Breathe
By Sofía Guadarrama Collado
At the beginning of each six-year term in Mexico there is a kind of "honeymoon" with the president, despite the crisis in which the country is in. Generally because of the naïve collective hope that we finally have the best president.
Some transitions have been true honeymoons, such as the one from Zedillo to Fox, in which the PRI lost for the first time and without accusing fraud; from Calderón to Peña, in which the PRI returned to government as if it had just taken a break; and from Peña to López, in which the PRI candidate got out of the way and left the table set for the future tenant of the National Palace to get stuck in months before he took office.
Other transitions have been tremendously overwhelming due to the crises left by the outgoing government, such as from López Portillo to De la Madrid, from Salinas to Zedillo and López Obrador to Sheinbaum.
Miguel De la Madrid received a stick of dynamite from the hands of José López Portillo, who shortly before the end of his administration decided to nationalize the banks, thus triggering the worst economic crisis since the Mexican Revolution.
One of Miguel De la Madrid's first actions was to get rid of José Ramón López Portillo, son of the former president, who catapulted him to the presidency. To contain the crisis, he implemented the National Development Plan to stabilize the economy, renegotiated the foreign debt, reduced public spending, implemented policies to control inflation, initiated the liberalization of foreign trade, privatized state-owned companies (which previous presidents had expropriated) to reduce the role of the state in the economy, carried out a fiscal reform to increase government revenues, established price and wage controls and encouraged foreign investment.
Ernesto Zedillo received the country stained by the blood of three assassinations, the chaos of the emergence of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and the devaluation of the peso.
President Ernesto Zedillo also cut the umbilical cord with his predecessor. His first policy actions focused on the economic crisis, maintaining political stability, promoting a reform of the SCJN (which gave it autonomy), rescuing the banks through the Bank Savings Protection Fund (FOBAPROA), restructuring the foreign debt, integrating Mexico into the global economy, privatizing state enterprises to reduce the role of the state in the economy, carrying out a fiscal reform, establishing price and wage controls to combat inflation, and encouraging foreign direct investment to boost economic development.
Claudia Sheinbaum received a container full of dynamite barrels instead of a baton: 200 thousand intentional homicides, 7 thousand 617 femicides, 51 thousand 618 missing persons, the state of Sinaloa in flames, a net debt of the Federal Government of 14 trillion 181 thousand 811.1 million pesos and the External Debt (Gross) of the Federal Government at 125,982.7 million dollars and a political crisis with the Judicial Power and the disappearance of autonomous bodies.
Contrary to what many believe, the transition from López Obrador to Claudia Sheinbaum was far from smooth. The one from Peña to López was velvet smooth. AMLO imposed on Claudia the government project, 11 secretaries and secretaries of State, the benches in the Congress and the Senate, his son Andrés López Beltrán in the leadership of MORENA, the reforms and the mornings.
Claudia Sheinbaum, unlike her predecessors, has no intention of breaking relations with former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador; on the contrary, she continues to call him president, as if he were still in office.
We are barely in Claudia Sheinbaum's first fortnight as president of Mexico and it feels as if she has already had a year in the National Palace. Many have all their hopes on her, only because she is a woman. As if her ability to make decisions or her integrity depended on it, which is a mistake. Of course I welcome the fact that Mexico has a woman in the presidency, but that does not mean that I should applaud the injustices, arbitrariness and corruption she commits in her term as president.
Yes, in form it is no longer López Obrador's government, but in substance it is. Claudia Sheinbaum has already defined her style of government: to follow in her mentor's footsteps. Imitate him as much as possible. Or at least, in everything that suits her.
Yes, the morning conferences are shorter. The pseudo-reporters' lambasting is no longer allowed. The entrance to other media has been democratized, but the offenses and disqualifications to the press and adversaries are still ruthless and cynical.
Yes, he went down a couple of notches with the businessmen, but it is not a reason for us to be overconfident either. All presidents know that a country's economy depends on investments. And investors are not stupid. Without guarantees, without a true rule of law, these meetings between government and private initiative will be useless.
Yes, he has more vision than López Obrador, but he follows the destructive route of nationalizing PEMEX and CFE.
Yes, he has a better security strategy and a better security secretary than López Obrador, but intentional homicides have not gone down and organized crime has already sent him several messages, some in support and others as a warning.
Yes, the president does visit the victims, she talks to them, but in a press conference she does not show the slightest empathy with the families of Lidia Iris Fuentes Galvan, an 8 year old girl; Diego Alfredo, an 18 year old boy who had been kidnapped and Yuricie Rivera, a nurse, who died because of National Guard elements.
Yes, as part of the paraphernalia of being president, she has already made her first flight in a commercial airline. Yes, she did not wait in line; she went straight to the runway in an armored Suburban, escorted by other vans of the same brand. We will see how long this type of functions last.
Yes, in her inauguration speech she had a feminist tone: "I am not alone, we are all here". She sent to Congress a proposal of 10 reforms to guarantee women's equality in Mexico, provide protection to victims and their children against gender violence (that the aggressor leaves the house, instead of women and their children having to go to a shelter), strengthen the Olimpia law on digital violence, reduce the wage gap, labor violence and to increase women's participation in leadership positions. It should be clarified that gender equality in the labor market and other of its proposals are already contemplated in current legislation.
Unfortunately these feminist actions that should make her shine worldwide have been overshadowed by her displays of authoritarianism.
She is the most powerful president Mexico has had since the Porfiriato. Of course, with a spurious majority in Congress endorsed by the pusillanimous INE councilors and the timorous magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal.
Sheinbaum starts without any truce: she closes the window of dialogue with the US ambassador, Ken Salazar, with the opposition parties, the judges, magistrates and ministers (whom she humiliated with a ridiculous tombola) and the INAI, a body whose death she has already sentenced.
Claudia Sheinbaum starts her government demanding apologies to Spain for the Conquest. A world shame. A puerile victimhood to justify the coming failures and also to distract those who know less about politics and allow themselves to be duped by nonsense.
The honeymoon between Mexico and Claudia Sheinbaum quickly turned sour and will soon be reduced to a bitter moon.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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