Tip Sheets
Will Mexico’s first female president take a different line on security, economy?
October 1, 2024
Media Contact
Adam Allington
Claudia Sheinbaum is being sworn in as Mexico's first female president today. The former mayor of Mexico City is largely expected to follow in the footsteps of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leader of the ruling Morena party. She faces concerns about the economy, crime and a predecessor who might not go away.
Gustavo A. Flores-Macías
Professor of Government
Gustavo Flores-Macias, professor of government at Cornell University and an expert in Latin American politics says that despite her clear electoral mandate Sheinbaum’s new government faces several major challenges.
Flores-Macías says:
“This includes high levels of violent crime, the militarization of public life, the implementation of the recent judicial reform, and managing the bilateral relation with the United States.
“Sheinbaum will have to show that her administration can improve public safety while respecting the rule of law and civil liberties. Doing so without further increasing the military's influence over civilian affairs, which was her predecessor's preferred course of action, will be especially difficult.
“Sheinbaum will also have to navigate not only the hostile rhetoric toward Mexico that characterizes campaigns in the US, but especially the review and potential renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement scheduled for 2026 in the context of an emerging bipartisan protectionist consensus in the United States.”
Lourdes Casanova
director of the Emerging Markets Institute at Cornell University
Lourdes Casanova, director of the Emerging Markets Institute at Cornell University, says that despite some criticisms, the Mexican economy is sound.
Casanova says:
“She takes over a country with strong fiscal discipline. Mexico’s debt of USD 120bn represents 48% of the GDP and the country has USD 220 billion in foreign reserves. And social indicators have also improved over the term of the last President Amlo with 5 million Mexicans coming out of the poverty. This is the result of Amlo’s social programs such as tripling the minimum wage and doubling the old age pensions.
“Sheinbaum is a scientist who is committed to the green transition, as she contributed to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“Her experience and her success as Head of the Government of Mexico City are a great precursor to her starting tenure as President of Latin America second biggest economy.
