By Pamela Cruz
In her first message as Mexico’s president elect, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo stressed that she arrives to this historic position accompanied by all “our heroines who gave us a homeland, with our ancestors, our mothers, our daughters and our granddaughters.”
Sheinbaum spoke Monday shortly after the National Electoral Institute (INE) announced the results of Sunday’s historic vote, in which for former academic and past mayor of Mexico City obtained between 58.3 and 60.7 percent of votes with a record turnout above 60 percent.
In her remarks, Sheinbaum also celebrated preliminary results indicating that the coalition she represents, led by the governing Morena party, won a majority in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies (akin to the House in the US).
“I want to thank millions of Mexican men and women who decided to vote for us on this historic day,” said Sheinbaum. “It is the recognition of the people of Mexico of our history, our results, of the conviction and the will, but, above all, it is a recognition by the people of Mexico of our national project.”
Sheinbaum also touched on the fact that she is the first female president in the 200-year history of the Republic.
“I am also grateful because, for the first time in 200 years of the Republic, I will become the first female president of Mexico. And, as I have said on other occasions, I did not arrive alone, we all arrived, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our ancestors, our mothers, our daughters and our granddaughters.”
Sheinbaum, who is also Mexico’s first Jewish president, then thanked her opponents for what she described as a free and democratic election and sought to assure those who did not vote for her that her duty “is and will always be, to look after each and every Mexican without distinction.”
Sheinbaum’s opponents included entrepreneur and former senator, Xóchitl Gálvez who garnered just 28 percent of the vote, and Jorge Álvarez Máynez who came in a distant third.
Gálvez represented a coalition of the former PRI and PAN parties which have long been associated with entrenched government corruption.
Sheinbaum’s victory ensures the continued dominance of the ruling Morena Party, founded by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose six-year term saw gains in addressing issues of poverty but was tainted by issues of security and ongoing cartel violence, including attacks targeting journalists.
“We will have to walk in peace and harmony to continue building a fair and more prosperous Mexico,” Sheinbaum noted.
Likewise, she stressed that her government “will be honest, without influence, without corruption or impunity, it will be a government financial and fiscal discipline.”
Like her predecessor, Sheinbaum said that there will be no real increases in fuel or electricity costs, and that she will maintain the obligatory division between economic power and political power, always defending the supreme interest of the people of Mexico and the nation.
In that sense, she stressed that her government would act in accordance with the laws and the law, and freedom of expression and of the press will be guaranteed. She also promised greater domestic and foreign private investment that promotes social well-being and regional development with respect for the environment.
“We will dedicate, out of conviction, the public budget to guarantee all the welfare programs initiated by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and also all the programs to which we committed.”
She added that access to the rights of the people of Mexico to education, health, housing, culture will be expanded, as well as the consolidation of strategic projects and the expansion of infrastructure including trains, highways, roads, ports and airports.
In energy matters, she said, energy sovereignty, renewable energies and scientific and technological development will be promoted.
Foreign policy, she explained, will be based on constitutional principles of non-intervention, international cooperation for development, self-determination of peoples and peacebuilding.
With the United States, she specified, “There will be a relationship of friendship, mutual respect and equality, as it has been until now, and we will always defend the Mexicans who are on the other side of the border.”
That could prove to be a tall order depending on the outcome of elections in the US, with former President and current GOP candidate Trump vowing to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the country.
Meanwhile, with the south and the Caribbean, Sheinbaum stressed that she will continue to expand friendly relations, as with the entire world.
“We will take Mexico along the path of peace and security, we will advance with attention to the causes, the consolidation of the National Guard, intelligence and investigation for public security and the coordination across levels of government. Our security and justice policy will focus on the causes and zero impunity.”
“We are going to continue making Mexico a more just democratic free sovereign country to continue building the greatness of our homeland. Rest assured that we will live up to our history and the generous and great people of Mexico. Thank you very much, long live Mexico.”
This story was first published in Spanish by Peninsula 360 Press.
