Sheinbaum’s Message of Change for Mexico − Wake-up Call in US
Claudia Sheinbaum, Youtube screenshot.
On January 12, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, speaking to 350,000 people gathered in Mexico City’s Zócalo plaza, outlined her government’s accomplishments and prospects. Elected with a 60% plurality on June 2, 2024 as the Morena Party candidate, Mexico’s first woman president took office on October 1. Her approval rating is 80%
That party, founded by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), her predecessor in office, enjoys overwhelming majorities in both houses of Mexico’s Congress.
This report attempts to document the democratic and socially-responsible aspirations of her presidency and party. We note structural difficulties posing obstacles. Many U.S. progressives, it seems, are not fully informed of strengthened currents of democracy and economic justice in Mexico. Awareness may inform future solidarity efforts, especially if stirrings there come to fruition and U.S. political leaders take offense.
President Sheinbaum introduced her remarks with: “This is the Fourth Transformation of Mexico’s Public Life.” That characterization is attached to AMLO’s presidential term (2018-2024); she describes her own presidency as the “second stage” (segundo piso) of the Fourth Transformation. Earlier “transformations” were: independence from Spain (1821), reforms (1855-1863) culminating in Benito Juárez’s presidency, and Mexico’s Revolution (1910-1917).
Sheinbaum spoke of women: “[T]o those who think that women have no initiative of their own, that … women do not govern because we do not have capacity or intelligence, we say that, ‘Just as we run a home, just as we are mothers and grandmothers, we also have the strength, the fortitude, the mettle and the ability to be firefighters, engineers, astronauts, doctors, lawyers and Supreme Commanders of the Armed Forces.’”
She reported on healthcare: 12,381 new outpatient clinics have been created and healthcare workers soon will be regularly visiting handclapped or elderly citizens in their homes. New “well-being pharmacies” (farmacias del bienestar) will be located next to “well-being banks.” The one dispenses free medications and supplies; the other disperses money provided by social agencies.
Scheinbaum claimed savings worth “23 billion pesos,” or 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, achieved through “digital platforms and transparent methods” plus the requirement that suppliers offer low-price bids to be able to sell drugs and medications to the government.
She reported that, “We continue........
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