How Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum carved her own path
MEXICO CITYΒ βΒ Each September, Mexicoβs president appears before a crowd of tens of thousands in the nationβs central square to perform the grito, the shout of independence commemorating the countryβs break from colonial rule.
This year, for the first time, a woman will lead the masses in chants of βLong live Mexico!β
Mondayβs ceremony in Mexico Cityβs main plaza will be a historic moment for the nation and for President Claudia Sheinbaum, who, in her first year as the countryβs first female leader, has maintained remarkably high marks despite a spate of domestic and international challenges.
Supporters take selfies with the new president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, after her swearing-in ceremony in Congress in 2024.
(Felix Marquez / Picture Alliance / Getty Images)
Sheinbaum, 63, who took office last Oct. 1, boasts approval ratings above 70% and has notched multiple victories: winning passage of major constitutional reforms, overseeing unprecedented judicial elections and deftly negotiating with President Trump, making concessions on immigration and security to avert the worst of his threatened tariffs on Mexican goods.
She has also overseen a 25% drop in homicides, an impressive feat in a country exhausted by drug violence that she chalks up to her administrationβs aggressive new crackdown on organized crime.
βWeβre doing well and weβll get better,β Sheinbaum said this month during a speech to Congress, where members of her political party, which controls both houses of the legislature, cheered her with shouts of βLong live Claudia!β
But perhaps Sheinbaumβs biggest feat has been emerging from the long shadow cast by her predecessor, AndrΓ©s Manuel LΓ³pez Obrador, a hero among the working class whose support was crucial to her election.
As a candidate for LΓ³pez Obradorβs Morena party, Sheinbaum promised to continue his populist project, which sought to reduce poverty and shift power away from traditional economic and political elites.
Mexicans line up at a polling station in Guadalajara on June 2, 2024, the day voters cast ballots to elect Claudia Sheinbaum the president of Mexico.
(Ulises Ruiz / AFP via Getty Images)
After she won in a landslide, she faced criticism that she would be his βpuppet,β a discourse she dismissed as sexist.
Still, thereβs no question that Sheinbaum has had to walk a tricky line: defining her presidency on her own terms while also demonstrating loyalty to the political movement that got her there.
As LΓ³pez Obrador has retreated from public life, retiring to his ranch in southern Mexico, Sheinbaum has embraced many of his signature policies, including a popular welfare program that distributes cash to youth, people with disabilities and senior citizens.
She has continued LΓ³pez Obradorβs practice of daily morning news conferences, where she often pays lip service to the former president and repeats his signature phrase: βFor the good of all, the poor first.β
Political analyst Jorge Zepeda Patterson said that Sheinbaum has successfully outmaneuvered other Morena party members, including several former political rivals, to be seen as the new voice of LΓ³pez Obradorβs movement.
βShe is the heir, she is the interpreter of the entire movement, and that is no small thing,β he said.
Supreme Court President Hugo Aguilar Ortiz receives a traditional purification ceremony from representatives of Indigenous communities during the swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Court building on Sept. 1 in Mexico City.
(Hector Vivas / Getty Images)
Sheinbaum also muscled across the finish line one of his most controversial undertakings: an overhaul of the judicial system that mandates judges be elected by popular vote. Critics argue the move was designed to concentrate power in the hands of Morena and opens the door to corruption.
βThatβs something dictators only invent to control the judiciary,β said Ernesto Zedillo, a former president and leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
But while furthering LΓ³pez Obradorβs agenda, Sheinbaum has also quietly been carving her own path.
While he was combative and highly ideological, railing for hours at his news conferences against neoliberalism and the βpower mafiaβ that he said long controlled Mexico, Sheinbaum has embraced a more diplomatic tone. She says Mexicoβs future depends on its entrepreneurs. In her news conferences, she chooses her words carefully, a serene smile on her face.
Her most significant departure from her mentor has been on matters of security.
As part of his βhugs not bulletsβ policy, LΓ³pez Obrador scaled back security cooperation with the U.S., ordered soldiers to stop confronting cartels and put an emphasis on new social programs. Throughout his six-year term, homicides hovered near record highs and criminal groups expanded their control.
Sheinbaum, under pressure from Trump to clamp down on drug trafficking, has changed tack, dismantling fentanyl labs, carrying out major drug busts and sending dozens of accused cartel leaders to the U.S. to face justice.
Despite those wins, major challenges loom.
The biggest one is Trump.
Trucks queue near the Mexico-U.S. border before crossing the border at Tijuana on March 4.
(Guillermo Arias / AFP via Getty Images)
Mexicoβs economy was already on the rocks when the U.S. president began issuing tariff threats, spooking overseas investors who once viewed Mexico as a pipeline to move products into the U.S. tax-free. As a result, growth has slowed.
Sheinbaum and Trump have yet to meet, but have spoken several times in phone conversations both leaders have described as successful. βMore and more, we are getting to know and understand each other,β Trump said in August.
For Sheinbaum one constant pressure is the threat of U.S. military action in Mexico.
Trump recently signed an order allowing the Defense Department to use force against Latin American drug cartels, which he has designated as foreign terrorist groups. The U.S. military recently destroyed a Venezuelan boat it said was trafficking drugs, killing 11.
(Guillermo Arias / AFP via Getty Images)
Carlos Bravo Regidor, a Mexican political analyst, said much of Sheinbaumβs first year has been dominated by two men: Trump and LΓ³pez Obrador, who is commonly known by his initials, AMLO.
βSheβs trapped between the legacy of AMLO and the reality of Donald Trump,β he said.
Sheinbaumβs posture on possible U.S. military action embodies how sheβs dealt with Trump. Sheβll speak plainly β βThere will be no invasionβ and Mexico is βnot a colony of anyoneβ β but resists engaging in tit-for-tat remarks to stoke Trumpβs ire.
More than once, when asked to respond to Trumpβs latest hyperbolic comment, sheβs replied: βPresident Trump has his own way of communicating.β
President Sheinbaum speaks during the first State of the Union report of her tenure at Palacio Nacional on Sept. 1 in Mexico City, Mexico.
(Manuel Velasquez / Getty Images)
Still, thereβs little doubt that Sheinbaum has benefited from the wave of nationalism that has surged here in the face of an American president who persecuted Mexican migrants living in the U.S. and threatened drone strikes on Mexican territory. That sentiment is likely to be on display on Monday, when Mexicans don the red, white and green of their flag and convene in the ZΓ³calo for the independence celebrations.
There will also be a strong current of feminism.
Sheinbaum has often repeated the mantra she first spoke the night she won office: βI didnβt arrive alone, I arrived with all Mexican women.β
For many Mexicans across party lines, her presidency has been transformative.
Mexico City resident Esther Ramos, 40, said she planned to take her young daughters to see Sheinbaum deliver the grito, not as a lesson in politics, per se, but as a lesson in what is possible.
βMy two daughters will see that a woman is capable of achieving whatever they want,β she said.