by Ellen Mass
This article is Part Three of a series on Mexico’s history and economic development. You can read Part One here and Part Two here.
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The inauguration of Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City’s central Zocalo was observed around the world as a great feminist victory. As part of the ceremony, hundreds of thousands observed dramatic earth-based purification rituals performed by Indigenous women robed in colorful hand crafted dress. They carried herbs for ‘smudging’ and surrounded Sheinbaum with native fruits and vegetables blessing her future. Mexico’s new Presidenta proclaimed a social priority of hers which is the health, well-being and full equality of women. Her warmth and glow have made Claudia, the ‘Jewish scientist,’ a secondary focus for Mexicans with a distinctly different cultural background. With their votes, Mexico’s population demonstrated that personal alikeness is not a leadership requirement for them to attain a prosperous and just society. “Absorbing the voters’ preferences,” has become the mantra of Sheinbaum’s Morena Party that put she and AMLO in office. The new presidenta maintains a strong commitment to abolishing nepotism of privileged officials so El Pueblo can be heard, and she plans to continue the reforms of her predecessor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). After 35 years of neo-liberal rule that predated AMLO’s own election, and a 200 year struggle to transform Mexico, in June 2024, thirty six million voters went to the polls to elect Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo with over 60% of the national vote with an 85% initial approval rating. Claudia Sheinbaum recibe ritual de limpia por parte de las guías espirituales en el Zócalo subtitles
Born into a Jewish European Mexican family, Sheinbaum chose science as a career, first in physics at the Autonomous University of Mexico and later energy engineering in the US at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. She followed in the footsteps of her parents, both in her career and politically. Claudia’s mother won a number of National awards as a Biology teacher at National Polytech Institute and her father was a chemist.. During Mexican upheavals in 1967 and 1968 Annie Pardo Cema, Claudia’s mother, joined thousands of students, workers and citizens to demand reforms and living wages, both inside and outside the University. She was fired for her progressive stances. Fearful that protests would mar the Mexican Olympic games, the Diaz Ordaz regime attacked the protestors. Police killed as many as 500 in the Tlatelolco massacre. Protesters were opposing the privatization of public services and pay reductions for millions of workers, farmers, and educators. The protests coincided with the French and Vietnam uprisings of 1968, video linked here (subtitles available).
Sheinbaum’s First act as Presidenta was to commemorate the 1967-68 uprising with nation-wide recognition of the brutal massacre in Mexican media and regional events. Just as significant was her recognition of the many neglected Indigenous with her colorful and magical inauguration ceremony performed with herbs and ‘smudging’ by the various Indigenous peoples. But Claudia’s feminist agenda is by no means secondary. She has included strict national anti-violence laws in her agenda and increased numbers of police and National Guard. Authoritative data from government details a significant drop of 50 percent in femicides domestic abuse claims. New laws require perpetrators of domestic violence, after proper investigation results, to leave the home. Mexico City shows noticeable reductions in incidents of crime. Laws against domestic animal violence have also been implemented.
Women in Mexico are dominating in leadership positions such as the new dynamic Mayor of Mexico City, Clara Marina Brugada Molina. Her popular projects carry out Claudia’s segundo piso (second floor) nation building with house to house medical coverage and a health care program throughout the country. Clara Brugada and her team are creating more laws for protection of women and even laws recently passed for the protection of domestic animals. The Mayor is presently building cultural recreational centers or utopias for youth throughout the metropolitan area. In the Metropolis of 9 million, the Mayor prioritizes women’s rights, tackling water shortages, addressing gentrification, and promoting the arts. Because Mexico is rated 15th for global economic success, Clara has her hands full keeping questionable foreign investment wolves at bay. The city center’s recently inaugurated Calzada de Guadalupe or Safe Women’s Paths (Avenue of Women) runs through the city renovated with statues of artists and is beautifully landscaped. Some say Clara may even be Mexico’s next president (video – subtitles available).
The state of Campeche’s artistic and active Governor, Layda Sansores, a former Senator with dyed scarlet hair, has dramatically restored the city of Campeche’s Spanish built neighborhoods near the city plaza and developed over a mile of Grand Malechon ocean walkway with much Spanish era history. The city is one of Mexico’s 35 UNESCO sites. When I visited there in January, the Bienestar Program was delivering pension benefitcards in Campeche to women aged 63 and 64 recognizing housework and childcare performed throughout their lives. This stipend is in addition to social security and its recognized social value would engender the envy of many western countries.
While outstanding leaders can achieve great public feats for improving a country, the awakening of historical memory of the Mexican people has generated the power to achieve a likely permanency, propelling Mexico forward with great speed despite loud menacing threats from North of the border that may grow into a global trade war, AMLO and Claudia’s Fourth Transformation (4T) ideology founded on its 3 previous transformations have activated a profound spirit of previous Independista eras. Today’s social and economic aspirations of Mexicanos and Mexicanas are continuing the Segundo Piso in full practice from the last 6 and a half years of prosperity and growth. Under the banner of Bienestar for all, and with Benito Juarez as liberator, Mexico is returning to its historical will of a people’s democracy to dominate its own resources and strengthen its sovereignty, thus enshrining its dictum, from the bottom up as an actual future for all of North American peace and prosperity.
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Ellen Mass is a member of MAPA’s Latin America and Caribbean Working Group.