. 2023]
Claudia Sheinbaum, the new President of Mexico, was the former Mexico City mayor (2018-23), who will also represent the Labor Party and the Ecological Green Party of Mexico, will face off against the Broad Front for Mexico’s Xóchitl Gálvez at the June 2, 2024 election. Senator Gálvez was officially designated as the three-party opposition alliance’s “coordinator” just over a week ago.
Sheinbaum – a physicist and environmental scientist who was environment minister in Mexico City when Andrés Manuel López Obrador was mayor in the early 2000s – recently spoke with Expansión Política, the politics site of the Expansión news organization, and expressed views on a range of issues she will face if elected as Mexico’s first female president next June.
The 61-year-old Mexico City native gave brief responses to a series of rapid fire questions as well as more elaborate ones on topics including public security, renewable energy and the opportunity presented by the growing nearshoring phenomenon, which she spoke about in significant detail in a separate interview last month.
Her answers give some sense of what a Sheinbaum presidency – a very likely prospect, according to polls – might look like.
Yes or no to tax reform?
“Not now,” said Sheinbaum, who last week received a “baton of command” from President López Obrador, who has ceded the leadership of the “fourth transformation” political project he initiated to Morena’s new standard-bearer.
Yes or no to the army in the streets?
“[Yes] until the National Guard is strengthened.”
Yes or no to help from the United States to combat narcos and crime groups?
“Not if it is invasive.”
Yes or no to jail for ex-presidents?
“It’s not for me to say.”
Would you live in the National Palace (as President López Obrador does)?
“Yes.”
Yes or no to the legalization of marijuana?
“This is complex. I can’t say yes or no at first glance. It’s complicated,” said Sheinbaum without noting that the Supreme Court has directed Mexico’s Congress to legalize the recreational use of the plant.
The best president of Mexico is …?
“Benito Juárez.”
The biggest mistake of former president Vicente Fox (2000-06) was …?
“Betraying democracy.”
The biggest mistake of former president Felipe Calderón (2006-12) was …?
“The war against narcos.”
The biggest mistake of former president Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-18) was …?
“Corruption.”
The biggest mistake of President López Obrador is …?
“Speaking slowly,” said Sheinbaum, who has attended a good number of the president’s lengthy morning press conferences, or mañaneras.
As Senator Gálvez did when she spoke to Expansión Pólitica (covered by Mexico News Daily in late August), Sheinbaum offered longer responses to a range of questions.
Sheinbaum on the use of the military for public security tasks
“There are municipalities in the country where, if you withdraw the army, they’re left with nothing, they’re abandoned,” Morena’s presumptive nominee told Expansión when asked whether the military should be patrolling the streets of Mexico.
For more, go to Mexico News Daily here.
