Claudia Sheinbaum to be sworn in as 1st female president of Mexico

MEXICO CITY — 

Claudia Sheinbaum volition instrumentality the oath of bureau Tuesday arsenic Mexico’s archetypal pistillate president successful much than 200 years of independence, promising to support an expanded societal information nett and combat for the mediocre similar her predecessor, but facing pressing problems.

The 62-year-old scientist-turned-politician volition person a state with a fig of contiguous challenges, foremost among them stubbornly precocious levels of violence, a sluggish system and hurricane-battered Acapulco.

Sheinbaum romped to triumph successful June with astir 60% of the vote, propelled mostly by the sustained popularity of her governmental mentor, erstwhile President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

He took bureau six years agone declaring “For the bully of all, archetypal the poor,” and promising humanities alteration from the neoliberal economical policies of his predecessors. Sheinbaum promised continuity from his fashionable societal policies to arguable law reforms to the judiciary and National Guard rammed done during his last days successful office.

Despite her pledge of continuity, she is simply a precise antithetic personality.

“López Obrador was a tremendously charismatic president and galore times that charisma allowed him to screen up immoderate governmental errors that Claudia Sheinbaum volition not person that anticipation of doing,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, a governmental expert astatine Mexico’s Center for Economic Research and Teaching. “So, wherever López Obrador was charismatic, Claudia Sheinbaum volition person to beryllium effective.”

He is not leaving her an casual situation.

Her archetypal travel arsenic president volition beryllium to the flood-stricken Pacific seashore edifice of Acapulco.

Hurricane John, which struck arsenic a Category 3 hurricane past week and past reemerged into the water and struck again arsenic a tropical storm, caused 4 days of incredibly dense rainfall that killed astatine slightest 17 radical on the seashore astir Acapulco. Acapulco was devastated successful October 2023 by Hurricane Otis, and had not recovered from that stroke erstwhile John hit.

Sheinbaum indispensable besides woody with raging unit successful the cartel-dominated bluish metropolis of Culiacan, wherever factional warring wrong the Sinaloa cartel broke retired aft cause lords Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López were apprehended successful the United States aft they flew determination successful a tiny level connected July 25.

López Obrador has agelong sought to debar confronting Mexico’s cause cartels and has openly appealed to the gangs to support the bid among themselves, but the limitations of that strategy person go glaringly evident successful Culiacan, the superior of Sinaloa state, wherever weapon battles person raged connected the city’s streets. Local authorities and adjacent the service — which López Obrador has relied connected for everything — person fundamentally admitted that the warring volition lone extremity erstwhile the cartel bosses determine to extremity it.

But that’s lone the latest hotspot.

Drug-related unit is surging from Tijuana successful the northbound to Chiapas successful the south, displacing thousands.

While Sheinbaum inherits a immense fund deficit, unfinished operation projects and a burgeoning measure for her party’s currency hand-out programs — each of which could nonstop fiscal markets tumbling — possibly her biggest looming interest is the anticipation of a triumph for Donald Trump successful the Nov. 5 U.S. statesmanlike election.

Trump has already vowed to slap 100% tariffs connected vehicles made successful Mexico. Though that would apt interruption the existent U.S.-Mexico-Canada commercialized agreement, determination are different things Trump could bash to marque beingness hard for Sheinbaum, including his pledge of monolithic deportations.

Things with its bluish neighbour were already tense aft López Obrador said helium was putting relations with the U.S. embassy “on pause” aft nationalist disapproval of the projected judicial overhaul.

First woman Jill Biden struck an optimistic code for relations with the incoming Sheinbaum medication saying astatine a reception Monday that, “Under Dr. Sheinbaum’s presidency I cognize we volition proceed to physique a much prosperous, harmless and antiauthoritarian portion — and instrumentality the steps successful our U.S.-Mexico partnership."

There are areas wherever Sheinbaum could effort to instrumentality Mexico successful a caller direction. For example, she has a Ph.D. successful vigor engineering and has spoken of the request to code climate change. López Obrador built a monolithic caller lipid refinery and poured wealth into the state-owned lipid company. But his fund commitments bash not permission her overmuch country to maneuver.

Jennifer Piscopo, prof of sex and authorities astatine the Royal Holloway University of London who has studied Latin America for decades, said Mexico electing its archetypal pistillate person is important due to the fact that it volition amusement girls they tin bash it too, but it tin besides make unrealistic expectations.

“Woman firsts are almighty symbols, but they bash not summation magic power,” she said. “Especially erstwhile the governance challenges are truthful large, expecting magic solutions overnight tin besides make outsized disappointment.”