By MARÍA VERZA, MEGAN JANETSKY and MARK STEVENSON
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Claudia Sheinbaum took the oath of workplace Tuesday as Mexico’s first feminine president in additional than 200 years of independence, promising to guard an expanded social security web and different common insurance policies put in place by her predecessor, however dealing with urgent issues.
The 62-year-old scientist-turned-politician receives a rustic with quite a lot of instant challenges, foremost amongst them stubbornly excessive ranges of violence, a sluggish economic system and the hurricane-battered resort metropolis of Acapulco, which she plans to go to Wednesday.
Whereas former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took workplace six years in the past declaring “For the great of all, first the poor,” and promising historic change from the neoliberal financial insurance policies of his predecessors, Sheinbaum has promised continuity.
She has dedicated to guarding his legacy — extra assist for the poor and a deepening militarization of home safety — however many Mexicans stay hopeful that she’s going to ultimately step out of his formidable shadow.
Regardless of her pledge of continuity, she is a really completely different character.
“López Obrador was a tremendously charismatic president and lots of instances that charisma allowed him to cowl up some political errors that Claudia Sheinbaum won’t have that risk of doing,” mentioned Carlos Pérez Ricart, a political analyst at Mexico’s Middle for Financial Analysis and Instructing. “So, the place López Obrador was charismatic, Claudia Sheinbaum should be efficient.”
He isn’t leaving her a straightforward state of affairs.
Her first journey as president might be to the flood-stricken Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.
Hurricane John, which struck as a Class 3 hurricane final week after which reemerged into the ocean and struck once more as a tropical storm, prompted 4 days of extremely heavy rain that killed not less than 17 folks alongside the coast round Acapulco. Acapulco was devastated in October 2023 by Hurricane Otis, and had not recovered from that blow when John hit.
Sheinbaum should additionally take care of raging violence within the cartel-dominated northern metropolis of Culiacan, the place factional preventing throughout the Sinaloa cartel broke out after drug lords Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López had been apprehended in the US after they flew there in a small airplane on July 25.
López Obrador has lengthy sought to keep away from confronting Mexico’s drug cartels and has brazenly appealed to the gangs to maintain the peace amongst themselves, however the limitations of that technique have grow to be obviously obvious in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, the place gun battles have raged on town’s streets. Native authorities and even the military — which López Obrador has relied on for all the things — have primarily admitted that the preventing will solely finish when the cartel bosses determine to finish it.
However that’s solely the newest hotspot.
Drug-related violence is surging from Tijuana within the north to Chiapas within the south, displacing 1000’s.
Whereas Sheinbaum inherits an enormous finances deficit, unfinished building tasks and a burgeoning invoice for her social gathering’s money hand-out packages — all of which might ship monetary markets tumbling — maybe her largest looming concern is the potential for a victory for Donald Trump within the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
Trump has already vowed to slap 100% tariffs on automobiles made in Mexico. Although that may seemingly violate the present U.S.-Mexico-Canada commerce settlement, there are different issues Trump might do to make life troublesome for Sheinbaum, together with his pledge of huge deportations.
Issues with its northern neighbor had been already tense after López Obrador mentioned he was placing relations with the U.S. embassy “on pause” after public criticism of the proposed judicial overhaul.
First woman Jill Biden struck an optimistic tone for relations with the incoming Sheinbaum administration saying at a reception Monday that, “Below Dr. Sheinbaum’s presidency I do know we’ll proceed to construct a extra affluent, secure and democratic area — and take the steps in our U.S.-Mexico partnership.”
There are areas the place Sheinbaum might attempt to take Mexico in a brand new path. For instance, she has a Ph.D. in vitality engineering and has spoken of the necessity to deal with local weather change. López Obrador constructed a large new oil refinery and poured cash into the state-owned oil firm. However his finances commitments don’t depart her a lot room to maneuver.
Jennifer Piscopo, professor of gender and politics on the Royal Holloway College of London who has studied Latin America for many years, mentioned Mexico electing its first feminine chief is vital as a result of it is going to present ladies they will do it too, however it could actually additionally create unrealistic expectations.
“Girl firsts are highly effective symbols, however they don’t achieve magic energy,” she mentioned. “Particularly when the governance challenges are so massive, anticipating magic options in a single day also can generate outsized disappointment.”
Initially Revealed: