Breathe
By Lillian Briseño
Like many Mexicans, well, like one of the almost 12 million who watched the first debate between the candidates for the presidency of Mexico, I had my own reading of what I thought of the exercise, and I was also attentive to the comments and the electoral opinocracy that was unleashed at the end and in the days that have passed since then.
I think many of us agreed that, beyond what was said by each of the candidates, the general perception was that Claudia Sheinbaum had led the evening being disciplined and without losing her objective of maintaining the discourse she has been repeating since the campaigns began. She did not get caught up in the constant attacks of her opponents, if at all she had her spontaneous rant when she answered Xochitl that the evidence against those who had committed crimes should be presented, but in general she held her ground and kept her speech.
Xóchitl was the big surprise, but not for the right reasons. She was overwhelmed in the debate, unprepared, unresponsive and even upset at times. In general, she was very nervous. And although towards the end of the contest she managed to correct her performance a little, it was not enough to reverse the impression she made.
